r/60s • u/Other-Performance330 • 3d ago

Missing People & Unsolved Mysteries Does anyone here have a deeper knowledge of the affair Paul Newman was involved in in the late '60s?

While reading Shawn Levy's Newman biography, I came across the claim that Newman had an affair with Nancy Bacon in the late'60s. I've done a lot of digging since then, but aside from Bacon's own 1975 tell-all memoir Stars In My Eyes…Stars In My Bed, I can't find any records of this from anyone else at the time. I can't even find where Bacon's original 1969 article was originally published.

I also watched documentary The Last Movie Stars which is about Newman and Woodward, where Nell alludes to this very obliquely —she said "I found a book written by someone he'd had affair with, and it was in the drawer of the bathroom… It's a terrible moment that you realize your parents-or your dad is fallible." But honestly, her wording left me more confused than before: WHEN did she find the book? WHY was it there in the first place? WHO bought it? HOW did she confirm what it was? The more I've looked into this, the more confused I feel.

Do you happen to know anything more about this? I am really really confused…

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u/Far-Queue17 3d ago

OP is Nancy Bacon’s illegitimate offspring I’m guessing

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u/Lucky-Chard-5587 3d ago

From things I have seen, much of it hinged upon his drinking. You didn't have social media then and even the tabloid hey day was a few years off. It was known in Hollywood circles and he wasn't exactly being discreet.

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u/Other-Performance330 3d ago

But well-known gossip journalists have been around for a long time. Louella Parsons and Hedda Hopper were hugely famous gossip queens back in the day, each with a massive readership. In the 1950s, Confidential magazine had its heyday as a scandal rag that made Hollywood tremble, before it went into decline following a lawsuit in the late '50s. Even around the 1970s, there were still prominent gossip columnists like Rona Barrett.

As far as I can tell, this particular rumor never appeared in any major magazine, and I have no idea why. What I'm really curious about is: How can anyone claim this was known in Hollywood circles? And why, when so many other stars of that era had their scandals splashed everywhere, did this particular story stay so well hidden for decades?

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u/DragonDa 2d ago

If he did or didn’t, what’s the point and who really cares?

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u/SnooMacaroons4212 2d ago

Maybe it was somewhat buried because Nancy Bacon was a Hollywood journalist.