I have to finish this post quickly so that I can have it up by midnight...that way it will still be Joanne Woodward's birthday by the time it's up.
Joanne Woodward won her Academy Award for the 1957 film The Three Faces of Eve in which she played a young housewife suffering from blackouts and wild mood swings. She's diagnosed as having multiple personality disorder (a theme Woodward would return to in Sybil nearly twenty years later.)
Essentially play three roles, including Eve Black and Eve White, two disparate personalities trapped in one woman's psyche, it's a tour de force for Woodward, even if the film is sometimes lacking subtlety. (Old advertising material for the film included the tag line, "A moment ago she was the nicest girl in town...a moment from now she will be anybody's pick-up!")
Joanne Woodward is a and warm presence whenever she appears on screen and I wish I'd had a chance to see on stage. The closest I got was seeing her and her husband Paul Newman at a screening of Shakespeare Wallah at a Merchant/Ivory film festival in the mid 90s. And yes, even from 30 feet away his eyes were little blue beacons of light.
Apparently a talented seamstress, Woodward made her own dress for the Oscar ceremony. I've seen it called one of the worst dresses in Oscar history, but I think the strapless emerald green original with leaf embroidery is unassuming and charming, much like its maker.
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