Paul Newman's first family

Paul Newman's marriage to Joanne Woodward was one of Hollywood's most successful and enduring marriages. The couple tied the knot in 1958 and remained married until Newman's death in 2008. Once asked about his fidelity to his wife, Newman famously answered: "Why go out for a hamburger when you have steak at home?" 

The couple's 50-year happy marriage almost makes one forget that Woodward wasn't Newman's first wife. In 1949, at the age of 24, Newman married 19-year-old Jackie Witte, a fellow aspiring actor whom he had met while doing summer stage work. A year later they had their first child Scott, followed by daughters Susan in 1953 and Stephanie in 1954. Witte gave up acting and devoted herself to raising their three children. Newman, in turn, pursued his acting career and spent increasingly less time at home, which caused them to eventually grow apart.  

Newman met Woodward in 1953 while he was still married to Witte. He made his Broadway debut in Picnic where Woodward was an understudy. It wasn't until four years later, when they starred together in Martin Ritt's The Long Hot Summer, that they fell in love and reportedly started an affair. Newman divorced Witte and married Woodward in January 1958. With Woodward he eventually had three more children — Nell (1959), Lissy (1961) and Clea (1965). 

Paul, Jackie and son Scott

Shown below is a letter from Paul Newman to Barbara Rushmore (president of his fan club), written in April 1955 when Newman was at the start of his career*. In his letter he introduces the members of his (first) family. Newman's only son Scott, who became a stuntman and an actor, would tragically die of a drug overdose in 1978, only 28 years old.  

*At the time Newman was in the midst of his second Broadway production The Desperate Hours (which ran until August 1955), playing the role that Humphrey Bogart would later play in the film. The actor had thus far appeared in only one film, The Silver Chalice (1954), which he later called "the worst motion picture produced during the 1950s". 

Source: rr auction

Transcript: 

April 21, 1955

Dear Barbara -

Family consists of wife Jackie, actress, Scott, age 4 1/2 who is a monster and All American menace, Susan, age 2, who promises to be something of a Jean Harlowe [sic] and Stephanie age 7 weeks who just sneezes. We live in a small apartment in Long Island with a sort of patio on which there is a charcoal grill on which I cook hamburgers 5 nights a week. That’s just about all I do. All the children look like my mother-in-law. We have no dogs but recently acquired two goldfish. It is Scott’s duty to change the water, so the fish usually swim around in a complete fog. 

That’s the family.

Paul

Above: Paul Newman and his son Scott, photographed in 1972. In memory of his son Newman founded the Scott Newman Center for the prevention of drug abuse. Below: 1973, Newman and Woodward with their daughters (clockwise from left) Clea, Nell, Lissy, and Stephanie (from Newman's marriage to Witte). Photo by Milton Greene.