Paul Newman Dead at 83

, who has been battling lung cancer, passed away at his home in Westport, Connecticut on Friday around 8pm.

Bitten and Bound received an email last night that Newman had died, but waited for his rep to confirm before posting the news.

Reports of Newman's illness began in March when it was learned that he had been seeing an oncologist at New York’s Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Photographs taken of Newman in May and June showed him looking gaunt.

The 83-year-old actor began getting his affairs in order in August, telling his family that he wanted to die at home.

Newman, who had a lengthy film career spanning five decades, announced his retirement from acting on May 25, 2007, stating, "You start to lose your 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."

A noted philanthropist, Newman started Newman's Own, a line of food products, in 1982, donating the proceeds to charity. His daughter Nell will be taking over the business.