Personal Life
Woodward was reported to have been engaged to author Gore Vidal prior to marrying Paul Newman. 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 they remained friends.
Woodward met Newman in 1953. They later reconnected on the set of The Long Hot Summer in 1957. Newman married Woodward on February 2, 1958 in Las Vegas. In March 28 the same year, Woodward won the Academy Award for Best Actress. The couple remained married until Newman's death from cancer on September 26, 2008. Their 50-year-marriage is iconic since long-lasting marriages between big stars are rare in Hollywood.
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). They also have two grandsons (Lissy's children).
In 1990, Woodward graduated from Sarah Lawrence College with her daughter Clea. 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?"
In 1988, Newman and Woodward established the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, named for the outlaws in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Located in Ashford, Connecticut, the camp provides services to 20,000 seriously ill children and families free of charge.
Woodward continues to live in Westport, Connecticut.
Read more about this topic: Joanne Woodward
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