Hollywood has seen countless golden couples rise and fade—Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart, Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner, Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio, and many more.
But any conversation about legendary celebrity partnerships has to include the late Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, now 92.
Paul and Joanne married in 1958 and remained together until Newman died in 2008 at age 83. Over 50 years, they built a life that blended Hollywood success with family, travel, and shared work on screen.
What many people don’t realize is that Woodward wasn’t impressed by her future husband when they first met.
Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman
Paul Newman became one of the most admired actors of his era, and alongside Joanne Woodward, the two formed one of Hollywood’s most enduring couples.
It’s easy to assume Newman was the sole star in the relationship, but Woodward built an acclaimed career of her own—earning major awards and establishing herself as one of the most respected performers in film, theatre, and television. In 1950s Hollywood, she stood out for choosing strong, independent roles rather than the helpless characters often written for women at the time.
Joanne Woodward was born on Feb. 27, 1930, in Thomasville, Georgia. She attended Greenville High School in Greenville, South Carolina, and while still a teenager, she won multiple beauty contests.
Her acting began in high school through theatrical productions. She played Laura Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie and later returned to Greenville in the 1970s to perform the same production again—this time as Amanda Wingfield.
Married in Las Vegas
In 1955, at 25, Joanne returned to Greenville for the premiere of her debut film, Count Three and Pray.
After graduating high school, she moved to Louisiana and studied drama at Louisiana State University. She later traveled to New York City, where she performed on stage.
That move became pivotal. In 1953, she met her future husband, Paul Newman.
At the time, Newman was married to his first wife, Jackie Witte.
Woodward had recently graduated from Louisiana State and was working as an understudy in the Broadway play Picnic. Newman starred in the production, and before long, their connection began to form.
Years later, Newman and Woodward recalled the day they first met. It was a hot summer day, and Newman wore a seersucker suit, didn’t sweat, and looked—by Joanne’s description—like an “ice cream ad.”
“I was hot, sweaty and my hair was all stringy around my neck,” Joanne later said.
She also admitted she wasn’t interested at first, even though Newman was drawn to her. He thought she was an “extraordinarily pretty girl,” and he couldn’t stop thinking about her.
A biography of Newman later described Woodward’s early reaction in blunt terms:
“I hated him on sight, but he was so funny and pretty and neat.”
It would take four years before their relationship moved beyond friendship. They stayed close from the moment they met, but while filming The Long, Hot Summer (1957), things shifted into something more.
A Wonderful Love Story
Newman divorced Jackie shortly after filming The Long, Hot Summer in 1957. The couple had three children together.
Not long after separating from Jackie, Paul married Joanne on Jan. 29, 1858.
Joanne and Paul wed in Las Vegas and spent their honeymoon in Europe.
Newly married, they became a constant fascination for the press. Reporters followed them through parts of their honeymoon, and their public image as Hollywood’s golden couple only grew.
It marked the beginning of a love story many would describe as happy, charming, and deeply enduring.
After their six-week honeymoon, Paul and Joanne settled into their 18th-century farmhouse in Connecticut. Years later, Joanne explained that choosing Connecticut over Los Angeles mattered for their marriage.
“We were never Hollywood people. We just liked it better here. It also probably helps that we always enjoyed each other’s company,” Joanne said.
1958 also became a defining year for Woodward professionally. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for The Three Faces of Eve and later received another Academy Award nomination for her role in Rachel, Rachel in 1969, which was directed by Paul Newman.
Academy Award Winner
Woodward later earned additional Academy Award nominations for Best Actress in 1974 for Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams and in 1991 for Mr. & Mrs. Bridge.
Newman would also go on to win an Academy Award for Best Actor. In 1987, he received it for The Color of Money.
Woodward also won two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress for See How She Runs (1978) and Do You Remember Love (1985), and she received five more nominations.
The Hollywood Walk of Fame has honored thousands of actors, filmmakers, and musicians. During the official groundbreaking ceremony on Feb. 9, 1960, Joanne Woodward became the first person to receive a star.
Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward chose to raise their family in Connecticut, far from the constant pace of Hollywood.
In an interview, their daughter Clea, 55, spoke about her mother:
“My mother was way ahead of her time,” she said. “She was in the women’s lib before it became a big thing and she was a hands-on mother; when I was a baby she nursed me on set. She’d stop the cameras rolling in the middle of scenes and say, ‘Sorry, I’ve got to feed the baby.’”
Paul had three children from his first marriage: son Scott (born in 1950) and daughters Susan (born 1953) and Stephanie Kendall (born 1954).
In 1975, the family suffered a devastating loss when Scott died from a drug overdose after a motorcycle accident.
Five years later, Paul founded the Scott Newman Center, dedicated to educating children about the dangers of alcohol and drug abuse.
“There’s nothing you can say that will repair my guilt about Scott. It will be with me as long as I live,” Paul Newman said after his son’s death.
Joanne Woodward and Family
Joanne gave birth to three daughters: Ellinor Teresa (born 1959), Melissa Stewart (born 1961), and Claire Olivia (born 1965).
As a child, Melissa appeared in several TV series and later appeared in Mr. & Mrs. Bridge (1990), a film that also starred her parents.
Joanne and Paul continued building their life together in Connecticut.
Their relationship remained a point of admiration, and actor Liev Schreiber once shared a story that stuck with him, describing how deeply connected the two still seemed even after 40 years of marriage. While working on the movie Twilight (1998), Schreiber said Joanne came to the set.
“He put his arm around my shoulder and said to me, ‘Will you look at the ass on her.’ That really struck me as an ideal relationship. I love the idea that a guy approaching 80 still loved his wife’s ass,” Schreiber said.
Even as they aged, neither slowed down. Woodward served as artistic director at the Westport Country Playhouse in Connecticut from 2001 to 2005, and she also appeared with Newman in the TV series Empire Falls.
Paul Passed Away
In 2008, after 50 years of marriage, their love story reached its end.
Paul Newman died in 2008 after battling cancer at age 83. The legendary Butch Cassidy actor was widely honored across the film industry.
After his death, Newman’s estate was left to Joanne and various charities.
Paul and Joanne were among the rare Hollywood couples whose marriage lasted decades. They preserved their bond with humor and playfulness and became known for their involvement in politics and charitable work, balancing careers with family life.
They also created the well-known salad dressing brand Newman’s Own, which directs its contributions to charity.
“They had the love of newlyweds,” family friend Bob Forrester said. “When I would fly with him all over the world, the moment the plane landed, Paul would call Joanne and he always said, ‘I love you,’ even after 50 years of marriage. She was his everything. They were soulmates.”
The reason their marriage worked, Woodward said, was simple:
“We could talk to each other, we could tell each other anything without fear of ridicule or rejection. There was trust.”
In another interview, Clea spoke about Joanne—now 92—and how they resemble each other:
“I wish I had my mother’s skin,” she said. “I have more wrinkles than she does and she is 86! Her skin is annoying, it is so beautiful. But then she was sun-blocking before sun block existed. I have never known her to not wear a hat in the sun.”
Three years ago, it was announced that Ethan Hawke would direct a documentary about Joanne and Paul’s lives and careers, authorized by the family. In a statement, Hawke promised a “rare and exclusive look” at both actors and the complex relationship that lasted 50 years and “managed to beat incredible odds.”
Joanne Woodward in 2023
As of 2023, Joanne Woodward has retired from acting. The 92-year-old voiced Doris in 2013’s Lucky Them, and since then, she has had no further acting credits.
She has not been seen in public since 2013, and there have been media reports that she has faced a difficult health battle. Reports have also claimed Woodward is living with Alzheimer’s, with some stating she was diagnosed in 2007—just days before Paul Newman was diagnosed with terminal cancer.
Woodward returned to public attention when Ethan Hawke’s intimate six-part docuseries about Newman and Woodward premiered in 2022.
Hopefully, Joanne was able to enjoy it.
“That’s why the family wanted me to do it now,” Hawke said in 2020. “They wanted it to come out while she’s still alive and can see this, to support her.”
Reports have also stated that Woodward continues to live in the Westport home in Connecticut, where Paul Newman died in 2008 at age 83.
The love story of Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman remains extraordinary—more than 50 years of marriage, built on trust, humor, shared purpose, and a partnership that endured beyond fame. A true golden Hollywood couple the world may never see again.
Please share their story with friends and family.
