Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward’s Daughter Shares Rare Family Photos in Book ‘Head Over Heels’

For many, Hollywood power couple Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward represented the allure of Tinseltown.

Together, the actors have won two Oscars, four Emmys and a long resume of classic films such as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Three faces of Eve. Their partnership is also the basis for recent projects including Ethan Hawke’s Max miniseries The last movie stars and Newman’s posthumous memoirs, The extraordinary life of an ordinary man, both released in 2022. Behind closed doors, however, the iconic stars revealed a softer side. “They could have their knockdowns, their drag fights, but they always came back to each other,” their daughter, artist and former actress Melissa Newman, exclusively to PEOPLE. “What’s amazing about Hollywood — that they’ve been able to maintain this relationship.”

Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward.

Joanne Woodward Newman

In his new book of photographs, From the Head: Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman: A Love Affair in Words and Pictures, now from Little, Brown Voracious, Melissa shares an intimate look at her parents’ relationship. Created with editor Andrew Kelly and designer Dan Miller, the book features more than 100 photographs—some never before seen—of the iconic Hollywood couple, from the East Coast to Los Angeles to various movie sets around the world. Melissa, 62, grew up surrounded by photography in the family home in Westport, Connecticut. She recalls that it often felt as if her parents’ photographer friends, including Philippe Halsman and Bruce Davidson, were “living in our house,” taking pictures. Newman and Woodward also took many photographs of Melissa and her two sisters.

“There are so many pictures of my parents with cameras hanging around their necks,” says Melissa. “My dad used to walk around with a hammer and nails. Every time a new photo [came in]or he decided to put something on the wall… he would just walk around looking for a place.”

Paul Newman with daughters Nell and Melissa.

Joanne Woodward/ Joanne Woodward Newman

Head over heels shows photos that were in Melissa’s childhood home. The book, which she says is “loosely themed,” also includes quotes from her parents culled from interviews, transcripts and “charmingly naughty” letters between the pair.

Paul Newman reveals how wife Joanne Woodward made him a ‘sexual creature’ in new posthumous memoir

“I would come to the line [while reading the letters] and I’d say, ‘Oh, Dad, I can’t put this letter in the book,'” she says. “I think there are many cases where you look at a photograph and maybe you don’t engage with it, but when you read a quote, you look at the photograph with different eyes.”Head over heels it consists in looking at people from a new perspective. Paul Newman, who died in 2008, appears in many lighthearted pictures. In one photo, he is singing to a cow in Vermont. In the second video he recorded A rebel without a cause screenwriter Stewart Stern, he stares at himself in the mirror, eyes wide, face covered in shaving cream.

Paul Newman.

Stewart Stern / Joanne Woodward Newman

“My dad was a dork,” says Melissa. “He really was. He was a goofball, kind of like a college boy, with a beer. And he just had a really silly sense of humor, which made him a wonderful grandfather. He was a lot of fun with the kids.”

His philanthropy includes initiatives such as the 1988 Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, created for seriously ill children and their families. Melissa says that for her, “it’s really the purest iteration of his legacy.”

Remembering Paul Newman 10 years after his death: ‘His real heart was about philanthropy’

Woodward, says Melissa, was often behind the camera, but had a “free spirit.” She recalls seeing photos of her mother, now 93, in costumes from her films. One such photo that did not make it into the book shows Woodward after cutting off her hair with nail clippers for her 1955 film. Count to three and pray. Woodward claimed that her character, Lissy, would never wear her hair in the braid that was originally planned.

“[My dad] I really felt that my mother was the most important thing to me,” says Melissa. “As an actor, he put my mother above him as an actress until the day he died, I think.”

Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward.

Stewart Stern / Joanne Woodward Newman

Although her parents’ relationship was both “sweet” and “turbulent,” Melissa intends to Head over heels to show “the most beautiful, wonderful and intriguing aspect of their relationship, which was their relationship.”

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

“This is really just about their romance, which was complex,” she says. “It was not simple. It wasn’t all roses. And between the quotes and the photos, I think by the time you get to the end of the book, you really feel like you were there with them.”Head over heels is now available.

Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education