Unpublished Paul Newman memoir to come out next year

NEW YORK — A memoir Paul Newman left unpublished in his lifetime will come out next fall.

Publisher Alfred A. Knopf announced Wednesday that the book, currently untitled, will include Newman’s thoughts on “acting, directing, boyhood, family, fame, Hollywood, Broadway, love, his first marriage, his 50-year marriage to Joanne Woodward, drinking, politics, racing, his ultimate ride to stardom, and aging gracefully.”

Newman, who died in 2008, began the book in the 1980s with the help of screenwriter Stewart Stern, who in turn spoke to dozens of Newman’s friends and associates. It was recently found in the Connecticut home where Woodward still lives.

“Through Newman’s voice, and the voices of others, the book captures the paradoxical and unstoppable rise of a star who wrestled with doubts, believing he was inferior to Marlon Brando and James Dean, and yet transcended his “hunk” status to become an Oscar-winning actor, champion race car driver, social activist, and entrepreneur whose philanthropy has generated nearly a billion dollars for charitable causes,” according to Knopf.

“This result is a portrait of the actor in full, from his early days to his years in the Navy, from his start in Hollywood to his rise to stardom, and with an intimate glimpse of his family life.”