Reports that screen legend Paul Newman is battling terminal lung cancer are emphatically "not true," says the actor's rep Toni Howard.
Whispers of a life-threatening disease started in May when the 83-year-old citied illness for pulling out of directing duties at his Westport, Conn. hometown's production of Our Town. The rumor snowballed from there.
Subsequent stories reported the Oscar winner and race car driver, who is also a lifelong smoker, was diagnosed at New York's Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and was being treated as an outpatient.
Not true! Although Newman appeared to have lost weight when he was photographed at the Indianapolis 500 auto race last month. He had an infection over the winter, but seems to have that under control.
Michael Brockman, Newman's racing team partner, said Newman told him recently that he wants to get back into his race car for a test run and possibly another competition. His last race was last fall, he said.
"I think he's doing better than he was," Brockman said, noting that Newman had regained most of the weight he had lost.
