How Paul Newman Went From Hollywood Legend To Iconic Food Brand Entrepreneur

It was as though someone designed Paul Newman in a lab to be the coolest guy who ever lived. He was a devastatingly handsome movie star who embodied charisma in films like "Cool Hand Luke," "The Sting," and "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid"; he was a race car driver who raced until he was in his 80s; he enjoyed a fifty-year marriage with his similarly beautiful Oscar-winning wife, Joanne Woodward. And on top of all that, he started a line of food products called Newman's Own, which remains a mainstay on supermarket shelves while raising hundreds of millions for charity. While Newman's Own sells all sorts of food, including tomato sauce, frozen pizza, and popcorn, its most famous product is the one that started it all: salad dressing.

Around Christmas in 1982, Newman decided to do something a little different when giving gifts to his neighbors. Something of a foodie (declaring one California restaurant to be the best in the world), he forwent the usual bottles of wine and handfuls of Rolexes (or whatever it is rich people give each other for Christmas) and filled bottles with his homemade salad dressing recipe, handing them out. (Famously, he made a big enough batch that he had to stir it in a tub with a canoe paddle.) It wasn't too long before those lucky recipients knocked at his door asking for more, and from there the idea for a business blossomed. Newman founded it with his good friend, a writer named A.E. Hotchner, and it took off from there.

Plenty of celebrities have launched their own food and drink brands, from Patti LaBelle's sweet potato pies to the countless celebrity-backed tequilas. But Newman's Own stands out, not only for its success and longevity, but for its net benefit to the world. Almost twenty years after Newman's death, Newman's Own is still going, selling quality salad dressings, fruit juices, and salsas in stores across America. But although Newman's Own rakes in plenty of money (in 2016, their gross sales were $600 million), those profits aren't just sitting in the Newman family bank vault — they're being used by the Newman's Own Foundation for charity.

Some of the many charities Newman's Own has supported are the SeriousFun Children's Network (summer camps for children with serious illnesses, founded as the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp by Newman himself in 1988); the Fisher House Foundation, which supports military families; and an assortment of organizations looking to combat hunger and support Native American tribes. Newman himself said he was uncomfortable using his likeness just for his own profit, instead choosing to devote himself to good causes. His philosophy is right there on the label, beneath his smiling face: "Let's give it all away!"