Paul Newman Memoir, as Told by the Actor, on Its Way

A new book telling Paul Newman's story the way the movie star intended will be released next year, and it will be based on hours of recordings Newman left behind, as well as interviews with friends, family, and associates. 

Since his rise to fame, there have been dozens of unauthorized biographies as well as articles and other media coverage of Newman that left the actor frustrated and determined to tell his own story. And so a project began 30 years before his death in 2008 at age 83, according to The New York Times. 

Newman and his close friend and screenwriter Stewart Stern worked together to create recordings that included a mix of interviews as well as Newman sharing his own musings. Completed 10 years before his death, the transcripts lay forgotten for years in the basement of Newman’s house in Connecticut until his family recently decided to turn those transcripts into a memoir. 

The book does not yet have a title but it is set to be published next fall by Knopf.

"What he recorded, and in essence what he wrote, was so honest and revealing," said Peter Gethers, an editor-at-large at Knopf who will edit the book. "It showed this extraordinary arc, a guy who was very, very flawed at the beginning of his life and as a young man, but who, as he got older, turned into the Paul Newman we want him to be."

According to The New York Times, Newman's recordings touch on aspects of his early life, including his strained relationship with his parents, as well as his struggles with alcohol, his rocky first marriage, and the death of his son Scott, who died of a drug and alcohol overdose at 28.

These topics form the basis of the book, which also shines a light on Newman's jealousy of peers including James Dean and Marlon Brando. 

"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," Knopf said via the Associated Press.

"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."

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