'Paul and Me,' a tale of friendship with Paul Newman

PAUL AND ME: 53 Years of Adventures and Misadventures With My Pal, Paul Newman, by A.E. Hotchner. Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, 256 pp, $26.95.

Paul Newman, who died in 2008 at age 83, at home across the Sound in Westport, Conn., was not your average ageless, ice blue-eyed Hollywood leading man. He was actually a regular guy, who scarfed down domestic beer and hamburgers and rebelled against superstardom. Screenwriter and author A.E. Hotchner, a longtime pal, writes that Newman never signed autographs because "the majesty of the act was offensive to him."

Hotchner's engaging buddy-buddy memoir begins when Newman inherits a role in a 1955 Hotchner teleplay, originally intended for James Dean. Newman was soon triumphing in the film "Somebody Up There Likes Me," and later classics like "Cool Hand Luke" and "The Sting." Hotchner reveals that Newman earned $12 million for making "The Towering Inferno," but found the experience "like going to the dentist," partly because of ego-tripping co-star Steve McQueen.

Throughout, Hotchner is a clear-eyed observer of Newman's personal life (Newman's widow is actress Joanne Woodward), and his anguish over the accidental death of his son, Scott. He also follows Newman's second career as a daring race-car driver. The two men are luckless boaters (their craft bears an amusing excremental name that can't be repeated here) and chamber music aficionados.

In Hotchner's eyes, his famous buddy was an impulsive, absent-minded, highly competitive rebel who funded many good causes, not just the eponymous food company that has given hundreds of millions to charity.

For instance, Newman produced, co-wrote and acted in 1984's "Harry & Son" as a favor to a dying friend.

Turns out the guy who played so many anti-heroes was just an old softy.