Paul Newman gave Susan Sarandon part of his salary so the actress would have equal pay with her male co-stars for the 1998 film "Twilight," BBC News reported.
Sarandon told BBC 5 that she found out her two male co-stars were being paid more than she was for the film, even though the three of them had equal billing on movie posters. The movie claimed it had "favored nations" terms, but it only applied it to the male actors, Sarandon said.
Favored nations means that co-stars are given equal terms, BBC reported.
"He stepped forward and said, 'Well I'll give you part of mine,'" Sarandon said of Newman. "'So yeah, he was a gem.'"
In the interview, Sarandon also commented that she thought there would "always be a casting couch" in Hollywood.
"I think that what will go away is the unwanted exchange," she said. "But I think that giving yourself sexually, or being drawn to power and wanting to have sex with someone that's in power, is also a choice."
"What we don't want to have is being exploited and have the Harvey Weinsteins of the world holding it over your head and holding it over your project," she continued.
Twitter users applauded Newman's action.