Several news organizations seem to think so.
A number of published reports claim the 83-year-old Oscar winner is dying.
“Paul Newman Gravely Ill with Cancer,” screams one headline.
“Newman Knocking on Death’s Door,” reads another.
The buzz about the actor’s health has reached epic proportions, yet the only word from Newman’s camp came in the form of a statement released yesterday saying: “Newman says he’s doing nicely.”
That’s it. No denial. No confirmation. Just a simple sentence that fails to answer many of the questions Newman’s fans have been posting on his company’s website.
The whole Paul-Newman-is-dying brouhaha started when several unconfirmed media accounts revealed that the movie star was undergoing outpatient treatment for lung cancer at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan. Though, a spokeswoman for the medical facility said yesterday that she had no information about Newman being a patient there.
Adding to the drama is a picture Martha Stewart just posted on her blog of the big screen icon posing with her at fundraiser for Newman’s Hole in the Wall Camp Gang, which aids critically ill children, last week. In the photo the actor looks pale and gaunt. Concerns about Newman’s condition also surfaced when the Academy Award-winner appeared during practice for the Indianapolis 500 auto race last month. In those pictures Newman looks frail and appears to have lost a significant amount of weight.
The closest thing fans have to a firm confirmation about Newman’s condition is a statement the actor’s neighbor and business partner released earlier today.
“I know that it’s a form of cancer,” A.E. Hotchner told news reporters. “It’s a form of cancer and he’s dealing with it.”
Hotchner, who partnered with Newman to start Newman’s Own salad dressing company in the 1980s, said that the actor told him about the disease about 18 months ago. Hotchner said Newman didn’t elaborate on his condition, but did confirm that he was in active treatment.