In Memory of Scott Newman (Son of Hollywood Icon Paul Newman): Decades After His Tragic Death

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It's been decades since actor/stuntman Scott Newman died of a drug overdose on November 20, 1978. He was the only son and the eldest child of actor Paul Newman. Here's what happened.

A Closer Look

(Alan) Scott Newman was born on September 23, 1950, to Paul Newman and Jacqueline “Jackie” Witte. By 1958, his father divorced his mother and wed actress Joanne Woodward.

For the majority of his childhood, Scott resided with Witte and his sisters in California. He frequently visited his father’s family in Connecticut, but his relationship with Paul was complex.

Scott was frequently expelled from several schools due to less than exemplary behavior including his disinterest in education, and drug/alcohol abuse.

Though later a college dropout, Scott worked diligently as a Hollywood stuntman before becoming a certified skydiving instructor, singer, and actor.

In Debted to Friends, and Not In a Good Way

Unfortunately, Scott Newman was always in financial debt with friends and felt intimated by his father's enormous success. In a 1974 interview with New York Daily News columnist Sidney Fields, Scott observed, "Out there in Hollywood you can't stand on daddy's feet. You need your own."

As he continued to tell Fields, when he was a child, he felt "entitled to everything" that his father gave him, though he eventually "made and paid" his own way.

Too Much, Too Soon, Too Familiar

The life of Scott Newman reveals an all-too-familiar, sad Hollywood story like that that of many former child stars. More often than not, the common denominator in such Tinseltown tales of youth and privilege is having too much too soon amid the spotlight.

As was the case with former child stars such as Rusty Hamer (of The Danny Thomas Show, who committed suicide in 1990), the pressures of Hollywood became too much to bear in their youth.

Scott was not a former child star, but as the child of an extremely popular Hollywood legend, he experienced similar pressures.

Unfortunately, he turned to alcohol and drugs to help cope with unavoidable comparisons to his famous dad. He simply did not have the skills to more productively handle the surmounting pressures that arose by way of his father's celebrity.

Conclusion

In the end, Paul Newman's life changed drastically after the tragic demise of his beloved son Scott Newman.

Although never the same again, Paul, who died of lung cancer in 2008, still somehow found the strength to establish the Scott Newman Center, which remains dedicated to preventing drug abuse through education.