Cryptic about Cancer: Newman Plays it Smooth

Hollywood veteran Paul Newman has added some more fuel to the fire that reports about him suffering from cancer have generated, with a brief statement that did not say anything much. In a statement, Jeff Sanderson, spokesman for the 83-year old Newman, said, “Newman says he’s doing nicely.” Sanderson sent this text as an e-mail to Reuters.

When contacted over the phone at his Los Angeles office, all Sanderson would say was, “This is what I got from him. He says he’s doing nicely, and this is the statement I wanted to share with you, and that’s what I have. I spoke to his office. ... this is the statement that came directly from him.”

Newman’s enigmatic response comes after numerous media reports and intense speculation that he was suffering from lung cancer and that he was under treatment as an outpatient at New York’s Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. These reports have been flying around not just on TV but also worldwide across the Internet.

Adding to the mystery is the stance that the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center has taken, which has been to neither confirm nor deny the reports about Newman’s illness.

Newman has been gradually moving out of the public eye over the past year or so. A little over a year back, he announced his decision to end an acting career that spanned an entire half-decade, citing his age as the reason for that decision.

Then, in May this year, he also decided not to continue in his role as the director for a stage production – Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck at Connecticut’s Westport County Playhouse.

At that time, he gave the reason for his decision as ‘unspecified health issues.’ The rumors only seemed to confirm the fact that he was unwell, and seriously so. Until his recent statement, that is.

Newman has been something of a Hollywood legend from the old days, starring in movies of the caliber of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and The Hustler. He has been nominated for the Oscar for his roles in these movies.

He has also tried his hand at being the anti-hero, a move that actually propelled him into the rarified zone that only a few superstars in Hollywood can lay claim to. He has portrayed the anti-hero in movies like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Cool Hand Luke. He has also played a smooth con in The Sting.

In a career spanning six decades, Newman has been nominated for the Oscar a phenomenal nine times, and walked away with it once, when he won the best actor award in The Color of Money (1986).