Joanne Woodward

Joanne Gignilliat Trimmier Woodward (born February 27, 1930) is a retired American actress who rose to prominence in the 1950s. She became known for portraying complicated women with subtlety and emotional depth. Her career honors include one Academy Award, three Primetime Emmys, a BAFTA, three Golden Globes, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. She is currently the oldest living recipient of the Academy Award for Best Actress. Woodward is most famous for playing a woman with dissociative identity disorder in *The Three Faces of Eve* (1957), a role that won her the Academy Award for Best Actress and a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama. She was married to actor Paul Newman for fifty years, until his death in 2008. They frequently worked together, either as co-stars or with her acting in films he directed or produced. In 1990, at age 60, Woodward earned a bachelor’s degree from Sarah Lawrence College, graduating alongside her daughter Clea. Woodward was born on February 27, 1930, in Thomasville, Georgia, to Elinor (née Trimmier) and Wade Woodward Sr. Her middle names, “Gignilliat Trimmier,” are of Huguenot origin. Her mother, who loved films, inspired her to become an actress and named her after Joan Crawford. She has an older brother, Wade Jr. When she was nine, Woodward attended the Atlanta premiere of *Gone with the Wind*. She rushed into the parade of stars and sat on the lap of Laurence Olivier, the partner of star Vivien Leigh. Years later, during rehearsals for a 1977 television production of *Come Back, Little Sheba* in which she worked with Olivier, she mentioned the incident, and he said he remembered. Woodward lived in Thomasville, then Blakely and Thomaston, before her family moved to Marietta, Georgia, where she attended Marietta High School. She remains a supporter of the school and of the city’s Strand Theater. When she was a junior, her parents divorced, and the family moved to Greenville, South Carolina. She graduated from Greenville High School and performed at Greenville’s Little Theater. She majored in drama at Louisiana State University, where she joined Chi Omega sorority, then moved to New York City to work on stage. There, she studied at the Actors Studio and with Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre. Woodward made her first television appearance in 1952 on an episode of *Robert Montgomery Presents* called “Penny.” She also auditioned for stage roles and became an understudy during the 1953–1954 run of William Inge’s *Picnic*. It was there she met Paul Newman, though he was still married to his first wife, Jacqueline Witte. She appeared on many TV drama shows, including *Tales of Tomorrow*, *Goodyear Playhouse*, *Danger*, *The Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse*, *You Are There*, *The Web*, *The Ford Television Theatre*, *The Elgin Hour*, *Armstrong Circle Theatre*, *The Star and the Story*, *Omnibus*, *Star Tonight*, and *Ponds Theater*. Her first feature film was the post–Civil War Western *Count Three and Pray* (1955), in which she was billed second and played a strong-willed orphan. In January 1956, she signed a long-term contract with 20th Century Fox. Her next role was in *A Kiss Before Dying* (1956), playing an heiress pursued by a ruthless college student (Robert Wagner). Woodward worked across TV, stage, and film. In 1956, she returned to Broadway to star in *The Lovers*, which had a short run (later filmed as *The War Lord* in 1965). She also appeared on shows like *Philco Playhouse*, *The 20th Century-Fox Hour*, *The United States Steel Hour*, *General Electric Theater*, *Four Star Playhouse*, *Alfred Hitchcock Presents*, *Kraft Theatre*, *The Alcoa Hour*, *Studio One in Hollywood*, and *Climax*. In 1957, Woodward amazed audiences and critics with her performance in *The Three Faces of Eve*. She played a woman with three distinct personalities—a southern housewife, a sexually aggressive “bad girl,” and a young woman—giving each its own voice and gestures. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for this role, wearing a dress she sewed herself, the only Best Actress winner to have done so. With her stardom established, Fox gave her top billing in *No Down Payment* (1957), directed by Martin Ritt and produced by Jerry Wald. She reunited with Ritt for another Faulkner adaptation, *The Sound and the Fury* (1959), with Yul Brynner. Sidney Lumet cast her with Marlon Brando and Anna Magnani in *The Fugitive Kind* (1960), which was a box office disappointment. More successful was a third film with Newman, *From the Terrace* (1960), which Woodward later said she had “affection” for “because of the way I looked like Lana Turner.” The couple then made *Paris Blues* (1961) with Ritt. For her title role in *The Stripper* (1963), burlesque performer Gypsy Rose Lee coached her in technique. In 1966, she played Mary in *A Big Hand for the Little Lady* and starred with Sean Connery in *A Fine Madness*. In *Rachel Rachel* (1968), produced and directed by Newman, she played a schoolteacher hoping for love, earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.