Somebody Up There Likes Me

1956; directed by Robert Wise; screenplay by Ernest Lehman, from the book by Rocky Graziano and Rowland Barber; with Pier Angeli, Everett Sloane, Sal Mineo.

Newman had been kicking around Hollywood for a couple of years — starring in the stodgy Biblical epic The Silver Chalice, being turned down for the role of James Dean's brother in East of Eden — when he got to play Graziano, the petty criminal who became middleweight champ, in this MGM biopic. A fighter on the ropes is surefire for a tough-guy actor, as William Holden (Golden Boy), John Garfield (Body and Soul), Kirk Douglas (Champion), Marlon Brando (On the Waterfront) and many others had proved. Though mimicking Graziano's stumblebum manner and Lower East Side patois didn't suit Newman's style — he's not so much being Rocky as doing him — the performance won him rave notices and helped him earn stronger roles. At 31, Young Blue Eyes was Hollywood's hot new kid.

(See photos of Paul Newman's storied career)