How Did Paul Newman’s Son Scott Newman Die? – Ethan Hawke’s HBO Max six-part documentary series “The Last Movie Stars” explores Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward’s lengthy, ostensibly happy marriage. They were both well-known performers, and their relationship lasted from 1958 until Newman died in 2008. However, as Hawke begins to explore in the first episode, this is a couple that has had the same highs and lows as any other committed union, most of it driven by their respective special positions in the public eye.
We now have the information you need to understand more about Scott Newman, the son of famed actor-director Paul Newman, with an emphasis on his tragic, untimely death in 1978.
Also See: Where Are Paul Newman’s Daughters Today?
Scott Newman: Who Was He?
The Towering Inferno and Breakheart Pass featured Alan Scott Newman, an American stuntman and actor (September 23, 1950 – November 20, 1978), in important roles. The Scott Newman Center, which is devoted to preventing drug use via education, was founded by Scott Newman’s father following Scott’s death from a heroin overdose in 1978. He was Paul Newman’s lone child, an Oscar-winning actor.
Paul Newman and Jackie Witte, his first wife, welcomed Newman into the world in Cleveland, Ohio. His father left his family in New York City and came to California to advance his career when Scott was still a small boy. Scott has two younger sisters, Susan and Stephanie. His parents got divorced in 1958, and his father married Joanne Woodward. In the late 1960s, they relocated to Westport, Connecticut, where Scott temporarily attended Staples High School. Scott attended high-priced private schools, some of which expelled him for misbehavior.
Scott left college in the late 1960s and began working as a stuntman in his father’s movies, completing more than 500 parachute jumps to earn his instructor certification. He refrained from approaching his father for financial assistance while working odd jobs. Early in the 1970s, his father utilized his connections to help launch his son’s acting career and secured a position for him in Robert Redford’s 1975 film The Great Waldo Pepper. Scott said, “I’m not taking any acting help from my father. I want my work to stand on its own merit.” He had begun consuming large amounts of alcohol and was detained for infractions linked to alcohol. He also kicked a police officer in the head when they were in a squad car after he was detained for drunkenly vandalizing a school bus. Newman’s father paid the following $1,000 fine.
Later, Newman portrayed an acrophobic firefighter in his father’s 1974 film, The Towering Inferno. Scott is one of the two firefighters at the Bank of America skyscraper in San Francisco, bringing a man on a stretcher down the plaza steps to California Street, while Paul’s character is on the steps with Faye Dunaway. Both Newmans appear in the movie’s conclusion, although they don’t speak to one another because Scott’s sequences were with Steve McQueen. In 1975, Newman also had cameo roles in a few TV shows, including Marcus Welby, M.D., Harry O., and S.W.A.T. He also made an appearance in the Charles Bronson movie “Breakheart Pass” that same year.
The following year, Newman made his final appearance in the movie Fraternity Row, which was released in 1977. By 1978, he was sleeping on friends’ floors and working as a laborer due to his worsening alcoholism. Additionally, he attempted cabaret singing in small bars under the name William Scott. He confessed to family friend A. E. Hotchner at this time, “It’s hell being his son, you know … I don’t have his blue eyes. I don’t have his talent. I don’t have his luck. I don’t have anything … that’s me.”
What Happened to Scott Newman and How Did He Die?
He had been injured in a motorcycle accident in the fall of 1978, and he was taking medications to help him feel better. He also agreed to the offer of his father-paid mental health treatment. On the night of November 19, 1978, he consumed a deadly quantity of valium in Los Angeles along with alcohol and other narcotics. According to Hotchner’s father, “There’s nothing you can say that will repair my guilt about Scott. It will be with me as long as I live.”
Paul Newman founded the Scott Newman Center in 1980 with the goal of assisting medical professionals and educators in warning kids about the hazards of alcohol and drug usage. The group also established the Rowdy Ridge Gang Camp, a system of summer camps for families struggling with drug and alcohol abuse issues.
