- Excessive drinking damaged him, and a highly erratic film career was the result. He often found himself unemployable due to his unreliability. He died at age 50 of alcohol-related causes although the official report was a heart attack.
- Often credited with originating the style of speech generally equated with pirates. After his spectacular turn as Long John Silver in the Disney version of Treasure Island (1950), actors playing pirates in film, radio, television and theatre, all tended to use (and still use) the same pseudo-Cornish accent Newton came up with.
- Newton's father was an artist and his mother a writer. The family had founded an art supply company, Winsor and Newton, in 1832, with J.M.W. Turner and Queen Victoria as regular customers. Today the company is international in scope with 65% of its business overseas.
- After being signed for the color remake of "Svengali" with a contract clause about his drinking, Newton behaved very irresponsibly on the film and fled to Australia, where he filmed the "Long John Silver" movie and TV shows. When he returned he was sued for $375,000 by the producers of "Svengali," who had replaced him with Donald Wolfit.
- Before being cast in "Around the World in 80 Days," it was stipulated in Robert Newton's contract that he remain sober throughout every day of filming. The actor kept his word and didn't consume any alcohol during working hours. However, once the production came to an end, he went on a drinking marathon and it's believed that this was what killed him.
- Alfred Hitchcock thought Louis Jourdan was all wrong as the lower class groom/lover in "The Paradine Case," but he was overruled by producer David O. Selznick. Hitchcock wanted Newton for the part.
- Was voted one of the top ten British money-making stars in the Motion Picture Herald-Fame Poll from 1947 to 1951.
- Was assistant stage manager and painted scenery at the Birmingham Repertory Company as a teenager. He made his debut there in a production of "Captain Brassbound's Conversion" (1920). Became a stage star after Noel Coward cast him in the popular musical revue "Bitter Sweet" which ran for over a year at Her Majesty's Theatre. Later, Coward had Newton take over from Laurence Olivier in his classic play "Private Lives" in New York.
- His performance as Long John Silver is still regarded as the definitive one.
- From an artistic family. His mother was a writer and father a painter and member of the Royal Academy. His brother and sister were also painters.
- Newton's only cinematic appearance in filmed Shakespeare was in Olivier's "Henry V".
- Is interred with his last wife, Vera, at Westwood Memorial Park, Los Angeles, USA.
- Was paid 9,000 pounds sterling to appear in This Happy Breed (1944), the equivalent of $466,000 in 2012 dollars.
- Played two different characters named Bill Sykes, in "Oliver Twist" and "Soldiers Three" respectively.
- The voice of Captain McAllister in The Simpsons (1989) is based on his portrayal of Long John Silver.
- Married four times and had three children: Sally Newton, an actress, Nicholas and Kim.
- Was declared bankrupt in his absence on September 24th 1954 at the London Bankruptcy Buildings. He owed a total of £46,300 to the Inland Revenue in unpaid taxes and approximately £700 to other creditors. He was at the time filming in Australia. (The Times, September 25th 1954).
- At age 15 in 1920 Newton had his first brush with the theater at the Birmingham Repertory Co. as a stagehand and scenery painter. Later that year he made his first onstage appearance in ""Henry IV, Part 1.
- Some sources give his cause of death as a stroke.
- In 1939, he was an ARP (Air Raid Precautions) warden, responsible for ensuring everyone adhered to blackout restrictions. He later joined the Royal Navy and was an Able Seaman serving on a mine sweeper, HMS Britomart. The ship provided escort to the Arctic convoys in addition to minesweeping duties. Newton served for several years but was not on the ship when it was sunk by accidental shelling by the RAF in 1944.
- Served on a minesweeper in WWII and was granted leave to make the film They Fly Alone.
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