Susan Kendall Newman, actress, Emmy-nominated producer, social activist and eldest daughter of Paul Newman, has died. She was 72 years old.
Newman died Aug. 2 from complications of chronic health issues, her family said.
Newman, whose mother was Paul Newman’s first wife, Jackie Witte, played one of six teenagers trying to make their way into the Beatles’ first performance on The Ed Sullivan Show in February 1964 at I want to hold your hand (1978), directed and co-written by Robert Zemeckis.
She also played smaller roles in Slap shot (1977), where she appeared as a pharmacist in the hockey film starring her father, and that of Robert Altman A wedding (1978).
Earlier, Newman appeared on Broadway in 1975 in We are interrupting this program…directed by Jerry Adler, but the inventive production – involving “gunmen” who enter the audience and invade the Ambassador Theater during one play – lasted only seven releases.
In 1980, she produced an ABC Theater presentation of Michael Cristofer’s Pulitzer Prize-winning film. The shadow box which was directed by her father and starred her stepmother, Academy Award winner Joanne Woodward.
And she produced a series of family audiobooks of classic literature for Simon & Schuster, earning a Grammy nomination for Best Spoken Word Album for Children.
Susan Kendall Newman and Paul Newman circa 1970.
Everett Collection
Her parents were married in Cleveland on December 27, 1949, and had three children – Scott (born 1950), Susan (born 1953), and Stephanie (born 1954) – before their divorce was finalized on January 28, 1958.
The next day, her father married Woodward – they had first met on Broadway in Picnic in 1953, then played in The long and hot summer (1958) – in Las Vegas. They had three daughters – Elinor (born 1959), Melissa (born 1961) and Claire (born 1965) – before dying of lung cancer at age 83 on September 26, 2008.
Witte died in 1994 at the age of 64.
After his brother, Scott, who had appeared in films such as The imposing hell (1974) and Broken Heart Pass (1975), died in November 1978 of a drug overdose, her father founded the Scott Newman Center for Drug Abuse Prevention.
In 1980, she joined the Scott Newman Foundation and eventually became its executive director. As an expert in drug abuse prevention, she has testified before Congress and been a frequent speaker at the Betty Ford Center as well as universities, hospitals and community groups.
Her family said they were especially proud of a groundbreaking program in several states, inviting 10th graders to create their own anti-drug television ads. The educational materials guided students through research, storyboarding, and production, with winning entries professionally produced and distributed nationally.
She also served as president of the Entertainment Industry Foundation and founded a consulting firm that provided expertise to government agencies, businesses and nonprofit organizations in developing prevention programs, awareness efforts and fundraising strategies.
Most recently, she has focused her advocacy on education, juvenile justice, conservation and health care.
