NEW YORK (Agencies) - Oscar-winning screen legend and philanthropist Paul Newman has died at 83, his foundation announced Saturday. "Paul Newman's craft was acting. His passion was racing. His love was his family and friends. And his heart and soul were dedicated to helping make the world a better place for all," Newman's Own foundation Vice-Chairman Robert Forrester said in a statement from Westport, Connecticut. The actor had suffered from cancer. Newman finished chemotherapy treatment for cancer in August and it was widely reported in the US that he had only weeks to live. In June this year, a neighbour and business partner said the actor told him about the disease the previous year. In May, Newman pulled out of directing John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men for unspecified health reasons. The actor's representative Toni Howard had previously dismissed the cancer claims as simply "not true". Newman retired from acting in 2006 after a 50-year career that included Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid (1969), The Sting (1971), The Hustler (1961), Hud (1963) and Cool Hand Luke (1967). He got his start in theatre and on television during the 1950s, and went on to become one of the world's most enduring and popular film stars, a legend held in awe by his peers. He was nominated for Oscars 10 times, winning one regular award and two honorary ones, and had major roles in more than 50 motion pictures. Newman worked with some of the greatest directors of the past half century, from Alfred Hitchcock and John Huston to Robert Altman, Martin Scorsese and the Coen brothers. His co-stars included Elizabeth Taylor, Lauren Bacall, Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks and, most famously, Robert Redford, his sidekick in "Butch Cassidy" and "The Sting." He sometimes teamed with his wife and fellow Oscar winner, Joanne Woodward, with whom he had one of Hollywood's rare long-term marriages. "I have steak at home, why go out for hamburger?" Newman told Playboy magazine when asked if he was tempted to stray. They wed in 1958, around the same time they both appeared in "The Long Hot Summer," and Newman directed her in several films, including "Rachel, Rachel" and "The Glass Menagerie."