Joanne Woodward
| Joanne Woodward | |
|---|---|
from the trailer for The Stripper (1963) |
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| Born | Joanne Gignilliat Trimmier Woodward February 27, 1930 , U.S. |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1955–present |
| Spouse | Paul Newman (m. 1958–2008) ; his death |
Joanne Gignilliat Trimmier Woodward (born February 27, 1930) is an Academy Award-winning American actress, television and theatrical producer, and widow of Paul Newman.
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Early life
Woodward was born in Thomasville, Georgia, daughter of Elinor Gignilliat (née Trimmier) and Wade Woodward, Jr., who at one point was vice president of publisher Charles Scribner's Sons.[1][2] Her middle name, "Gignilliat", originates from distant Huguenot ancestry.[3] She was influenced to become an actress by her mother's love of movies.[3] Her mother named her after Joan Crawford, using the Southern pronunciation of the name - "Joanne".[3] Attending the premiere of Gone with the Wind in Atlanta, nine-year-old Woodward rushed out into the parade of stars and sat on the lap of Laurence Olivier, star Vivien Leigh's partner and future husband. She eventually worked with Olivier in 1979, in a television production of Come Back, Little Sheba. During rehearsals, she mentioned this incident to him and he told her he remembered her doing it.
Woodward lived in Thomasville until she was in the second grade. Her family relocated to Marietta, Georgia. They moved once again when she was a junior in high school, after her parents divorced.[3] She graduated from Greenville High School in 1947, in Greenville, South Carolina. Woodward won many beauty contests as a teenager. She appeared in theatrical productions at Greenville High and in Greenville's Little Theatre, playing Laura Wingfield in their staging of The Glass Menagerie directed by Robert Hemphill McLane. She returned to Greenville in 1976 to play Amanda Wingfield in another Little Theatre production of The Glass Menagerie. She had also returned in 1955 for the premiere of her debut movie, Count Three And Pray, at the Paris Theatre on North Main Street.
Woodward majored in drama at Louisiana State University, where she was an initiate of Chi Omega sorority, then headed to New York City to perform on the stage.[3]
Career
Early career
Woodward's first film was a post-Civil War Western, Count Three and Pray, in 1955. She continued to move between Hollywood and Broadway, eventually understudying in the New York production of Picnic, which featured Paul Newman.[3] The two were married in 1958 after their work together in the film The Long, Hot Summer. By that time, Woodward had starred in The Three Faces of Eve (1957), for which she won the 1957 Academy Award for Best Actress.[3]
Films with Paul Newman
She appeared with husband Paul Newman in ten featured films:
- The Long, Hot Summer (1958)
- Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys! (1958)
- From the Terrace (1960)
- Paris Blues (1961)
- A New Kind of Love (1963)
- Winning (1969)
- WUSA (1970)
- The Drowning Pool (1975)
- Harry & Son (1984) - (directed by Newman)
- Mr. and Mrs. Bridge (1990)
Both appeared in the HBO miniseries Empire Falls but had no scenes together.
She starred in five films that Newman directed or produced but in which he did not star:
- Rachel, Rachel (1968)
- They Might Be Giants (1971)
- The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds - which featured their daughter, Nell Potts (1972)
- The Shadow Box (1980) - (television movie)
- The Glass Menagerie (1987)
Later career
Woodward has continued to act, in such films as Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams and Philadelphia (1993) in which she played the mother to Tom Hanks' character,[3] and in television. She appeared in the television films Sybil, opposite Sally Field, and Crisis at Central High. She was the narrator for Martin Scorsese's screen version of The Age of Innocence.
Woodward was a co-producer and starred in a 1993 broadcast of the play Blind Spot, for which she was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie. She was executive producer of the 2003 television production of Our Town, featuring Newman as the stage manager (for which he was nominated for an Emmy Award.) She wrote the teleplay and directed a 1982 production of Shirley Jackson's story Come Along with Me, for which husband Newman provided the voice of the character Hughie under the screen name of P. L. Neuman.
Woodward is the artistic director of the Westport Country Playhouse.[3]
She recorded a reading of singer John Mellencamp's song "The Real Life" for his box set On the Rural Route 7609.
Personal life
Woodward was rumored to have been engaged to author Gore Vidal prior to marrying Paul Newman. Apparently, however, there was no real engagement: Vidal later claimed it was a stunt to attract Newman's attention. Woodward shared a house with Vidal in Los Angeles for a short time and remained friends. Woodward married Paul Newman on January 29, 1958. The couple chose to share few details of their personal life throughout their 50 years of marriage.[4]
Woodward and Newman had three daughters - Elinor Teresa (1959) known on screen as Nell Potts and generally as Nell Newman); Melissa "Lissy" Stewart (1961); and Claire "Clea" Olivia Newman (1965) - and two grandsons (Lissy's children).
In 1990, Woodward graduated from Sarah Lawrence College with her daughter Clea.[3] Newman delivered the commencement address, during which he said he dreamed that a woman had asked, "How dare you accept this invitation to give the commencement address when you are merely hanging on to the coattails of the accomplishments of your wife?"[5]
In 1988, Newman and Woodward established the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, named for the outlaws in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. The eleven camps permit seriously ill youngsters to enjoy the great outdoors, at no cost to them or their families.[6]
Paul Newman died of cancer on September 26, 2008, age 83. Woodward continues to live in Westport, Connecticut.
Filmography
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1955 | Count Three and Pray | Lissy | |
| 1956 | A Kiss Before Dying | Dorothy ('Dorie') Kingship | |
| 1957 | The Three Faces of Eve | Eve White / Eve Black / Jane | Academy Award for Best Actress Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama National Board of Review Award for Best Actress Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress |
| No Down Payment | Leola Boone | Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress | |
| 1958 | The Long, Hot Summer | Clara Varner | |
| Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys! | Grace Oglethorpe Bannerman | ||
| 1959 | The Sound and the Fury | Quentin Compson/Narrator | |
| The Fugitive Kind | Carol Cutrere | San Sebastián International Film Festival Zulueta Prize for Best Actress | |
| 1960 | From the Terrace | Mary St. John/Mrs. Alfred Eaton | |
| 1961 | Paris Blues | Lillian Corning | |
| 1963 | The Stripper | Lila Green | |
| A New Kind of Love | Samantha (Sam) Blake/Mimi | Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy | |
| 1964 | Signpost to Murder | Molly Thomas | |
| 1966 | A Big Hand for the Little Lady | Mary | |
| A Fine Madness | Rhoda Shillitoe | ||
| 1968 | Rachel, Rachel | Rachel Cameron | Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role |
| 1969 | Winning | Elora Capua | |
| 1970 | WUSA | Geraldine | |
| 1971 | They Might Be Giants | Dr. Mildred Watson | |
| All the Way Home | Mary Follet | TV | |
| 1972 | The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds | Beatrice | Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Award Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama |
| 1973 | Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams | Rita Walden | BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama |
| 1975 | The Drowning Pool | Iris Devereaux | |
| 1976 | Sybil | Dr. Cornelia B. Wilbur | TV Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie |
| 1977 | Come Back, Little Sheba | Lola Delaney | TV |
| 1978 | See How She Runs | Betty Quinn | TV Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie |
| The End | Jessica Lawson | ||
| A Christmas to Remember | Mildred McCloud | TV | |
| 1979 | The Streets of L.A. | Carol Schramm | TV |
| 1980 | The Shadow Box | Beverly | TV |
| 1981 | Crisis at Central High | Elizabeth Huckaby | TV Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film |
| 1982 | Candida | Candida | TV |
| 1984 | Harry & Son | Lilly | |
| Passions | Catherine Kennerly | TV | |
| 1985 | Do You Remember Love | Barbara Wyatt-Hollis | TV Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film |
| 1986 | Women - for America, for the World | Short documentary | |
| 1987 | The Glass Menagerie | Amanda Wingfield | Nominated — Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Female |
| 1990 | Mr. and Mrs. Bridge | India Bridge | Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama Nominated — Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Female |
| 1993 | Foreign Affairs | Vinnie Miner | TV |
| Blind Spot | Nell Harrington | TV Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie |
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| The Age of Innocence | Narrator (voice) | ||
| Philadelphia | Sarah Beckett | ||
| 1994 | Breathing Lessons | Maggie Moran | TV Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie |
| 1996 | Even If a Hundred Ogres... | Narrator (voice) | |
| 2005 | Empire Falls | Francine Whiting | TV Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie |
Awards
In 1958, Woodward won the Academy Award for Best Actress for The Three Faces of Eve.[3] She was nominated for Best Actress in 1969 for Rachel, Rachel, in 1974 for Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams, and in 1991 for Mr. and Mrs. Bridge. She was named Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival in 1974 for her performance in The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds.
Woodward won two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or TV Movie, for See How She Runs (1978) as a divorced teacher who trains for a marathon, and in Do You Remember Love? (1985) as a professor who begins to suffer from Alzheimer's disease. She has been nominated an additional five times for her roles on television.
A popular (but untrue) bit of Hollywood lore is that Woodward was the first celebrity to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In fact, the original 1,550 stars were created and installed as a unit in 1960; no one star was officially "first."[7] (The first star actually completed was director Stanley Kramer's.[8]) The origin of this legend is not known with certainty; but according to Johnny Grant, the long-time Honorary Mayor of Hollywood, Woodward was the first celebrity to agree to pose with her star for photographers, and therefore was singled out in the collective public imagination as the first awardee.[9]
References
- ↑ "Joanne WOodward". Film Reference.com. http://www.filmreference.com/film/64/Joanne-Woodward.html.
- ↑ "Joanne Woodward". Yahoo Movies. http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800047595/bio.
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 "Joanne Woodward". Inside the Actors Studio. Bravo. 2003-05-11. No. 15, season 9.
- ↑ "Remembering Paul Newman." People. September 27, 2008.
- ↑ People Magazine, June 11, 1990. People Archive. Retrieved 2010-07-06.
- ↑ The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp. www.holeinthewallgang.org Retrieved 2010-07-06.
- ↑ History of WOF hollywoodchamber.net; Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. Retrieved 2010-05-31.
- ↑ "Kramer First Name Put in Walk of Fame"(abstract). Los Angeles Times, March 29, 1960, p. 15. Full article: LA Times Archives Retrieved 2010-06-12.
- ↑ Thermos, Wendy: "Sidewalk Shrine to Celebrities Twinkles With Stars"(abstract). Los Angeles Times, July 22, 2005, p. B2. Full article: LA Times Archives Retrieved 2010-06-23.
Further reading
External links
- Joanne Woodward at the Internet Movie Database
- Joanne Woodward at Allmovie
- Joanne Woodward's thoughts on Earth Day 2006
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