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Legendary actor Paul Newman dies at age 83
Saturday September 27 9:16 AM ET


Paul Newman, the Academy-Award winning superstar who personified cool as an activist, race car driver, popcorn impresario and the anti-hero of such films as "Hud," "Cool Hand Luke" and "The Color of Money," has died. He was 83.

Newman died Friday after a long battle with cancer at his farmhouse near Westport, publicist Jeff Sanderson said. He was surrounded by his family and close friends.

In May, Newman he had dropped plans to direct a fall production of "Of Mice and Men," citing unspecified health issues.

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He got his start in theater and on television during the 1950s, and went on to become one of the world's most enduring and popular film stars, a legend held in awe by his peers. He was nominated for Oscars 10 times, winning one regular award and two honorary ones, and had major roles in more than 50 motion pictures, including "Exodus," "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," "The Verdict," "The Sting" and "Absence of Malice."

Newman worked with some of the greatest directors of the past half century, from Alfred Hitchcock and John Huston to Robert Altman, Martin Scorsese and the Coen brothers. His co-stars included Elizabeth Taylor, Lauren Bacall, Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks and, most famously, Robert Redford, his sidekick in "Butch Cassidy" and "The Sting."

He sometimes teamed with his wife and fellow Oscar winner, Joanne Woodward, with whom he had one of Hollywood's rare long-term marriages. "I have steak at home, why go out for hamburger?" Newman told Playboy magazine when asked if he was tempted to stray. They wed in 1958, around the same time they both appeared in "The Long Hot Summer," and Newman directed her in several films, including "Rachel, Rachel" and "The Glass Menagerie"

With his strong, classically handsome face and piercing blue eyes, Newman was a heartthrob just as likely to play against his looks, becoming a favorite with critics for his convincing portrayals of rebels, tough guys and losers. "I was always a character actor," he once said. "I just looked like Little Red Riding Hood."

Newman had a soft spot for underdogs in real life, giving tens of millions to charities through his food company and setting up camps for severely ill children. Passionately opposed to the Vietnam War, and in favor of civil rights, he was so famously liberal that he ended up on President Nixon's "enemies list," one of the actor's proudest achievements, he liked to say.

A screen legend by his mid-40s, he waited a long time for his first competitive Oscar, winning in 1987 for "The Color of Money," a reprise of the role of pool shark "Fast" Eddie Felson, whom Newman portrayed in the 1961 film "The Hustler."

Newman delivered a magnetic performance in "The Hustler," playing a smooth-talking, whiskey-chugging pool shark who takes on Minnesota Fats played by Jackie Gleason and becomes entangled with a gambler played by George C. Scott. In the sequel directed by Scorsese "Fast Eddie" is no longer the high-stakes hustler he once was, but rather an aging liquor salesman who takes a young pool player (Cruise) under his wing before making a comeback.

He won an honorary Oscar in 1986 "in recognition of his many and memorable compelling screen performances and for his personal integrity and dedication to his craft." In 1994, he won a third Oscar, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, for his charitable work.

His most recent academy nod was a supporting actor nomination for the 2002 film "Road to Perdition." One of Newman's nominations was as a producer; the other nine were in acting categories. (Jack Nicholson holds the record among actors for Oscar nominations, with 12; actress Meryl Streep has had 14.)

As he passed his 80th birthday, he remained in demand, winning an Emmy and a Golden Globe for the 2005 HBO drama "Empire Falls" and providing the voice of a crusty 1951 car in the 2006 Disney-Pixar hit, "Cars."

But in May 2007, he told ABC's "Good Morning America" he had given up acting, though he intended to remain active in charity projects. "I'm not able to work anymore as an actor at the level I would want to," he said. "You start to lose your memory, your confidence, your invention. So that's pretty much a closed book for me."

He received his first Oscar nomination for playing a bitter, alcoholic former star athlete in the 1958 film "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof." Elizabeth Taylor played his unhappy wife and Burl Ives his wealthy, domineering father in Tennessee Williams' harrowing drama, which was given an upbeat ending for the screen.

In "Cool Hand Luke," he was nominated for his gritty role as a rebellious inmate in a brutal Southern prison. The movie was one of the biggest hits of 1967 and included a tagline, delivered one time by Newman and one time by prison warden Strother Martin, that helped define the generation gap, "What we've got here is (a) failure to communicate."

Newman's hair was graying, but he was as gourgeous as ever and on the verge of his greatest popular success. In 1969, Newman teamed with Redford for "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," a comic Western about two outlaws running out of time. Newman paired with Redford again in 1973 in "The Sting," a comedy about two Depression-era con men. Both were multiple Oscar winners and huge hits, irreverent, unforgettable pairings of two of the best-looking actors of their time.

Newman also turned to producing and directing. In 1968, he directed "Rachel, Rachel," a film about a lonely spinster's rebirth. The movie received four Oscar nominations, including Newman, for producer of a best motion picture, and Woodward, for best actress. The film earned Newman the best director award from the New York Film Critics.

In the 1970s, Newman, admittedly bored with acting, became fascinated with auto racing, a sport he studied when he starred in the 1972 film, "Winning." After turning professional in 1977, Newman and his driving team made strong showings in several major races, including fifth place in Daytona in 1977 and second place in the Le Mans in 1979.

"Racing is the best way I know to get away from all the rubbish of Hollywood," he told People magazine in 1979.

Despite his love of race cars, Newman continued to make movies and continued to pile up Oscar nominations, his looks remarkably intact, his acting becoming more subtle, nothing like the mannered method performances of his early years, when he was sometimes dismissed as a Brando imitator. "It takes a long time for an actor to develop the assurance that the trim, silver-haired Paul Newman has acquired," Pauline Kael wrote of him in the early 1980s.

In 1982, he got his Oscar fifth nomination for his portrayal of an honest businessman persecuted by an irresponsible reporter in "Absence of Malice." The following year, he got his sixth for playing a down-and-out alcoholic attorney in "The Verdict."

In 1995, he was nominated for his slyest, most understated work yet, the town curmudgeon and deadbeat in "Nobody's Fool." New York Times critic Caryn James found his acting "without cheap sentiment and self-pity," and observed, "It says everything about Mr. Newman's performance, the single best of this year and among the finest he has ever given, that you never stop to wonder how a guy as good-looking as Paul Newman ended up this way."

Newman, who shunned Hollywood life, was reluctant to give interviews and usually refused to sign autographs because he found the majesty of the act offensive, according to one friend.

He also claimed that he never read reviews of his movies.

"If they're good you get a fat head and if they're bad you're depressed for three weeks," he said.

Off the screen, Newman had a taste for beer and was known for his practical jokes. He once had a Porsche installed in Redford's hallway crushed and covered with ribbons.

"I think that my sense of humor is the only thing that keeps me sane," he told Newsweek magazine in a 1994 interview.

In 1982, Newman and his Westport neighbor, writer A.E. Hotchner, started a company to market Newman's original oil-and-vinegar dressing. Newman's Own, which began as a joke, grew into a multimillion-dollar business selling popcorn, salad dressing, spaghetti sauce and other foods. All of the company's profits are donated to charities. By 2007, the company had donated more than $175 million, according to its Web site.

In 1988, Newman founded a camp in northeastern Connecticut for children with cancer and other life-threatening diseases. He went on to establish similar camps in several other states and in Europe.

He and Woodward bought an 18th century farmhouse in Westport, where they raised their three daughters, Elinor "Nell," Melissa and Clea.

Newman had two daughters, Susan and Stephanie, and a son, Scott, from a previous marriage to Jacqueline Witte.

Scott died in 1978 of an accidental overdose of alcohol and Valium. After his only son's death, Newman established the Scott Newman Foundation to finance the production of anti-drug films for children.

Newman was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the second of two boys of Arthur S. Newman, a partner in a sporting goods store, and Theresa Fetzer Newman.

He was raised in the affluent suburb of Shaker Heights, where he was encouraged him to pursue his interest in the arts by his mother and his uncle Joseph Newman, a well-known Ohio poet and journalist.

Following World War II service in the Navy, he enrolled at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, where he got a degree in English and was active in student productions.

He later studied at Yale University's School of Drama, then headed to New York to work in theater and television, his classmates at the famed Actor's Studio including Brando, James Dean and Karl Malden. His breakthrough was enabled by tragedy: Dean, scheduled to star as the disfigured boxer in a television adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's "The Battler," died in a car crash in 1955. His role was taken by Newman, then a little-known performer.

Newman started in movies the year before, in "The Silver Chalice," a costume film he so despised that he took out an ad in Variety to apologize. By 1958, he had won the best actor award at the Cannes Film Festival for the shiftless Ben Quick in "The Long Hot Summer."

In December 1994, about a month before his 70th birthday, he told Newsweek magazine he had changed little with age.

"I'm not mellower, I'm not less angry, I'm not less self-critical, I'm not less tenacious," he said. "Maybe the best part is that your liver can't handle those beers at noon anymore," he said.

Newman is survived by his wife, five children, two grandsons and his older brother Arthur.
 

I dug these up while checking out the official Elan School site.

I like this one because I know who the student was that conducted the tour with the interviewer. His name was "Mike Quinn" and he was from Chicago.
I was in Chicago in "94" and my best friends boyfriend was friends with Mike. So we chilled together a few times and he was swooped up off of the sidewalk by the police in front of me when we left a store with Corona's in hand. They were questioning him about some gang stuff. Needless to say he landed in "Cook County Jail". I went to see him a few times and even sent him a few bucks for commisarry. I left Chicago and never heard from him again. Hope he's OK.

 
 

Elan School
Poland Springs, Maine
Deanna Atkinson, Admissions Director
(207) 998-4666
Visit by: Tom Croke, June, 1992

My visit to Elan occurred on a record breaking 100 degree early June day. My first impression was of a well kept, but somewhat rustic Maine farm. The large group of teenagers off in a field playing soft-ball told me this was the right place. I was warmly greeted by a very busy admission staff. As I was oriented to the facility, however, my hostess, Donna Mangan, referred all questions regarding program to my soon to appear student guide. My guide, a delightful red haired young man I'll call Jeff, was a retired gang member from one of our largest cities (not Los Angeles). He had been at Elan for fifteen months, and was about to go home for his first visit. He was proud of Elan, grateful for what Elan had done to save his life, and did a superb tour.

Jeff escorted me to one of three frame buildings, each having an almost complete self-contained program. Altogether, these houses, plus one more for students close to discharge, contain 135 students. The interior of the building reminded me of a beehive, with all that was happening.

The first floor was a typical eating, cooking and living space. There was also a corridor for girls' dormitory space. In the dining space was a circle of about a dozen intense teenagers with one staff member. Jeff explained they were being confronted for not making sufficient progress (not achieving a high enough level).

Upstairs were a series of offices off the main corridor (in addition to a side corridor with boys' dormitory space). These offices were bustling with activity. Each of these offices had a particular function pertaining to the life and operation of the school, ranging from supervising housekeeping to providing for activities, and providing for security.

Each student is assigned to one of the offices and is given a particular title, establishing rank or level in the system. Each individual has assigned duties in the operation of the facility. Each is kept strictly accountable with intricate accountability procedures. Ranks are divided into two groups, called "strength" and "non-strength," reminiscent of the military distinction between commissioned officers and enlisted personnel. The program gives each group the task of its own maintenance, with strict accountability for precise response to the demands of the situation. Deviation from expectations will lead to heavy verbal confrontation, loss of rank, and privileges. The theory behind the approach is that as students learn to meet the expectations of this system, they will learn to meet the expectations of larger society in a responsible way.

Although the students have much responsibility, admissions are handled by the paid staff, students have no control over who joins their group, and a fully qualified psychologist supervises all therapeutic activities. An analogy to the military is somewhat appropriate, and it turns out many of the staff qualified for their positions through a military background. It is the responsibility of the higher level students to be the first line of stopping runaways, and intervening in other negative behaviors, a job they seem to do quite effectively. This is even to the extent of having a student sentry on duty all night every night (in shifts).

Education for most students takes place in the evening. I did not have an opportunity to observe classes, but did interview the Director of Education. Elan students work on a competency based curriculum adjustable to reflect the requirements of the school back home. Still, Elan can and does award its own diplomas. Elan is quite proud of its excellent college placement record. Reflecting the needs of the program, all homework is done on weekends in supervised study halls, as there is not time during the week.

Although I had limited opportunity to see it in operation, Elan keeps a separate house for students nearing departure, to smooth re-entry. The students living here, usually in the last three months of the eighteen month program, go off campus during the day for activity appropriate to their future plans, usually a job in the community, and attend school evenings with the other students. All have well developed discharge plans when they leave.

Elan is not for the faint hearted. While the atmosphere is highly confrontive, most of the confrontation comes from peers, who are well trained to come back with a high level of support following any stressful confrontation. Humiliation is stated clearly as a therapeutic tool, as is following up on such intervention with encouragement and warm support. BULLSHIT!

Many of their residents have significant Drug and Alcohol history, which Elan understands as a symptom of other pathology, frequently referring for twelve step work after graduation. The entire program stresses student contribution to the life of the student community.

I often hear Elan characterized as a school for the most out of control teenagers, and I often hear the suggestion that it is kind of an east coast Provo Canyon School. Neither perception is accurate, nor fair to either school. Unlike Provo Canyon School, Elan has no passive security systems, and no locked units. Elan takes pride in the fact that most of the direct intervention takes place through peer confrontation rather than interaction with a credentialed therapist, such as the direct treatment at Provo Canyon School. Elan cannot accommodate students who present immediate risk of violent acting out.

I would consider Elan very strongly for a young man or woman with serious oppositional tendencies or a conduct disorder, but who could be safely contained by Elan. I was particularly impressed with the honesty of Elan's presentation, in which I was very clearly exposed to those things they knew would not be to my taste. I feel confident that Elan is what it advertises itself to be.




Here is another one.


ÉLAN SCHOOL


Poland, Maine
Connie Kimball, Admissions
207-998-4666
www.elanschool.com

Visit by Louise Kreiner CEP & Amy D'Uva, May 17, 2007
 



Upon entering Poland, ME, we first noticed Shaker Village, a picturesque working town surrounded by rolling hills. A few minutes later, we drove into Elan's driveway. At first glance (on a very dreary day), the school looked less than inviting; a trailer type building showcased the administration building and the grounds looked a little barren (this due to mud season) waiting for life to begin. This is where the dreariness ended.

We were met in Portsmouth, NH, by Elan's driver, a woman named Teresa. Teresa was a lovely, upbeat, dedicated employee of Elan who educated us for the hour and a half ride. Her cheeriness and commitment to the students was our first clue that Elan would be a solid program.

A no-nonsense approach to learning both in the classroom and socially is what both students and staff on every level conveyed to us. The system at Elan deals with reward based on a military style pyramid. Students are all playing on an equal field starting out with various problems including substance abuse, family and social issues, academic failure, truancy, promiscuity and other defiant behavioral issues. Good behavior is rewarded by being given more responsibility in the two main houses. Poor behavior means demotion back down to the bottom of the pyramid. This school is run by the theory that each student is to be respectful of the others. In other words, when a situation comes up, student input is weighed heavily in determining discipline, therapy and consequences given to their peers. Recommendations for group session topics are also suggested by the students and reviewed by the staff. To our amazement, some of the students we spoke to privately had been in other programs, were 18 or older and had chosen to stay at Elan until completion of school and graduation. This in itself is a remarkable feat. We believe students recognize the dedication of staff and teachers to their cause. We love to see a strong academic component with solid courses a "real education". Elan has it. Each student who was closing in on graduation was going off to colleges in various locations across the country including "name schools".

When asked, the students spoke quite highly of all of the different facets of their lives in Maine. The program is meant to be co-educational and takes students from age 13. On our particular visit the youngest students there happen to be 16. Elan is not a clinical program nor do they pretend to be. Don't look for the Ritz here. The accommodations are cramped but spotless maintained by the worker bees (lowest on the pyramid). There is little TV or movie watching and only homework or college search can be done in the computer labs. Meal times are done in each house and run by top level students. Elan has a five-week rotating menu which is approved by a certified dietician to ensure that students receive proper nutrition. The food looked edible but again it's not a five star menu.

Quite simply Elan is down home Maine. The bonds with teachers, staff and each other are what drives and motivates these kids to become caring, responsible adults. The foundation given at Elan should catapult each student into college, work or back to family successfully.


And last but not least...



The Elan School was founded nearly 35 years ago when Joseph Ricci, who graduated from a therapeutic community himself and psychiatrist, Gerald Davidson, became disenchanted with traditional adolescent treatment. Both Ricci and Davidson are now deceased and Sharon Terry, Ricci’s widow, runs the school.

In the past 10 years, I have not seen another program with the depth of staff experience that Elan offers. The Executive Director began at the school 27 years ago; Admissions Director, Deanna Valente, has 20 years experience working with families; Clinical Director, Dr. Jerry Sapan, 15 years; Dr. Vander Putten, Medical Director, 16 years. The Academic Director, Frank McDermott, who retired as a superintendent from a public school system in Maine, started at Elan a mere five years ago, but brings a wealth of experience to the school. The four senior directors have been at Elan for 28, 20, 16 and 10 years respectively. They are directly responsible for the two houses where the students live. Five staff members graduated from Elan, and their history of employment at the school is 34 years, 28 years, 22 years, 2 years, with the last one recently hired. Leadership and experience are critical to a program’s effectiveness, and Elan’s strength is clearly illustrated in the staffs’ level of experience.

At Elan School, the program is delivered through a very complex therapeutic community/ positive peer culture model that found its roots in self-help substance abuse models developed at DAYTOP, Phoenix House, and Synanon. Students play a significant role in the school in the tradition of positive peer influence, meaning, the students actively confront others concerning their behaviors and attitudes. Students take order and responsibility seriously at Elan.

The student who toured me around the campus was leaving Elan in a few weeks. He was articulate about the details of the program, had clear ideas of attending college and moving on with his life. He appeared to be competent and business like in his demeanor with clarity of where he was going and why. Looking almost like bees around a beehive, the students I saw were completing their daily chores and duties. It was interesting to see how intense they were in their daily responsibilities, and one can only surmise that Elan places a very high emphasis on accountability.

Elan believes many youth practice “pseudoâ€

The General Meeting  
 hanzomon4 wrote:
 What is a gm? I've seen it mentioned in a few post but it's never explained?



A General Meeting is when your whole house gets together,
usually in the dining room
A stage is set
They wait for you
All of your "peers"
With twisted hatred
you stand before them
Then the house arises
And rushes toward you
yelling and spitting on you
Releasing brainwashed phony hatred
After a while
After everyone has "got their feelings off for you"
The Director takes over as MC for the show.
He flays you piece by piece.
The crowd feeds on the sickness
This could last 2-24 or more hours.
Depending on how many houses.
How many people are getting a GM.
How Many Costumes/Signs ect.
Plese add what you remember

_______________    







Eliscu wrote the above to describe a general meeting to a person that had never been in Elan....I believe it is pretty accurate. What do you all think?


What was the worst GM/Ring/3 House you ever saw?

YOU WERE STAFF @ ELAN, I was in the Corner!!!





Artie, were YOU staff at Elan?

I need clarification here.....