How Paul Newman led the way for equal pay in Hollywood
Paul Newman was the definitive Hollywood nice guy. He used his lofty status as a platform for positive change with endless astonishing charitable acts to his name. When he was pushed to comment on his heroism, he never indulged in pride either and offered this simple explanation for his philanthropy: “I was trying to acknowledge, I think, luck, and what an important part it has played in my life.”
That glorious sentiment is one that is still overlooked by so many today, whereby people celebrate their own good fortune and berate others for their lack of it. The notion of highflyers increasingly seems to be, ‘Well, I’ve done well, why can’t others’ and they insulate themselves from the ethical truth of it with this falsehood of fortune. Newman, however, abided by the classic Kurt Vonnegut law: “There’s only one rule that I know of, babies — God damn it, you’ve got to be kind.”
Newman was kind in the extreme. In fact, he was so kind that he ended up on Richard Nixon’s infamous ‘Enemy List’ for his outspoken truths about the Vietnam War and socialist inclinations. What’s more, he carried this trailblazing set of beliefs into Hollywood itself, being one of the first actors ever to campaign for equal pay among the sexes and an early outspoken supporter of gay rights.
In 2018, Susan Sarandon even remarked that while they were filming the 1998 film Twilight, Newman learned that he and Gene Hackman were earning significantly more than her and he offered to give up part of his salary to ensure that the three leads each received their equitable share.
This wasn’t merely an act of kindness or gesture to a friend either, but a trailblazing act that had meaningful reverberations. “It makes everything more interesting to raise the stakes all around and to have a more diverse cast and to have other points of view,” Sarandon said. “I think anybody that’s with half a brain understands that.” His move brought her into the fold of the film beyond her usual status and elevated things for everyone.
Sadly, however, this has caught on all too slowly in the film industry. In fact, it took almost 20 years for another move like this to make it public. “Emma Stone once came forward and said she got equal pay because her male stars insisted upon it and gave up something of theirs,” Sarandon said. “That happened to me with Paul Newman at one point, when I did a film with him ages ago. [Producers] said it was ‘favoured nations,’ but they only meant the two guys.”
Newman saw them as equally billed and therefore he simply made the stance, “Well, I’ll give you part of mine,” as a stance against producers when progressive talks faltered. This all helped to not only raise Sarandon’s pay, but he continued to fly the flag for equality and raise discussion too. Thanks to his work, we are now hearing the echoes of that as loudly as we should. The world will always need a Paul Newman.
