Paul Newman to retire from acting

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Paul Newman's career has included winning an Oscar, establishing a food company to fund charities, and operating a restaurant, but he said this week he is retiring from acting.

"I'm not able to work anymore as an actor at the level that I would want to," the 82-year-old Hollywood star told ABC News in an interview released on its Web site on Friday.

"You start to lose you memory, you start to lose your confidence, you start to lose your invention. So I think that's pretty much a closed book for me," he said.

Newman brought a memorable series of rough, charming and roguish characters to the screen like the alcoholic Brick in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," the quirky "Cool Hand Luke," the suave con man in "The Sting" and the dissolute title character of "Hud."

He earned nine Academy Award acting nominations but his only win was for best actor in "The Color of Money" in 1987 as the same pool shark he had played when he was nominated in 1962 for "The Hustler."

One of his biggest financial hits came in 1969 with "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," a tongue-in-cheek Western that paired Newman with Robert Redford. The two teamed up again in 1973 as con men in "The Sting."