Alan Scott Newman was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 film and television actor

Actor

An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

 and stuntman

Stuntman

A stuntman or stunt performer is someone who performs dangerous stunts.Stuntman may also refer to:*The Stunt Man, a 1980 film starring Peter O'Toole*Stuntman , a 2002 video game**Stuntman: Ignition, its sequel...

, best known for his roles in The Towering Inferno

The Towering Inferno

The Towering Inferno is a 1974 American action disaster film produced by Irwin Allen featuring an all-star cast led by Steve McQueen and Paul Newman.A co-production between Twentieth Century-Fox and Warner Bros...

and Breakheart Pass. He was the only son of Academy Award-winning actor Paul Newman

Paul Newman

Paul Leonard Newman was an American actor, film director, entrepreneur, humanitarian, professional racing driver and auto racing enthusiast...

. After Scott Newman's death in 1978 from a drug overdose, his father established the Scott Newman Center in his honor, dedicated to preventing drug abuse through education.

Early life

Born in Cleveland

Cleveland, Ohio

Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...

, Ohio

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

 to Paul Newman and his first wife Jackie Witte, Scott Newman was only a year old when the family moved to New York City. When Scott was still a young boy with two younger sisters, Susan and Stephanie, his father moved to California to further his career, leaving his family in New York. By 1958, his parents had divorced and his father had married Joanne Woodward

Joanne Woodward

Joanne Gignilliat Trimmier Woodward is an American actress, television and theatrical producer, and widow of Paul Newman...

. In a later interview, Paul Newman said of his children, "When they were growing up I wasn't there much, and when I was there I was very inconsistent with them. It was hard for them to get a balance." Scott attended expensive private schools but was dismissed from some of them for bad behaviour. He came to resent the absence of his father, blaming Woodward and refusing to speak to her.

Acting career

By the late 1960s, Newman had dropped out of college and started to take jobs as a stuntman in his father's films, making over 500 parachute jumps to become a certified instructor. He also took on menial jobs and refused to ask his father for financial help. In the early 1970s, his father decided to use his influence to try to initiate an acting career for his son, and arranged a part for him in The Great Waldo Pepper

The Great Waldo Pepper

The Great Waldo Pepper is a 1975 drama film directed, produced, and co-written by George Roy Hill. It stars Robert Redford as a discontented airplane pilot in the years 1926-1931....

, starring Robert Redford

Robert Redford

Charles Robert Redford, Jr. , better known as Robert Redford, is an American actor, film director, producer, businessman, environmentalist, philanthropist, and founder of the Sundance Film Festival. He has received two Oscars: one in 1981 for directing Ordinary People, and one for Lifetime...

. At the time, Scott stated, "I'm not taking any acting help from my father. I want my work to stand on its own merit." He had started to drink heavily, and was arrested for minor drink-related offences. He also assaulted a police officer, kicking him in the head in a squad car after being arrested for vandalizing a school bus while drunk. Newman's father paid the resulting $1000 fine.

He later played an acrophobic

Acrophobia

Acrophobia is an extreme or irrational fear of heights. It belongs to a category of specific phobias, called space and motion discomfort that share both similar etiology and options for treatment.Most people experience a degree of natural fear when exposed to heights, especially if there is little...

 fireman in The Towering Inferno

The Towering Inferno

The Towering Inferno is a 1974 American action disaster film produced by Irwin Allen featuring an all-star cast led by Steve McQueen and Paul Newman.A co-production between Twentieth Century-Fox and Warner Bros...

, in which his father also starred. He also played small parts in various TV series during 1975, such as Marcus Welby, M.D.

Marcus Welby, M.D.

Marcus Welby, M.D. is an American medical drama television program that aired on ABC from September 23, 1969, to July 29, 1976. It starred Robert Young as a family practitioner with a kind bedside manner, and was produced by David Victor and David J. O'Connell...

, Harry O and S.W.A.T.

S.W.A.T. (TV series)

----S.W.A.T. is a 1970s American television series about the adventures of the WCPD's Olympic Division Special Weapons And Tactics team operating in an unidentified California city....

; and in the Charles Bronson

Charles Bronson

Charles Bronson , born Charles Dennis Buchinsky was an American actor, best-known for such films as Once Upon a Time in the West, The Magnificent Seven, The Dirty Dozen, The Great Escape, Rider on the Rain, The Mechanic, and the popular Death Wish series...

 film, Breakheart Pass.

Newman subsequently appeared in the 1977 film, Fraternity Row

Fraternity Row (Film)

Fraternity Row is a 1977 film drama portraying life in a 1950s fraternity at a fictional college.-Plot:This movie tells the story of one college student and his trials and tribulations as he pledges the Gamma Nu Pi Fraternity at a fictional Eastern school.Originally this film was Charles Gary...

, but this was to be his last appearance. His alcoholism became more severe, and by 1978 he was sleeping on friends' floors and working as a labourer. He also tried his hand at cabaret singing in small clubs, billing himself as William Scott. Around this time, he confided to family friend A. E. Hotchner

A. E. Hotchner

Aaron Edward Hotchner, is an American editor, novelist, playwright and biographer.-Biography:He was born in St. Louis and attended Soldan High School...

, "It's hell being his son, you know... I don't have his blue eyes. I don't have his talent. I don't have his luck. I don't have anything... that's me."

Death

He suffered a motorcycle accident in the fall of 1978, and was taking painkillers to ease the discomfort of his injuries. He also accepted an offer of psychiatric help, paid for by his father. However, in Los Angeles on the night of November 19, he took a fatal dose of valium with alcohol and other drugs. Scott Steinberg, one of the minders appointed by his father, called an ambulance, but Newman was pronounced dead on arrival, the official verdict being an accident. His father later said, "It was the saddest day of my life. The memory of it can never be erased." He told Hotchner: "There's nothing you can say that will repair my guilt about Scott. It will be with me as long as I live."

Scott Newman Center

In 1980, Paul Newman established the Scott Newman Center, dedicated to helping health care professionals and teachers educate children about the dangers of alcohol and drug use. The organization also initiated the Rowdy Ridge Gang Camp, a system of summer camps for families recovering from the problems associated with drug use and alcoholism.