Paul Newman

Already the recipient of substantial tabloid attention, this catty biography of Paul Newman is the sort of book for which the phrase ""damning with faint praise"" was created. Based on 40-year-old interviews, published accounts and information from ""confidential sources,"" written in competent journalese by veteran film reporter Quirk (The Kennedys in Hollywood), the book begins by dismissing previous accounts of Newman for going too easy on him, ""as if he were someone you didn't dare say anything bad about,"" and ends by scolding him for wanting to be ""Paul Newman movie star, but only when he feels like it."" In between comes a tendentious, shallow account of the actor's life and career that implies at every point that he is egotistical and untalented. To prove his critical independence, Quirk praises Newman's first film, the execrable Biblical epic The Silver Chalice, while claiming that Newman's performance in such films as The Hustler, Hud and The Sting were ""not bad."" Newman's second wife, the actress Joanne Woodward, comes off even worse. Quirk calls her ""Miss Bitch,"" depicting her throughout as jealous, home-wrecking and hysterical. The book also hints, in the most leering manner possible, that Newman may be gay or bisexual, and that he has for years been in the grips of a ""homosexual panic."" Apart from some old stories by Gore Vidal and a couple of ancient Hollywood rumors, not a shred of real evidence is advanced for this claim, yet Quirk builds his book around it, walking right up to the edge of outing his subject. In any case, the book is a prurient, mean-spirited performance, one that will convince readers that Newman's desire for privacy is justified. Photos not seen by PW. (Apr.)