Woodward Ho! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Count Three And Pray

In this film written by Herb Meadow, Joanne played a rebellious young woman, with no family, who takes up residence in a parsonage inhabited by a reformed pastor with a shady past. Her character was named Lissy, a name she would later bestow upon one of her three daughters.

Those who'd like to see "Count Three and Pray" can occasionally find it on Turner Classic Movies (TCM). The channel is most likely to air it December 13, Van Heflin's birthday.

Answer: The Three Faces Of Eve

The film was based on a true story of a woman with a psychological disorder who had multiple personalities. Director Nunnally Johnson had originally wanted Orson Welles to play the part of the doctor who treated Eve. Although he opted instead to direct and star in "Touch Of Evil", Welles correctly predicted that whoever played the role of Eve would win an Academy Award. Lee J. Cobb ended up playing the role of Eve's psychiatrist, Dr. Curtis Luther.

Answer: The Long Hot Summer

Joanne played the spinster daughter of a Mississippi patriarch, who hoped she would eventually marry a young drifter named Ben Quick, then he could leave them his business. The film was based on a novel by William Faulkner entitled, "The Hamlet".

In the fall 1985, a two-part remake aired on NBC. It starred Don Johnson, who was NBC's hottest star at the time on "Miami Vice". In the new version, the role originated by Joanne was played by Judith Ivey, who had just co-starred with Newman and Woodward the previous year in Paul's film "Harry and Son".

Answer: The Stripper

Producer Jerry Wald ("Peyton Place") had hoped that Marilyn Monroe would begin work on the film after she finished filming a remake of the Irene Dunne film, "My Favorite Wife", entitled "Something's Got To Give". Marilyn never got to complete it. After her death in 1962, Joanne Woodward was cast in the role of a stripper whose boyfriend runs off with her money.

She is then forced to take up residence with a local family with an eighteen year-old son (Richard Beymer, of "West Side Story" fame) who falls for her. Because of the casting, what was supposed to have been a significant age difference between the two characters looked rather insignificant, as Beymer was 25 to Woodward's 33, four years younger than Monroe would have been.

Answer: Rachel, Rachel

Instead of a splashy blockbuster, Newman chose for his directorial debut an introspective screenplay by longtime friend Stewart Stern, based on the novel "A Jest Of God", by Margaret Laurence. The screenplay brought Stern his second Oscar nomination, his first being for a 1951 film entitled "Teresa", which marked the Hollywood debut of Italian star Pier Angeli--who three years later would co-star with Newman in his ill-fated film debut, "The Silver Chalice".

Paul Newman was not nominated for Best Director, and Joanne seemed to take it harder than he did, especially in light of the fact that, as a producer, not only did her husband have to promise to take a major pay cut on his next acting role in order to get "Rachel, Rachel" made, but she agreed to do the same.

Answer: They Might Be Giants

George C. Scott played the would-be Sherlock named Justin Playfair, and Woodward was Dr. Watson, the psychiatrist studying him. The film was based on a play by James Goldman, author of "The Lion In Winter".

The musical act described in the question does indeed call itself "They Might Be Giants". Their best known song, "Birdhouse In Your Soul" (1990) was featured in a 2008 episode of the ABC television series, "Pushing Daisies".

Answer: Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams

This was Woodward's second nomination for a film written by Stewart Stern. The story has a similar theme, with Woodward again playing a lonely character who dotes on an elderly mother, while secretly wishing to be free of her. Stewart Stern's relationship with Joanne Woodward would continue with his final two projects, which were produced for television: the Emmy Award winning "Sybil", and 1978's "A Christmas To Remember". After these, he retired from screenwriting, but inexplicably appeared as a cook in the 1985 horror movie, "Fright Night".

Answer: The Glass Menagerie

It was only natural for Newman to film a Tennessee Williams play, since his performances in the film versions of Williams' "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof" and "Sweet Bird Of Youth" made full use of his acting abilities when he was in his thirties.

Joanne's role, an old overbearing single mother who tries to live vicariously through her children, was originated on stage in 1945 by legendary Broadway star Laurette Taylor. By the time casting began for the 1950 film version, Taylor had already passed away, so the role of Amanda was assumed by another stage diva, Gertrude Lawrence.

The new version directed by Newman was an independent production that premiered at the Toronto Film festival in September of 1987. It was released to a limited number of screens the following month, and grossed less than a million dollars (a true labor of love). "The Glass Menagerie" would be Paul Newman's final directorial effort. He would focus mostly on acting for the next two decades.

Answer: Mr. And Mrs. Bridge

Producer Ismail Merchant and director James Ivory filmed a script adapted by their usual writer, Oscar winner Ruth Prower Jhabvala, whose screenplay was an adaptation of two novels written by Evan S. Connell published eleven years apart: "Mrs. Bridge" and "Mr. Bridge".

In the two decades that had past since the latter novel was published, Joanne and Paul became old enough to play the parents of three grown children grappling with the changing mores and social conditions during the 1930s and 1940s in an upper-crust sector of Kansas City.

Answer: Philadelphia

"Philadelphia" tells the story of of a gay lawyer who sues his former law firm for wrongful dismissal due to discrimination. The only other lawyer who will take his case is a former opponent (Denzel Washington) who is almost as prejudiced against him as his former bosses. For much of her brief screen time, Joanne was required to sit silently in a courtroom and react as the firm's ruthless defense attorney (Mary Steenburgen) disparaged Andy's reputation in order to repudiate his claim that he was unjustly fired.

Following this big screen appearance, Joanne Woodward would concentrate on television and stage productions. In 2000, she became Co-Artistic Director of the Westport Country Playhouse in Fairfield County, Connecticut (where "Rachel, Rachel" was filmed). With Paul's death in 2008, Joanne Woodward became a widow at age 78, after a fifty year marriage which produced six children, eight grandchildren, and countless fans from a career which spans nearly six decades. Thanks for playing!