Academy award-winning actor, style icon, salad dressing extraordinaire: there’s very little Paul Newman hasn’t been revered for in life and death – and it seems the Cool Hand Luke star was also ahead of the curve when it came to supporting gender equality in Hollywood, too.
In an interview with BBC Radio 5Live, actress Susan Sarandon revealed that Newman once gave her part of his salary after he learned the Academy Award-winning actress was to be paid less than her male co-stars in the movie Twilight (no, not that one).
While promoting her new project Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story, Sarandon told the radio station: “Emma Stone once came forward and said she got equal pay, because her male stars insisted upon it and gave up something of theirs. That happened to me with Paul Newman at one point, when I did a film with him ages ago."
Despite Twilight having a “favoured nations” clause — an agreement between producer and actor, which guarantees that the leading actors are given the same terms — Sarandon revealed there was still a disparity in pay between herself and male co-stars Newman and Gene Hackman.
“They said it was 'favoured nations', but they only meant the two guys,” she added. “He [Newman] stepped forward and said, 'Well I'll give you part of mine'. So, yeah, he was a gem."
Further proof that this Hollywood great is deserving of the title.
