February 9, 2024 • 67 mins
What a CreepSeason 23, Episode 7
Ann Woodward and the Curse of the Woodward Family
On October 30, 1955, William “Billy” Woodward was shot in the home he shared with his wife Ann. She told the police it was a case of mistaken identity as both carried guns to bed due to a recent spate of robberies in their town of Oyster Bay, New York. Did she kill her philandering spouse, who vocalized how much he had grown to despise her?
Ann’s eventual acquittal in the case was a local Long Island scandal until Truman Capote (who had only met her once and instantly disliked her) told a scandalized (and fictionalized) version in 1975’s Answered Prayers which insinuated Ann had murdered Billy and his mother’s money bought her out of any criminal indictments. (We talked about him last September!)So, which is true? And what brought a small-town girl like Angeline Lucille Crowell to the top of cafe society to a sad, lonely end?
Sources for the episode:
Ann Woodward and the Curse of the Woodward Family
On October 30, 1955, William “Billy” Woodward was shot in the home he shared with his wife Ann. She told the police it was a case of mistaken identity as both carried guns to bed due to a recent spate of robberies in their town of Oyster Bay, New York. Did she kill her philandering spouse, who vocalized how much he had grown to despise her?
Ann’s eventual acquittal in the case was a local Long Island scandal until Truman Capote (who had only met her once and instantly disliked her) told a scandalized (and fictionalized) version in 1975’s Answered Prayers which insinuated Ann had murdered Billy and his mother’s money bought her out of any criminal indictments. (We talked about him last September!)So, which is true? And what brought a small-town girl like Angeline Lucille Crowell to the top of cafe society to a sad, lonely end?
Sources for the episode:
- Done and Dunne podcast https://doneanddunne.com/
- New York magazine: https://nymag.com/news/features/scandals/ann-woodward-2012-4/
- New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/1999/05/08/nyregion/heir-fortune-tragedy-suicide-ends-life-wealthy-haunted-man.html
- Montillo, Roseanne (2022). Deliberate Cruelty: Truman Capote, the Millionaire's Wife, and the Murder of the Century. New York: Atria Books. ISBN 9781982153755.
- New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/26/nyregion/truman-capote-feud-swans-fx.html
- Town & Country: https://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/arts-and-culture/a46573658/feud-capote-vs-the-swans-ann-woodward-true-story/
- Vogue: https://www.vogue.com/article/who-is-ann-woodward-the-scandalous-true-story-of-the-new-york-socialite-who-shot-her-husband
- Elle: https://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/a46316970/ann-woodward-death-true-story/
- Harper’s Bazaar: https://www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/culture/culture-news/a46603823/ann-woodward-death-true-story/
- People: https://people.com/feud-capote-vs-swans-ann-woodward-did-she-kill-husband-intentionally-8553447
- Time: https://time.com/6590540/feud-capote-vs-the-swans-true-story/
- FX: Feud Capote Vs. the Swans
- The Two Mrs. Grenvilles (Dominick Dunne book & miniseries) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt00
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