All About Their Blended Family

Paul Newman left behind a legacy that includes more than his on-screen appearances.

With his wife Joanne Woodward, the actor shared three daughters, Elinor “Nell,” Melissa “Lissy” and Claire “Clea.” He also had two daughters, Susan and Stephanie, and a son, Scott, from his first marriage to Jackie Witte.

Paul died on Sept. 26, 2008, at his home in Westport, Conn. Several of his children have also died, including Scott on Nov. 20, 1978, and Susan on Aug. 2, 2025.

Most of Paul’s children have dedicated time to giving back, something both the late actor and Woodward passed on to them. The couple’s younger daughter, Clea, said her parents heavily influenced her to pursue philanthropy.

“Both of my parents felt it was important to give back,” she told PEOPLE in October 2022. “Me and my sisters learned that from an early age.”

Here’s everything to know about Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward’s six children: Scott, Susan, Stephanie, Nell, Lissy and Clea.

Scott Newman

Alan Scott Newman, who went by Scott, was the oldest of Paul and Witte’s three kids. He was born on Sept. 23, 1950, in Cleveland.

Scott began taking stuntman jobs in his father’s films in the late 1960s after dropping out of college. His father influenced him to start his acting career, and by the early 1970s, he had roles in The Great Waldo Pepper starring Robert Redford and The Towering Inferno alongside his father.

In the fall of 1978, Scott was in a motorcycle accident and began taking pain medication to cope with his injuries, per Vanity Fair. He died of a drug and alcohol overdose in a Los Angeles hotel room on Nov. 20, 1978, at age 28.

After Scott’s death, his father established the Scott Newman Center, which was dedicated to assisting teachers and healthcare professionals in educating children about drug and alcohol abuse. The organization also founded the Rowdy Ridge Gang Camp, a summer camp open to children whose families are dealing with addiction. Both the center and the camp closed in 2013 due to a lack of funding.

In interviews compiled for his 2022 posthumous memoir, Paul Newman: The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man, the actor spoke about his son’s death, saying he “never thought” Scott’s addiction would be “fatal.”

“Was there some way I might have told him he didn’t have to be like me? That he didn’t have to do macho things and could just be himself?” he said. “Many are the times I have gotten down on my knees and asked for Scott’s forgiveness.”

Susan Kendall Newman

Paul and Witte welcomed their older daughter, Susan Kendall Newman, on Feb. 21, 1953.

Susan was a television producer, earning a Golden Globe and Humanitas Award for her work on the Newman’s 1980 ABC Theatre production of Michael Cristopfer’s play The Shadow Box. She also produced a family-friendly audiobook series of classical literature for Simon & Schuster, which earned her a Grammy nomination. Later in life, she dedicated herself to “advocacy on education, juvenile justice, conservation, and healthcare,” per her obituary.

Along with her sister Nell, she filed a lawsuit in August 2022 against their family’s foundation, Newman’s Own Foundation, over “questionable practices.” The pair sought $1.6 million in damages to further benefit charities, claiming the foundation strayed from using funding that should have been directed toward organizations important to their late father.

“The years since Mr. Newman’s death consist of a long and consistent pattern of disregard, by those in control, of Mr. Newman’s specific intentions and direction, coupled with mismanagement, scandal and questionable practices,” read the suit.

The daughters withdrew their suit in March 2025, per Law360.

Susan died on Aug. 2, 2025, from complications from chronic health conditions. She was 72 years old.

Stephanie Kendall Newman

Paul and Witte’s youngest daughter, Stephanie Kendall Newman, was born in 1954.

Over the years, Stephanie has stayed out of the spotlight. According to Vanity Fair, Stephanie “leads a quiet life away from the family business and foundation.”

Elinor “Nell” Teresa Newman

Paul and Woodward welcomed their first child, Elinor “Nell” Teresa Newman, in New York City on April 8, 1959.

“I grew up in Westport, Connecticut, when it was very rural,” she told Grist in October 2012. “My parents would go back and forth between Connecticut and Beverly Hills — they would make a movie one year and then go back to Connecticut. And my time was spent running around the woods with a pack of dogs, fishing.”

Under the stage name Nell Potts, she portrayed a younger version of her mother’s character in Rachel, Rachel and appeared alongside her in The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds, both of which were directed by her father. In 1987, Nell graduated from the College of the Atlantic, where she studied human ecology, per the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame.

She founded Newman’s Own Organics in 1993 as a division of her father’s company, Newman’s Own, per Grist. After leaving the brand in 2015, Nell began working in conservation. For her work there, she was honored with the Rachel Carson Award from the National Audubon Society in May 2014.

She has also published two cookbooks: Newman’s Own Cookbook: A Veritable Cornucopia of Recipes, Food Talk, Trivia, and Newman’s Pearls of Wisdom, which was written with her father, and The Newman’s Own Organics Guide to a Good Life: Simple Measures That Benefit You and the Place You Live.

In March 2005, Nell married Welsh surfer Gary Irving in Wales, per the BBC.

Melissa “Lissy” Stewart Newman

On Sept. 27, 1961, Paul and Woodward celebrated the arrival of their second daughter, Melissa “Lissy” Stewart Newman — on the same day their film Paris Blues premiered!

She entered the acting industry at a young age, with her first uncredited appearance at age 7 in Rachel, Rachel, which was directed and produced by her father and starred her mother and sister Nell. Her additional credits include a younger version of her mother’s character in Mr. & Mrs. Bridge and portraying mother and daughter with Woodward in See How She Runs.

She graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in Yonkers, New York, in 1988.

Lissy and husband Raphael Elkind share two children, sons Peter and Henry, and live in her parents’ home in Connecticut, per Town and Country.

Claire “Clea” Olivia Newman

Paul and Woodward welcomed their third child, Claire “Clea” Olivia Newman, on April 21, 1965.

Clea has a bachelor’s degree from Sarah Lawrence College, where she graduated in 1990 alongside her mother, per The New York Times. In 2003, she married Kurt Soderlund, with whom she lives in Connecticut.

She has followed in the footsteps of her parents and works with multiple philanthropic organizations. She sits on the board of the environmentalist group Wild Earth Allies and the American Institute of Neuro Integrative Development. She also works to further her father’s legacy as an ambassador for SeriousFun Children’s Network, which runs several free summer camps for kids affected by serious illnesses.

“[Paul] was so passionate about opening our first camp and then it just became part of his persona,” Clea shared with PEOPLE in October 2022. “All his extra free time was spent there, being with the kids, working to open up new camps, talking to families, talking to the kids. It was such a heartfelt passion.”

She added, “He just felt like these children were missing out on their childhood and he wanted to give them a place to feel included and not feel isolated because of their illness.”