Hollywood legend and acting genius, Paul Newman was a prankster through and through. Notorious for his impractical and staged jokes, there was probably no one that the star had spared in his long career. His pranks were often directed at directors or fellow actors if they irked him. Another actor famous for playing pranks is none other than the charming George Clooney. Behind that charming smile is an evil prankster who loves to prank anyone and everyone,
However, once when a director refused to listen to Newman, the actor pulled a prank so good that would even put George Clooney to shame.
Paul Newman’s Brutal Prank On Vindictive Director
Paul Newman, despite being a celebrated actor was a child at heart. Pranks were his speciality and he maintained it till his sad demise. However, years before when he was a young actor, Newman had played multiple brutal pranks including faking his death.
Once he staged his fake death in a car crash when his director, George Roy Hill refused to buy drinks for his crew during the shoot of their movie. Hill was infamous for being frugal and hence wanting to take revenge Newman came up with a brilliant prank.
In the middle of the shoot, he went behind the wheel of a wrecked car and staged a very believable fake car crash. Seeing the horrible sight, Hill raced to the site, concerned for his lead star. However, the Cars star emerged unharmed and a big smile plastered to his face.
While Hill was visibly horrified, it did not stop Paul Newman from pulling more stints. He had the director’s desk sawed in half and didn’t even spare his new Chevy, cutting it in half as well. Although the desk inevitably collapsed in the director’s lap, Newman bought a brand new sports car for him as a replacement.
Other Times Paul Newman Staged His Death As A Prank
The above incident wasn’t the only time the Our Town star staged his fake death. The actor pulled a similar one when he was shooting for two different movies with two different directors. Both times he was shooting action sequences high up in the air and had a life-size, lookalike dummy thrown off on the ground that even made one of his directors collapse.
Looking at his amazingly planned out and elaborate pranks, one can’t help but think how Newman’s even simple pranks would put Hollywood’s most charming actor George Clooney to shame. Clooney too is known best for his pranks but he hasn’t been able to pull such excellent pranks, yet.
Source: The Daily Beast
