Joanne Woodward
Joanne Woodward
Joanne Gignilliat Woodward. Born in Thomasville, Georgia, February 27. 1930. Attended Louisiana State University, 1947-49; graduated from Neighborhood Playhouse Dramatic School, New York City. Married: Paul Newman, 1958; three daughters. Made first television appearance in "Penny" for Robert Montgomery Presents, 1952; numerous appearances in specials and television movies; appeared in numerous stage plays and films. Recipient: Kennedy Center Honors for Lifetime Achievement in the Performing Arts (with Paul Newman); Academy Award, 1957; Foreign Press Award, 1957; Cannes Film Festival Award, 1972; New York Film Critics Award, 1968, 1973, and 1990.
Joanne Woodward, c. late 1950s.
Courtesy of the Everett Collection
Bio
Joanne Woodward has been recognized as an exceptional television performer from the beginning of her career in 1952, when she appeared on Robert Montgomery Presents in a drama titled "Penny." She performed in more than a dozen live New York productions from 1952 to 1958 and was also active on the stage during that period, a vocation she has pursued throughout her career. In those early years Woodward made appearances on Goodyear Playhouse, Omnibus, Philco Television Playhouse, Studio One, Kraft Television Theatre, U.S. Steel Hour. Playhouse 90, and The Web, in which she played opposite her future husband Paul Newman in 1954. Woodward remembers those experiences as "marvelous days."
In 1957 Woodward was cast in her first starring role in a feature film, The Three Faces of Eve, for which she received an Academy Award as Best Actress. Since then, Woodward has been recognized primarily as a feature film actress; however, her television roles have been numerous and highly memorable.
Woodward received an Emmy Award for her starring performance in See How She Runs on CBS in 1978. In 1985 she won a second Emmy for her role in Do You Remember Love?, a provocative and moving drama about the impact of Alzheimer's disease. In 1990 she received her third Emmy Award for producing and hosting a PBS special. American Masters. In addition, she has been nominated three times for other performances on television.
Her roles in television drama have frequently addressed social issues. Her 1981 performance as Elizabeth Huckaby in the CBS drama Crisis at Central High is an example of her unique ability to draw the audience into the character by becoming that character.
Works
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1952 Robert Montgomery Presents: "Penny"
1976 All the Way Home
1976 Sybil
1977 Come Back, Little Sheba
1978 See How She Runs
1979 Streets of L.A.
1980 The Shadow Box
1981 Crisis at Central High
1985 Do You Remember Love?
1989 Foreign Affairs
1993 Blind Spot
1994 Hallmark Hall of Fame: Breathing Lessons
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1989 Broadway's Dreamers: "The Legacy of the Group Theater"
1990 American Masters
1996 Great Performances: "Dance in America: A Renaissance"
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Count Three and Pray, 1955; A Kiss Before Dying, 1956; The Three Faces of Eve, 1957; No Down Payment, 1957; Rally Round the Flag Boys, 1958; The Long Hot Summer, 1958; The Sound and the Fury, 1959; The Fugitive Kind, 1960; Paris Blues, 1961; The Stripper, 1963; A New Kind of Love, 1963; A Big Hand for the little Lady, 1965; A Fine Madness, 1965; Rachel, Rachel, 1968; Winning, 1969; WUSA, 1970; They Might Be Giants, 1971; The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds, 1972; Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams, 1973; The Drown ing Pool, 1975; The End, 1978; Harry and Son, 1984; The Glass Menagerie, 1987; Mr. and Mrs. Bridge, 1990; Philadelphia, 1993; The Age of Innocence (narrator/voice only). 1993; My Knees Were Jumping: Remembering the Kindertransports (narrator), 1998.
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Come Along with Me, 1982; The Hump Back Angel, 1984.
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Picnic (understudy), 1953; Baby Want a Kiss, 1964; Candida, 1982; The Glass Menagerie, 1985; Sweet Bird of Youth, 1988.