Joanne Woodward

Maternal granddaughter of John (1858-1934) and Nancy (née Porcher) Gignilliat (1862-1946). Her grandfather was born and raised in Georgia, while her grandmother was born and raised in South Carolina.

Daughter of Wade Woodward (1900-1976) and Elinor (née Gignilliat) Carter (1903-1992). Her father was born and raised in Georgia while her mother was born and raised in South Carolina.

Joanne claims she was nearly born in the middle of a Joan Crawford movie (Our Modern Maidens (1929)). Her mother wanted to name her Joan, but being Southern, she changed it to Joanne. Thomasville was a typical small town in southern Georgia, around ten miles from the Florida border. Joanne was born right into the Great Depression. Her father was an administrator in the Thomasville school system, and her family was raised Episcopalian. Joanne's mother being an avid movie lover, it wasn't a surprise that Joanne wanted to go into the acting profession. Her father wasn't too keen on the idea, but her mother saw it coming and was thrilled.

Joanne Gignilliat Trimmier Woodward was born on February 27, 1930, in Thomasville, Georgia, to Wade Woodward and Elinor Gignilliat Trimmier Woodward in a modest household. Her one older brother, Wade Jr. , who was the favorite of her father, eventually became an architect. Elinor Woodward was a quite a movie buff and enjoyed going to picture shows often.

Joanne and her mother both adored the movie Wuthering Heights (1939) starring Laurence Olivier, and in 1939 Elinor took her daughter to the premiere of Gone with the Wind (1939) in Atlanta.

Pulling up in a limo with the love of his life, Vivien Leigh (who starred in Gone with the Wind (1939)), Laurence Olivier was shocked when 9-year-old Joanne hopped right into the limo and sat in his lap without any warning. Years later when Joanne was famous, Olivier keenly remembered this incident.

Is a graduate of the class of 1947 at Greenville Senior High School in Greenville, South Carolina.

Then both their movie careers took off: Joanne with Count Three and Pray (1955) and Paul with The Silver Chalice (1954). Also adding to the tension was Paul's wife, Jackie, who refused to get a divorce when Paul asked her for one. He wanted to marry Joanne; Jackie would simply not have it. Eventually, Jackie saw the anguish this was causing Paul and agreed to a divorce.

Wore a handmade dress that cost about $100 to the 1957 Oscar ceremony (the year she won Best Actress for Three Faces of Eve).

Less than a week after the divorce was final, Paul married Joanne in Las Vegas on January 29, 1958, just months before Joanne won her Best Actress Oscar for The Three Faces of Eve (1957), in which she plays a woman with multiple personality disorder.

On April 8, 1959, Joanne gave birth to their first child, Elinor Teresa Newman, named after her and Paul's mothers. They both continued on with their careers, doing movies both together and apart.

In 1960 she was the first actress to appear at the unveiling of her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Two more children followed: Melissa Steward Newman on September 17, 1961, and Claire Olivia Newman on April 21, 1965. Since then, Joanne has been extremely busy in theater, film and television as well as ballet performances and very involved with charities and taking care of her family.

Had to have her strip/dance scenes in The Stripper (1963) censored and approved by her husband, Paul Newman.

Her likeness was used for the paintings of Marguerite Wyke in the Laurence Olivier/Michael Caine thriller Sleuth (1972).

In the July 21, 1975, issue of People magazine, in which she shared the cover with her husband Paul Newman, Woodward claimed that her older relatives back in a small town in rural Georgia would be upset if they knew that Newman was half Jewish.

She later worked with Olivier in Come Back, Little Sheba (1977). In her teens, Joanne entered and won many Georgia beauty contests. Her mother said that "she was the prettiest girl in town". But all Joanne wanted to do was act, and she saw beauty contests as the first step toward her dream. When she was of age, she enrolled in Louisiana State University, majoring in drama. After graduation and doing small plays, Joanne headed to New York and studied acting with Sanford Meisner. The first thing he tackled was Joanne's southern drawl. Soon, Joanne was starring in television productions and theater. One day, she was introduced by her agent to another young actor at her level by the then-unknown name of Paul Newman. Paul's first reaction was, "Jeez, what an extraordinarily pretty girl". Joanne, while admitting that he was very good-looking, didn't like him at first sight, but she couldn't resist him. Soon they were working closely together as understudies for the Broadway production of "Picnic" and got along very well. They would have long conversations about anything and everything.

She didn't want to do the film 'Shadow Box'(1981) in which she played Beverley but her husband Paul who directed it insisted. She didn't like the character she played in'Marigolds (1972) but it was the only time that she took the character home with her which caused Paul to spend a lot of time away from home.

During her time at Louisiana State University she was in the same sorority as Betty DeGeneres. After LSU, she headed to New York. She did not attend Sarah Lawrence until much later. She graduated in 1990 alongside her youngest daughter, Claire Newman.

Served as artistic director, Westport Country Playhouse, near her home in Connecticut, where her late husband starred in "Our Town" in June 2002.

As of 2013, she is one of six women who has received a Best Actress Oscar nomination for a performance directed by her spouse, namely for Rachel, Rachel (1968) directed by Paul Newman. The other five are Elisabeth Bergner for Escape Me Never (1935) (directed by Paul Czinner), Jean Simmons for The Happy Ending (1969) (directed by Richard Brooks), Gena Rowlands for A Woman Under the Influence (1974) & Gloria (1980) (both directed by John Cassavetes), Julie Andrews for Victor Victoria (1982) (directed by Blake Edwards), and Frances McDormand for Fargo (1996) (directed by Joel Coen). Jules Dassin also directed his future wife Melina Mercouri in a Best Actress Oscar nominated performance (Never on Sunday (1960)), but they weren't married yet at the time of the nomination.

In 2017, Woodward was reported to be suffering from Alzheimer's disease, although it is unclear when she was first diagnosed. She moved from Westport, Connecticut to Santa Monica, California, to be near her three daughters and other family members.

During the 90th Academy Awards Ceremony in 2018, when Allison Janney won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, she thanked Ms. Woodward in her acceptance speech stating that if not for her Janney would have never even considered pursuing a career in acting.

As of 2020, she is the 3rd earliest surviving recipient of a Best Actress Oscar nomination, behind only Leslie Caron and Carroll Baker. She was nominated (and won) in 1957 for The Three Faces of Eve (1957).