Oscar-winning actor Paul Newman, responding to a flurry of unconfirmed reports he is gravely ill with cancer, has issued a terse, cryptic statement on his condition.
"Newman says he's doing nicely," his spokesman, Jeff Sanderson, said in a message emailed to Reuters and other media outlets in answer to queries about the cancer reports.
Reached by telephone in his Los Angeles office, Sanderson declined to elaborate or give further details.
"This is what I got from him. He says he's doing nicely, and this is the statement I wanted to share with you, and that's what I have," Sanderson said. "I spoke to his office. . .. this is the statement that came directly from him."
According to numerous media accounts circulating on TV and the internet since Monday, Newman, 83, has been diagnosed with lung cancer and was undergoing out-patient treatment at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre in New York.
A spokeswoman for Sloan-Kettering said she had no information about whether Newman was a patient there.
Newman announced just over a year ago he was essentially retiring from a half-century career in acting because of his age.
Last month, he stepped down as director of a stage production of John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men" at the Westport Country Playhouse in Connecticut, citing unspecified health issues.
Newman's wife of more than 50 years, actress Joanne Woodward, is a co-artistic director of the playhouse.
Newman, who appeared in some 60 movies, made his name portraying brooding characters in films like "Cat On a Hot Tin Roof," "The Hustler" and "Hud" – roles that all won him Oscar nominations.
The blue-eyed performer enhanced his superstar status later by playing winking rogues and anti-heroes – such as the title character in "Cool Hand Luke," an outlaw in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" and a suave con man in "The Sting."
He earned nine Academy Award nominations in all, but his only Oscar win was for best actor in the 1986 film "The Colour of Money," portraying the same pool shark, Fast Eddie Felson, he had played when he was nominated in 1961 for "The Hustler."
Newman also enjoyed successful side endeavours as an auto racing driver and the creator of a line of food products, Newman's Own, that bore his name and face on their labels and donated all its earnings to charity.
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