The Murder of Ann Woodward

shortly after Anne Woodward shot her husband she was in Switzerland drinking at a cafe with the notorious womanizer Claus Von buulo a man with his own dark past there were rumors he had killed his mother that he was a necropile and years later he was indicted for the murder of his own wife at a nearby table sat the writer Truman Capote Truman who had been following the Woodward murders closely raised his eyebrows this wasn't a woman in mourning this was a woman enjoying her life flirting with a married man he decided to go over to them he knew it would make Anne uncomfortable and he wanted to cause a little Mischief their conversation got heated with Anne calling him a little [ __ ] he returned the slur waving his finger at her and calling her Mrs bang bang this is the story of their Feud that led to the suicide of Anne Woodward and her children as well as to the ruin of Truman capod an like Truman was born in a small town both had absentee fathers and both had endless ambition in 1915 Anne was born in Pittsburgh Kansas her first years were spent in a shack with no indoor plumbing or heating the town had few jobs and the family struggled to survive the place of her birth would come back to haunt her when 2 weeks before his murder Billy Woodward would visit the city and learn about an's true past by the time she was a teenager she had lived in eight different homes being shuffled around family members her brother died when Anne was still a child and her parents went through a divorce her mother remarried but the second marriage was no better her stepfather was abusive and controlling and her mother Clara soon left him but found out she was pregnant she decided to give birth to the child but the girl was still born her mother worked hard to provide for them taking many jobs and studying courses in her free time however all her Ventures turned out to be unsuccessful uccessful at 11: she told her mother she wanted to be in movies and began to strut in front of the mirror posing she told her mother they would one day be rich and nothing would stop her Anne knew she did not want to spend her life as her mother had it was only at the movies she felt Escape especially when she saw her hero Joan Crawford movies such as Grand Hotel showed how by her own will Crawford became a movie star she was the embodiment of everything Anne wanted wanted to be and in many ways an molded herself after this character even having an affair with Joan Crawford's husband many years later Anne was beautiful and intelligent her grades at school were excellent and she tested at 130 on an IQ test but with the family having no money College was impossible by this time she had lightened her hair and was calling herself Anne Eden as it sounded far more exotic after being asked to model for a catalog an decided to head to New York York to pursue a modeling and acting career her mother tried to dissuade her but having failed kissed her daughter and gave her $400 all in $5 notes every penny she had saved Yu York was a dream Grand Apartments the Roar of taxis far away from her dead end town here there was life aspirations confidence she attended auditions went out for drinks and after several attempts finally got work as a print model being told that her body was too curvaceous to model clothes John Powers the head of the agency advised her to get a small nose job which she agreed to in addition she took voice and dance lessons the modeling work gave her money to rent a nice apartment and time to audition for plays she met agents and producers and was happy to date them if it furthered her career but she never got anything other than small roles during her time in a traveling production she went back home and saw her mother for the first time in 3 years her mother was gaunt and sick and Anne immediately took her to the doctor her mother had a rare form of tuberculosis and the doctors could do little to help Anne moved her mother to New York to help care for her her mother's hospital bills depleted her savings and she was forced to move into a small one room apartment she would spend all day in the hospital with her mother and no longer went to auditions in order to get by she took a job at Fifi nightclub as a bunny girl she was extremely popular men there gave her gifts and money there were rumors she did More Than Just Dance but Anne always denied it in 1941 her mother died and Anne took her back home to be buried beside her two siblings shortly after she met William Woodward senior the father of her future husband who was a regular at the club he was 55 years old married with five children he was the president of canover bank and Belair Farm where he bred horses one night after her dance he invited Anne to his table for a drink and they began an affair he told her he could not offer her marriage but provided her with money jewelry trips clothes and many other gifts after a time he decided he was going too far with Anne and needed to end their relationship however he couldn't bear giving Anne up entirely so he hatched a plan he had ideas that his son Billy was a virgin and possibly even homosexual so he asked an to use her seduction skills on him as he saw this as a situation that could benefit everyone except of course his wife Elsie Woodward an immediately agreed shortly thereafter Billy and a friend came to the club Anne turned on her charms and the shy Billy quickly succed to them years later he described the moment as a classic seduction scene plotted by her something planned by a harlot to get her man soon after that night they started an affair and a few months later he asked her to marry him his mother was a ghast even William who had thought that a relationship would be good for his son was against the marriage but no one could change his mind she was 5 years older and was amused by this boy whom she seemed to have so much power over Billy viewed her as different defiant contrasting with anyone else his mother had introduced to him she had slept in parking lots cheap hotels and now before her stood a life very different from the one she came from his mother was dismayed and hated Anne viewing her as the Classic Gold Digger at the start of their marriage they seemed happy while Billy was away in the Navy Anne was expecting their first child Anne lived in the house with her mother-in-law they rarely communicated when he returned home after a harrowing time in the military Anne was not the woman he left she was swollen and ready to give birth he wanted to live his life and became a Playboy spending little time with Anne even after their second child was born they still lived with his parents Billy was happy with the situation as he could go out and have fun leaving responsibility to others he didn't want to be stuck in a home of his own in the end he agreed buying a brownstone in Manhattan an now had a house Maids Butlers Cooks she had been drinking coffee from chipped cups now she was drinking champagne from polished crystal glasses rumors circled about Anne and her past and the women in the community kept her at arms length viewing her as beneath them she viewed them all as Hypocrites they had all married some old lords for a title or a rich oil tycoon none of them were any different than she was Anne began to take classes to become a lady of society she took lessons in posture etiquette elocution and French but Billy had fallen in love with the girl from Fifi now she was becoming like all the other Society women and he resented her for it insulting her at every opportunity even calling her a [ __ ] and a hooker in front of friends Billy felt he had been conned he told a friend Anne had always been a very good actress better than anyone had given her credit for she was only interested in money and Status his mother had been right all along Anne and Billy began to fight often and Billy began to beat her even while she was pregnant at this time she began taking pills for migraines and anti-depressants in 1948 they officially separated at this point Billy changed his will determined to leave as little to Anne as possible eventually they reconciled but their fights became worse with mental and physical abuse from both sides they would fight in public and in private usually with Billy leaving and an locking the door this would be followed by reconciliations holidays and expensive gifts from Billy to Anne this cycle would repeat over and over with both Billy and Anne jealous of the other even talking to a member of the opposite sex in the meantime William Woodward senior had died and Billy had taken over the horse farm their horses were wildly successful and Anne was very much involved in this part of this business she began to gain Renown appearing on Best Dressed lists newspapers and magazine covers One Night in bed Anne told Billy how she had met his father at Fifi before she had met him Anne immediately saw she had made a mistake Billy was humiliated Anne tried to claim they were just friends that no Affair happened but Billy didn't believe it he was deeply hurt his father had known his lover before he did they both drank more and more heavily spiting each other in public engaging in flirtations and relations in front of the other this would lead to Notorious fights and then sexual reconciliations an would become hostile when women would approach him and she also became jealous of men the rumors of Billy being bisexual never left and she was sure he was having affairs with them too one night at a party in front of guests she screamed at him why don't you just bring a man into our bed as that is what you want anyway Truman capote's background was similar to an's he had come from nothing moving around to live with relatives as his mother and father pursued their own dreams he was always a disappointment to his mother who had wanted an abortion in the first place she resented him because his birth tied her into a life she didn't want she would leave him behind to pursue her own dreams in New York and Remar to a wealthy stock broker in addition his homosexual tendencies annoyed her finally he was taken to live with her his book Other Voices other rooms had made him a literary darling but shortly thereafter his stepfather was fired for embezzling money his mother who had spent years trying to enter the Social Circles she was now in was humiliated and the society ladies turned their back on her and in what would later Echo Anne's own suicide she took an entire bottle of pills and killed herself the very same ones an would use many years later some argue that Truman hated Anne because in many ways she reminded him of his own mother a social climber though he never saw these traits in himself on the evening of October 29th 1955 Billy and Anne Woodward attended a party to honor the Duke and Duchess of Windsor the two families had known each other for years Anne had a great affinity for The Duchess the former Mrs Wallace Simpson who much like herself was viewed poorly by her husband's family and ridiculed in the Press on the way over the couple had got into another argument this time over Billy wanting to buy a Plane by coincidence the plane was manufactured in Pittsburgh Kansas only 2 mi away from the farm and had grown up on my wife was manufactured there too he joked when they arrived at their house on Oyster Bay the property manager told them about a Prowler in the area the man had slept in the garage there was a broken window and tins of open food all over Billy himself called the police to report the incident and carried a pistol with him the rest of the day even bringing it with them in the car to the party one guest recalled that Anne would ask everyone at the party about the prowler that was going around the area and looked extremely nervous someone told Anne she was obsessed Anne smiled and agreed and said that night she was also going to sleep with a shotgun next to her bed also next to her bed was a radio a glass of water and a pill box that helped with her migraines depression and the many ailments which she complained of to friends the children went to bed early as Billy said he would take them on a ride on the new plane in the morning on the way home their argument continued when Billy had gone to Pittsburgh Kansas to pick up the plane he had seen Anne's town and in a bar met a man who remembered the name Anne Crowley and told him the story of her mother and her life and that her father was still alive a street car conductor in Detroit he had called her and told her his lawyers would be very pleased with all the dirt he had found out on her after the divorce she would never be able to see the children again and that it was high time she returned to Kansas later people who believed Anne was guilty of his murder would use this as their proof and say that everything that followed could be traced back to Billy Woodward's trip to Kansas when they returned home Billy and Anne walked around the house checking everything to make sure the prowler was not there with Billy holding the pistol from the gun cabinet he took out a shotgun and gave it to Anne to protect herself he took one for himself as well then they whispered good nights to each other and retired to separate bedrooms they were both drunk she placed the shotgun next to her bed dawned a bed jacket wiped away her Cosmetics brushed her teeth applied cold cream and swallowed a hand full of sleeping pills in the next bedroom Billy was about to take a shower as Anne told it not long after she went to bed she heard a crash and growling in her mentally hazy State she thought of the prowler she grabbed the shotgun feeling A Rush of adrenaline she slowly opened her bedroom door and peered into the corridor a thin sliver of moon was the only thing that Lit the hall in the near Darkness she heard feet and spotted the outline of a shadow and unloaded her shotgun she ran across the corridor and saw the man dead at her feet was her husband her first reaction was to run down the stairs to the gun cabinet and throw several shotgun shells back in the cabinet she said she was afraid that if she kept the shells she might shoot herself she then went to make a call but somehow she said she could not dial the number for the police office at 2:07 a.m. the telephone operator got a call from an an was hysterical and the operator couldn't make out what she was saying a few minutes later a man called in say saying he had heard a woman screaming and that he believed it had come from the Woodward's house after hanging up with the police Anne immediately called her lawyer when the police entered the house they saw Anne lying on top of Billy screaming my darling my darling blood was smeared all over Anne's face hands and nightclothes the children still slept the police asked Anne if she had seen who shot Billy she whispered no no I shot Billy we both had guns I thought it was the prowler when the doctor arrived Anne was examined but refused to take off her night clothes as she did not want the doctor to see her bruises and assume her and Billy had been fighting he then gave her an injection of Thorazine to calm her down this would later be criticized as giving a murder suspect a sedative was certainly not normal practice the police thought a few things were a Miss there was a witness who claimed there was a 20-minute lapse between the firing of the shot gun and ANS screams the witness claimed he saw a light on in the hallway which was no longer on when the police arrived had she been screaming the whole time and the witness only heard it after 20 minutes and why hadn't the children heard anything most in their Social Circle had expected their marriage to end but had never expected murder but with Anne's reputation and their tumultuous relationship the gossip started and most believed an was guilty better to be a widow than a divorce they ained Billy's mother was certain that Anne had murdered Billy though to the outside world they would maintain otherwise she did not want people digging into their family's Secrets a short time later a man by the name of Paul worths was arrested for violating his parole he had been prowling around the area of the Woodward's home he later admitted he had also been in the house on the Saturday night according to him he wandered around their property carrying a shotgun he was hungry he heard the Woodwards coming home and jumped behind a pillar so as not to be seen he then walked around the house trying to peer in the windows as the lights began to dim he made the decision to break into their house as it looked like they had money he waited an hour then climbed up a tree to the right of the house as he climbed one of the branches snapped and fell off he climbed back up and got onto the roof and entered entered the house through a glass door as he was entering his foot got caught in the drapes and he lost his balance the butt of the shotgun breaking one of the Pains of the glass door however no lights came on so he continued in the next thing he knew he heard a shot so loud it sounded like a cannon going off he ran out of the room as fast as he could and ran across the roof jumping off the roof still carrying his shotgun and ran into the woods as the grand jury deliberated on whether or not to try Anne for the murder Elsie Woodward went to see her Elsie feared a trial feared Billy's transgressions would come to light that Anne would come off looking like a battered woman and in the end be exonerated she told Anne that she and her family had the power to make any charges go away all Anne needed to do was give up her rights to the children the children would be sent away to school in Switzerland and Anne was to have nothing to do with with them Elsie saw this as a chance to finally rid her family of the gold digger who had ruined her son's life an agreed and gave up her rights to the children in front of the grand jury she made for a compelling witness she broke down many times and the jurors found her story believable the jurors listened to 9 hours of testimony and in the end decided unanimously not to indict her many never believed an Woodward never never believed Paul worths never believed an innocent woman would give up her children so easily that her greatest performance had been the one she delivered in front of the grand jury she was banished from New York Society her Chief critic was Truman capot Truman had long been collecting stories of the women of the highest Social Circles he intended to write a book blending fact and fiction that would expose the lives of those in high society and there was one topic that excited him above all the Woodward murder the idea to use her as a main character in his book excited him this novel would transform him into a modern Henry James his novel answered prayers would also include others in the society such as babe paly slim Keith and Gloria Vanderbilt he believed this would rival Marcel PRS In Search of Lost Time in a letter to his publisher he called this work his magnum opus with Anne Woodward as his main character the novel will be called answered prayers and if it is successful it will answer mine he said his friends had no idea they were being used he told his publisher to say nothing about the book as his minders might find out however in 1959 his novel was put on hold when he read in the newspaper about a wealthy farmer named herb clutter and his family who were shot in their home the subject seemed to be plucked from a novel already a typical fall day in a small American town a wealthy family was murdered in a senseless crime he was intrigued by the victims who had not even fought with Intruders Truman did not want to summarize the case but wanted to depict how the town of hulham reacted to the murders of the Clutter family and how the remaining children reacted to their parents and siblings being killed the murders had not been solved yet when he embarked on the journey he was afraid Outsiders would be wary so he invited Harper Lee to join him she had just finished her own novel to K A Mockingbird but it had not yet been published n Harper Le had an easy way with people and Truman knew she would help Truman was a gay man and in the midwest at that time the people of Kansas felt uncomfortable with him but with n Harper Le's help he managed to gain the confidence of the lead investigator into the case Richard Hickok one of the killers had heard a story in jail that herb clutter a wealthy farmer kept large sums of his money in his house it was a typical jail story untrue but Hickok believed it and he enlisted his former cellmate Perry Smith to help him the jail story turned out not to be true clutter had no money in the house so the men executed him and his family and made away with $40 and a pair of binoculars and the two men fled to Mexico however when a $1,000 reward was offered Floyd Wells the man who had originally told Hickok the story decided to come forward Ward and collect the reward soon after the men were caught in Las Vegas a strong friendship developed between Truman and Perry Smith Perry had had a childhood similar to Truman's abandonment loss rejection and saw himself in Perry and how life could have gone so differently Smith and Hickok were found guilty and remained on death row for 5 years before finally being executed and allowing Truman to complete his novel In Cold Blood the novel was an enormous success and the film writs made him wealthy however the novel gave him nightmares he began to drink and party more and hang out with his socialite friends he called his swans his black and white ball on November 28th 1966 made him the center of the social world and was called the party of the century with the black and white ball he achieved the Apex of his Fame but it was at this point his descent began finally he could go back to answered prayers he realized that the killing of Billy Woodward by his wife an had everything he could wish for sex violence betrayal murder and high society it is all already in my head he told his publisher in addition writing it would allow him to get revenge on Anne Woodward after the incident in Switzerland in 1956 where she had called him a [ __ ] and later on a little toad he was now spending most of his time with his swans The High Society women who could make or break reputation babe py was his favorite Swan and part of the fabulous Cushing sisters slim Keith was second born to Humble parents before advantageous marriages Lee Radell known as Princess Radell joined the swans later and was the sister of Jackie Kennedy Gloria Guinness who many considered the most beautiful woman of the times though Truman himself disagreed he thought babe paly deserved the title Truman was the leader of this flock I can break up anyone in New York I want to he once told slim Keith with a measure of Pride he warned his friends against angering him if you aren't careful I will write you in my book he would tell them though they didn't take him seriously after 5 years of missed deadlines in May 1974 he finally published his first chapter of answered prayers titled unspoiled Monsters the excerpt caused a Ruckus people clamored for more and he told an interview his book answered prayers would be like a gun when the bullet is fired from the gun it is going to come out with a speed and power like you've never seen Wham and with Anne Woodward returning to the USA for another stay in 1975 Truman knew the time was right to release laot Bosque 1965 the seventh chapter of his book The story's protagonist was Anne Hopkins based on Anne Woodward Anne Hopkins the protagonist was a wealthy New York from the Midwest who had murdered her husband and got away with it her husband was naked when he came out of the shower an Hopkins came across as a vicious trigger happppy gold digger who murdered her husband because he asked for a divorce he had taken a trip to her hometown where he had learned her first marriage hadn't been analed and engaged in a bigamous relationship with her second while this was not true of Anne Woodward this had been the rumor for years he said an Hopkins was always a [ __ ] raised in a slum where she was nothing more than a white trash [ __ ] in early September 1975 friends of Anne Woodward called her to tell her Capote was going to publish his story in Esquire in November before the magazine was published someone sent her an advanced copy of it whether it was done to warn her or hurt her she didn't know Anne felt her world was now constricted she had tried to create a new life for herself and had f failed she told everyone she must be far away when it's published it's a bomb that will explode however as the day approached she didn't leave in late October she dawned her favorite dress painted her face in heavy makeup wore heavy mascara and bright lipstick swallowed a handful of pills and got into bed the pills she took were second all the same drug that had killed Truman Capo's mother when Elsie Woodward heard the news of Anne's suicide she said that's that she shot myself son son and Truman capot just murdered her as for the Woodward children James the youngest became a heavy drug user and was in and out of mental institutions in 1972 he jumped from a balcony and survived but a year after his mother's death he killed himself William Woodward the older boy tried to follow in his grandfather's footsteps and for a while was successful but later in life grew deeply depressed in 1999 he stepped through the window of his apartment's kitchen and jumped 14 stories to his death an wasn't the only one whom Truman trashed in his chapter many of his friends the swans were also written about in the book including babe paly and slim Keith he exposed their secrets their Affairs and their betrayals this episode was a turning point for Capote as well once the darling of The High Society he found himself ostracized for his betrayal the friends who had once confided in him turned their backs viewing him as a traitor who had exploited their secrets for literary gain his descent into drug and alcohol abuse worsened and his creative output dwindled the man who had once hosted the party of the century died in the arms of Joanne Carson with his last words being Mama largely forgotten by the society he had so meticulously documented and dissected in the end both Anne Woodward and Truman Capote were tragic figures each undone by their own flaws and circumstances Anne desperate to escape her past and secure a place in High Society ultimately found herself trapped by the very scandals she sought to avoid Capote driven by a Relentless Pursuit Of Fame and a desire to shock and awe ended up alienating those around him and destroying his own legacy their stories serve as a somber reminder of the destructive power of ambition Scandal and the Quest for societal approval what do you think was Anne guilty did Truman Drive her to take her own life comment below if you enjoyed this delve into the Anne Woodward murder please like share and subscribe and as always thanks for

Channel: MythicMindScape

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Keywords: Ann Woodward, Truman Capote, High Society Scandals, True Crime Historical, Capote Betrayal, New York Socialite, Cold Blood True Story, Unsolved Mysteries, Socialite Downfall, 1950s New York

Id: tiP80jYR5WY

Length: 29min 8sec (1748 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 08 2024