Ann Eden Woodward (born Evangeline Lucille Crowell; December 12, 1915
â€" October 10, 1975) was an American socialite, showgirl, model, and
radio actress. In 1940, while working as a nightclub dancer and radio
actress, she was voted "The Most Beautiful Girl in Radio." Woodward
became a prominent and controversial figure in New York high society
after her marriage to banking heir William Woodward Jr. Although never
convicted, she was suspected of murder after she shot and killed her
husband in 1955, claiming that she had mistaken him for a burglar. The
circumstances surrounding her husband's death led to Woodward becoming
a cause célèbre and, later, being banished from high society. Life
called the event "The Shooting of the Century." In 1975 Truman Capote
published excerpts from an unfinished novel Answered Prayers, which
accused Woodward of murdering her husband. Just before the stories
were to be published in Esquire, she killed herself by taking
cyanide.Woodward was born Evangeline Lucille Crowell on December 12,
1915 in Pittsburg, Kansas to Colonel M. Jesse Crowell, a streetcar
conductor and retired military officer from Detroit, and his wife. She
attended Kansas City Junior College for one year. As a young adult,
she moved to Kansas City and changed her name to Ann Eden after her
parents divorced and remarried. In 1937 Woodward moved to New York
City to work as a model and actress and was signed with John Robert
Powers modeling agency. Through the Powers agency, Woodward landed
roles as a radio actress, and was voted "The Most Beautiful Girl in
Radio" in 1940. She had a role in Sir Noël Coward's Set to
Music.While working as a showgirl at FeFe's Monte Carlo, a nightclub
in New York City, Woodward met William Woodward Sr., a wealthy banker
from a prominent old money family who served as Chairman of the
Central Hanover Bank & Trust. It is speculated that she was Woodward's
mistress. She was later courted by Woodward's son, William Woodward
Jr., and married him in 1943 at St Luke's Memorial Episcopal Church in
Tacoma, Washington. The marriage was a controversial one, and she was
initially shunned by New York high society. Her mother-in-law,
Elizabeth Odgen Cryder Woodward, objected to the marriage. She was
eventually welcomed into prominent social circles and became a leading
figure in society. She had two sons with her husband, William Woodward
III and James Woodward.The Woodwards' marriage was an unhappy one,
both having strings of affairs. Her husband asked for a divorce in
1947, but Woodward refused. Ann Woodward Biography, NetWorth, Height, Age, Weight, Family, Married, Son, Daughter