Paul Newman

Newman was born on January 26, 1925, in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, and raised in nearby Shaker Heights, the second son of Theresa Garth (née Fetzer, Fetzko, or Fetsko; Slovak: Terézia Fecková; 1894–1982) and Arthur Sigmund Newman, Sr. (1893–1950), who ran a sporting goods store. His father was Jewish, the son of Simon Newman and Hannah Cohn, Hungarian Jewish and Polish Jewish emigrants, from Hungary and Congress Poland, respectively. Paul's mother was a practitioner of Christian Science. She was born to a Roman Catholic family in Peticse, Zemplén county, in the Kingdom of Hungary, Austro-Hungarian Empire (modern Ptičie, Slovakia). Newman's mother worked in his father's store, while raising Paul and his elder brother, Arthur. Newman showed an early interest in the theater; his first role was at the age of seven, playing the court jester in a school production of Robin Hood. At age 10, Newman performed at the Cleveland Play House in a production of Saint George and the Dragon, and acted in their Curtain Pullers children's theater program. Graduating from Shaker Heights High School in 1943, he briefly attended Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, where he was initiated into the Phi Kappa Tau fraternity.