Joanne Woodward: Academy Award-Winning Actress
Joanne Gignilliat Trimmier Woodward (born February 27, 1930) is an American former actress. She is the oldest living winner of the Academy Award for Best Actress, recognized for her nuanced portrayals of complex women throughout her career.
Early Life and Education
Woodward was born on February 27, 1930, in Thomasville, Georgia, to Elinor Trimmier and Wade Woodward Sr. Her mother, a film enthusiast, named her after Joan Crawford and inspired her to pursue acting. At age nine, while attending the premiere of Gone with the Wind in Atlanta, Woodward rushed into the parade of stars and sat on the lap of Laurence Olivier. She would later work with Olivier in 1977 on a television production of Come Back, Little Sheba, and during rehearsals mentioned this childhood encounter; Olivier told her he remembered it.
Woodward’s family moved several times during her youth—from Thomasville to Blakely and Thomaston, then to Marietta, Georgia, where she attended Marietta High School. After her parents divorced while she was a junior in high school, the family relocated to Greenville, South Carolina. She graduated from Greenville High School and performed at Greenville’s Little Theater. Woodward majored in drama at Louisiana State University, where she joined Chi Omega sorority, then moved to New York City to pursue stage work. There she studied at the Actors Studio and under Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre.
Career and Achievements
Woodward made her first television appearance in 1952 on Robert Montgomery Presents in an episode titled “Penny.” She became an understudy during the 1953–1954 run of William Inge’s drama Picnic on Broadway, where she met her future husband Paul Newman, then still married to his first wife Jacqueline Witte. She appeared in numerous television drama series including Tales of Tomorrow, Goodyear Playhouse, Danger, You Are There, and Armstrong Circle Theatre.
Her first feature film was the post–Civil War Western Count Three and Pray (1955), where she was billed second as a strong-willed orphan. After signing a long-term contract with 20th Century Fox in January 1956, she starred in A Kiss Before Dying (1956) opposite Robert Wagner. In 1956, she returned to Broadway to star in The Lovers, which had a brief run but was later filmed as The War Lord (1965).
Woodward achieved stardom with her 1957 performance in The Three Faces of Eve, portraying a woman with dissociative identity disorder through three distinct personalities—a southern housewife, a sexually voracious “bad girl,” and a young woman—each with unique voices and gestures. Following this breakthrough, Fox gave her top billing in No Down Payment (1957), directed by Martin Ritt. She reunited with Ritt on The Sound and the Fury (1959) with Yul Brynner. Sidney Lumet directed her alongside Marlon Brando and Anna Magnani in The Fugitive Kind (1960). She appeared in three films with Newman: From the Terrace (1960), Paris Blues (1961), and Rachel Rachel (1968), the latter produced and directed by Newman, in which she played a schoolteacher hoping for love.
In The Stripper (1963), Woodward was coached by burlesque performer Gypsy Rose Lee. She appeared as Mary in A Big Hand for the Little Lady (1966) and starred alongside Sean Connery in A Fine Madness (1966). In 1972, she starred in The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds as a single mother, with her actual daughter Nell in the cast. She then appeared in the mid-life crisis drama Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams (1973).
Notable Events and Milestones
The Three Faces of Eve in 1957 marked Woodward’s breakthrough moment. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for the role, notably wearing a dress she had sewn herself—making her the only Best Actress winner to date to do so. The film also earned her a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama. In 1972, her performance in The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds won her the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival. Rachel Rachel (1968) earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.
Woodward married Paul Newman and remained married to him for fifty years until his death in 2008. She often collaborated with him either as a co-star or as an actor 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.
Awards and Honors
Woodward’s accolades include an Academy Award for Best Actress, three Primetime Emmy Awards, a British Academy Film Award, three Golden Globe Awards, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. She holds the distinction of being the oldest living winner of the Academy Award for Best Actress.
Additional Resources
Woodward’s extensive career spanning television, stage, and film is documented in greater detail through Wikipedia and other biographical archives. Her collaborations with Paul Newman and her performances in classic films of the 1950s and 1960s remain significant to American cinema history.
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