Paul Newman, who appeared in about 60 movies, passed away on Friday following a prolonged battle with lung cancer at the age of 83. Newman first made his name portraying brooding characters in Cat On A Hot Tin Roof and Hud. But he enhanced his superstar status later by playing winking rogues and anti-heroes - such as the title character in Cool Hand Luke, a bank robber in Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid and a suave con man in The Sting, co-starring in the latter two huge hits with Robert Redford. He was proclaimed one of the best looking men to ever grace the screen, his startling blue eyes his most notable feature.

He earned 10 Academy Award nominations but his only Oscar win was for best actor in the 1986 film The Color Of Money, portraying the same pool shark, Fast Eddie Felson, he had played when he was nominated in 1961 for The Hustler.

A passionate racing car driver since the early 1970s, Newman became co-owner of Newman-Haas racing in 1982 and also founded Newman’s Own, a successful food company he built from the ground up in which all the proceeds go to charity.More than $US220 million has been given away to humanitarian projects worldwide from sales of salad dressing, pasta sauce, lemonade, popcorn, salsa and wine. In 1988 he started Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, a residential summer camp for seriously ill children.

His last screen appearance was as a conflicted mob boss in the 2002 film Road To Perdition opposite Tom Hanks, although he continued to provide voice work for films including Cars.

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