Joanne Woodward

Born Joanne Gignilliat Trimmier Woodward in Thomasville, Georgia, she was influenced to become an actress by her mother's love of movies. Her mother wanted to name her after Joan Crawford, but then her parents felt that the name "Joanne" was more Southern. Attending the premiere of Gone With the Wind in Atlanta, nine-year-old Joanne rushed out into the parade of stars and sat on the lap of Laurence Olivier, star Vivien Leigh's husband. She eventually worked with Olivier in 1979, in a television production of Come Back, Little Sheba.

Joanne won many beauty contests as a teenager. She majored in drama at Louisiana State University, then headed to New York City to perform on the stage.

Woodward's first film was Count Three and Pray, in 1955. She continued to move between Hollywood and Broadway, eventually understudying in the New York production of Picnic with another young actor, Paul Newman. The two were married in 1958. By that time, Woodward had starred in The Three Faces of Eve, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. She and Newman first starred together that year in The Long Hot Summer, one of many collaborations.

Woodward has continued to act on stage, films and television. In 1990, she graduated from Sarah Lawrence College alongside her daughter, Clea. She and Newman live in Connecticut, and are involved in liberal politics. Woodward is artistic director of the Westport Country Playhouse.

Academy Awards Nominations