What happened to American socialite Ann Woodward?

May 2024 · 6 minute read

FROM showgirl to socialite, Ann Woodward rose to the top of New York City's high society, but after committing what Life magazine called the "shooting of the century," she was shunned for the rest of her life.

In Feud: Capote vs. The Swans, Demi Moore portrays Ann Woodward, a figure who rose to the top of New York City's high society, and was ultimately ostracized and shunned following her husband's death and Capote's fictionalized accounts of her later life.

What happened to American socialite Ann Woodward?

On October 30, 1955, Ann Woodward and her husband, William Woodward Jr., returned to their country home in Oyster Bay, located on the North Shore of Long Island in New York.

Both Ann and William were nervous about a string of robberies that had occurred in their neighborhood over the last few weeks.

The estranged couple, who slept in separate bedrooms, reportedly both went to their rooms with loaded shotguns that night.

A few hours later, Ann was awakened by a strange noise, and after going into the hallway to investigate, saw a shadowy figure by her husband's door.

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Without thinking, she fired the gun.

The gun was loaded with buckshot, also called a shotgun shell, and was not meant to be lethal.

However, the buckshot ricocheted and entered the figure's temple.

When police arrived, Ann was holding her husband's deceased body, clearly distressed.

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She claimed that she had shot him because she believed that he was a burglar.

While she was exonerated by police and the courts, New York's high society wasn't as quick to forgive and forget about the crime.

Ann was shunned by New York Society for the remainder of her life, and had very few friends beyond her mother-in-law and her two sons.

In 1975, Truman Capote, a novelist, screenwriter, and former friend and confidante of Ann and other New York socialites, allowed Esquire to publish a chapter, La Côte Basque 1965, from his upcoming novel, Answered Prayers.

The chapter, named after a famous New York City restaurant, focused on Capote's high-society socialite friends, including Ann Woodward, Babe Paley, Happy Rockefeller, C.Z. Guest, Gloria Vanderbilt, and Slim Keith, among others.

His scathing text detailed their scandalous and controversial lives, revealing secrets and previously untold or unshared gossip, under thinly-veiled pseudonyms.

Ann Woodward, for instance, was titled "Ann Hopkins" in Capote's work, and Capote detailed how her character murdered her husband.

The chapter caused immediate backlash, leading the Swans to turn on Capote.

He eventually suffered mental health issues and began abusing drugs and alcohol at an alarming rate.

That same year, Ann Woodward, who was already suffering from severe depression, ultimately killed herself, ingesting poison by taking cyanide.

Her body was found in her 5th Avenue apartment on October 10, 1975.

While there was no evidence that Ann knew the excerpt would mention her, some media outlets have speculated that she may have received an advanced copy of the story, even from Capote himself.

Ann's mother-in-law, Elsie, reportedly believed Capote's story had driven her daughter-in-law over the edge.

"She shot my son, and Truman just murdered her, and so now I suppose we don't have to worry about that anymore," she said, as reported by Business Insider.

Unfortunately, the tragedies didn't end there for the Woodwards.

Ann's son, Jimmy, died by suicide just one year later, and her older son, William, also killed himself decades later in 1999.

Meanwhile, Capote spent the late 1970s and early 1980s suffering various breakdowns and continuing his descent into alcoholism and drug addiction.

He died in Bel Air, Los Angeles, on August 25, 1984, from liver disease, phlebitis, and drug intoxication.

Who was Ann Woodward?

Ann Woodward, born Angeline Lucille Crowell, was an American socialite, model, radio actress, and former showgirl.

She was born on December 12, 1915, in Pittsburg, Kansas.

Her parents were Colonel M. Jesse Crowell, a retired military officer and a streetcar conductor, and Ethel Smiley, a schoolteacher.

Shortly after her parents divorced and remarried, Ann moved to Kansas City and changed her name to Ann Eden.

In 1937, Ann moved to New York City, signing with the John Robert Powers modeling agency.

She worked as a model and radio actress, and in 1940, was voted The Most Beautiful Girl In Radio.

Ann also worked as a showgirl at FeFe's Monte Carlo, a New York City nightclub.

It was there that she met her future husband, William Woodward Sr., a wealthy banker.

While there was some speculation that she became Woodward's mistress, she later married his son, William Woodward Jr., in 1943.

The banking heir and model-turned-socialite tied the knot in Tacoma, Washington.

Initially shunned by New York high society – and her mother-in-law, Elizabeth "Elsie" Ogden Cryder Woodward – Ann eventually became accepted by the city's most prominent social circles.

Despite her unhappy marriage, she welcomed two sons with her husband, including William Woodward III and James Woodward.

After marrying, Ann dedicated her time to charitable causes, including the World Wildlife Foundation, the American Red Cross, and the Museum of Modern Art.

She also founded the Ann Eden Woodward Foundation, which donates to the arts, public libraries, museums, hospitals, and to environmental and wildlife preservation.

At the time, Ann's net worth was tied to her husband's fortune.

Woodward Jr.'s net worth was reportedly between $1 and $5 million, which in today's currency is worth between $12.5 and $62.5 million.

How can I watch Feud: Capote vs. The Swans?

Feud: Capote vs. The Swans is the second season of Ryan Murphy's anthology television series, Feud.

The show's second season is based on the book, Capote's Women: A True Story of Love, Betrayal, and a Swan Song for an Era, by Laurence Leamer.

Feud: Capote vs. The Swans focuses largely on writer Truman Capote and his friendships with New York City's socialites, known as The Swans.

After Esquire publishes an excerpt from Capote's unpublished book, a chapter titled La Côte Basque, that details these women's scandalous lives, many of them vow to get their revenge on their former friend and confidante.

The series premiered on January 31, 2024, on FX, airing two one-hour episodes.

The remaining six episodes of the eight-episode season will air weekly on Wednesdays on FX.

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New episodes will also be available the following day, Thursdays, on the streaming platform Hulu.

The season finale is scheduled to air on Wednesday, March 13, 2024.

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