The following year he starred opposite up-and-coming actress Joanne Woodward in The Long Hot Summer (1957). The two continued their relationship off-screen, an affair that eventually led Newman to divorce his first wife, Jackie. In 1958, Newman starred with Elizabeth Taylor in the film adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ Cat On a Hot Tin Roof. The film met with critical and commercial success, achieving the highest box office gross of that year. His performance earned him an Oscar nomination and confirmed that he was Hollywood’s most sought after leading man. Newman maintained his rank as a top box-office draw during the 1960s, and earned three Academy Award nominations in quick succession for his performances in The Hustler (1961), Hud (1963), and Cool Hand Luke (1967). The three films were considered American classics and assured Newman’s status as a promising and versatile actor.

In 1968, Newman added directing to his repertoire. Many of his most notable projects starred his wife Joanne Woodward. 1968’s Rachel, Rachel earned him four Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actress for Woodward’s title role. In 1972, he directed Woodward in The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds, and later in The Shadow Box (1980).

1969’s Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) featured Newman and Robert Redford in the title roles, and was the highest grossing Western in cinema history. In 1973, Newman reunited with Redford in the Oscar-winning The Sting, a film about two con artists in 1930’s Chicago. As the decade progressed Newman made fewer impressive films. His most notable performance of the late ‘70s was as a minor league hockey coach in the cult classic Slap Shot (1977).

In the 1980s, Newman accepted more mature roles. He played an honest businessman in 1981’s Absence of Malice, and a struggling alcoholic lawyer in the 1982 courtroom drama The Verdict, both of which earned him Oscar nominations. Still devoid of an Oscar win, Newman was recognized by the Academy in 1985 when he received an Honorary Oscar “in recognition for his many memorable and compelling screen performances and for his personal integrity and dedication to his craft.” Surprisingly, it was not until 1986 that he actually won the coveted Academy Award for Best Actor. This time it was for his reprised role as veteran pool shark Fast Eddie Felson in The Color of Money (1986), which co-starred Hollywood newcomer Tom Cruise (Newman originally played Felson in 1961’s The Hustler).