Notes
Paul Newman
A Hollywood veteran whose career spans for decades, Paul Newman is one of the
film industry's most beloved stars. An eight-time Academy Award nominee, Newman
received a special honorary Oscar in 1985, and a Best Actor Oscar the following year
for his performance in "The Color of Money".
Newman has also distinguished himself as a director with such films as "Rachel,
Rachel ", for which he received "Best Director " from the New York Film Critics.
Born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1925, Newman began his acting career with a local
children ' s drama group. On his eighteenth birthday he enlisted in the navy spending
three years as a radioman on torpedo bombers in the Pacific. After graduating from
college, he enrolled in Yale Drama School.
Moving to New York, and working in television , his first Broadway role was in
William Inge' s "Picnic " as Alan Seymour. It was here that he first met Joanne
Woodward who he would later marry in 1958. To date, Woodward and Newman have
starred in ten films together. In 1992, both Newman and Woodward were recipients of
the Kennedy Center Honors, which are presented annually to significant contributors
to the American culture through the performing Arts.
A competitive race-car driver, Newman is also a four-time winner of the Sports
Club of America National Championship. In 1995, he won the 24 hours of Daytona in
the GT-1 Class along with his teammates which placed him in the Guinness Book of
Records as the oldest driver to win such a race.
Newman 's social concerns have also been expressed through his numerous
charitable works, including the anti-drug campaign he and his wife have waged under
the auspices of The Scott Newman Center, named in honor of his late son. Additionally,
Newman also has his own line of foods, "Newman ' s Own" , the profits of which go to
charitable and education causes. To date he has given away over $62 million.
In 1988, Newman started the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, a camp for children
with cancer and serious blood-related illnesses located in Connecticut. He is also
opening camps in Florida, Ireland, and France.
The Mission
Summer Camp: The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, founded by Paul Newman in
1988, is a nonprofit residential summer camp, an ingeniously designed and dazzlingly
equipped Wild West hideout in northeastern Connecticut, where children with cancer
or life threatening blood diseases do not have to sit on the sidelines. Over 900 children
from 7 to 15 years old come each year, free of charge, from across the United States
and abroad.
Year-Round Programs: The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp provides activities for
seriously ill campers and their siblings at camp and in their own communities. Camp
sponsored programs provide health care professionals and social workers with support
and training. Retreats are organized for the children's parents at resorts around the
country offering respite, counseling, mutual support and positive activities, free of
charge.
Support of Other Camps: The Hole in the Wall Gang Fund has helped to found
other camps with missions like The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp by providing medical,
programmatic, architectural, accounting and fund-raising advice and limited financial
support. These camps include The Barretstown Gang Camp (Ireland), The Boggie
Creek Gang Camp (Florida), The Buffalo Prairie Gang Camp (Illinois), the Double
"1-I"- Hole In The Woods Ranch (New York State), and L'Envol (France).
Continued page 140
Communications: I WILL SING LIFE, Voices from the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp,
published by Little, Brown and Company, available on audio tape, is a 224 page
collection of first person accounts and poetry by seven campers. With piercing candor
and eloquence, they describe their experiences of living with cancer, sickle cell
anemia, disability, or AIDS. This book has become a valuable resource for schools,
libraries, hospitals and for the general public.
For further information about The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp contact:
555 Long Wharf Drive
New Haven, CT 06511
Tel. (203) 772-0522