Throughout their 50 year marriage, actor Paul Newman and actress Joanne Woodward were the definitions of old Hollywood glamor, one of Tinsletown's first "it couples." Between the Oscar nominations, the couple maintained a happy relationship until Newman's death.
Thomasville, Georgia native Woodward first met her future husband in New York City in 1953. Newman was still married to his first wife, Jackie Witte, and starring in the Broadway play Picnic. Woodward, a recent graduate of Louisiana State University, was an understudy in the play. On a hot summer day, Woodward saw Newman for the first time. He was clad in a seersucker suit — not sweating and looking like an "ice cream ad." While she admits she wasn't interested at first, Newman was drawn to her.
The two remained friends, but after starring together in The Long, Hot Summer (1957) it was clear they had something special. Newman and Witte divorced and, on January 29, 1958, Newman and Woodward tied the knot in Las Vegas. They were in additional films together including Paris Blues (1961) and Mr. and Mrs. Bridge (1990).
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Woodward won an Academy Award for Best Actress in 1958 for The Three Faces of Eve and received an additional Academy Award nomination for Rachel, Rachel, which her husband directed. Newman won an Oscar as well for The Color of Money. Outside of their film careers, they welcomed three daughters — Elinor Teresa "Nell," Melissa Stewart, and Claire Olivia "Clea." They chose to raise their family in Connecticut, away from the Hollywood lifestyle in Los Angeles.
Actor Paul Newman and his wife, actress Joanne Woodward, are going over the script of the comedy "Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys" at their home in Hollywood, Calif., November 11, 1958. (AP Photo)
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While we all know Paul Newman as the Hollywood star, we also know him from Newman's Own Foundation. The Newmans were passionate about their charity work and what started with one salad dressing became a non-profit that donated 100% of the profits from Newman's Own line to charity. The couple also founded the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp in Connecticut, the name inspired by Newman's film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
Even late in life, people admired their relationship. Actor Liev Schreiber worked with Newman on the movie Twilight and told Elle that the longtime couple still had it, even in old age.
Joanne Woodward, left, and Paul Newman pose for a photograph at a party in memory of Tony Randall at Sardi's in New York Tuesday Oct. 5, 2004. Newman spoke earlier in the day at "A Tribute to Tony Randall" at New York's Majestic Theatre where Randall was remembered. (AP Photo/Tina Fineberg)
"When Joanne [Woodward] came on 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."
Newman and Woodward never slowed down. From 2001-2005 Woodward was the artistic director of the Westport Country Playhouse in Connecticut, and she appeared with her husband in the TV series Empire Falls. Woodward won nine Emmy Awards and three Golden Globe Awards in addition to her Oscar and starred in some incredible films opposite some of the best talent in Hollywood — Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams, From the Terrace (with husband Paul Newman), The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds and The Glass Menagerie (directed by her husband), The Fugitive Kind with Marlon Brando, The Age of Innocence, and Sybil with Sally Field.
Newman passed away in 2008 after a battle with lung cancer. He's still one of the most beloved actors of his generation and half of a timeless golden Hollywood couple.
Joanne Woodward, 27, and Paul Newman, 33, after a one year Hollywood romance were married on Jan. 29, 1958 in Las Vegas at Hotel El Rancho Vegas. The couple are leaving immediately for New York and a six weeks honeymoon abroad. (AP Photo)
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