Declared bankruptcy in 1992, yet was once listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's highest-paid entertainer.
His role as Professor Joe Butcher in Licence to Kill (1989) was the fulfillment of an old ambition: to participate in a James Bond - 007 movie.
Because he had a high-pitched voice, many joked (wrongly) that he was effeminate or even gay. Newton once threatened Johnny Carson over jokes Carson told attacking his manhood. Carson stopped telling the jokes.