Ann Woodward Shot Her Husband in the Dark — Was It Really an Accident?

Ann Woodward Shot Her Husband in the Dark — Was It Really an Accident? In 1955, Ann Woodward shot her husband, racing heir William Woodward Jr., in the dark hallway of their Long Island mansion. A Nassau County grand jury took about thirty minutes to decide it was an accident. Twenty years later, Truman Capote published his own verdict, and she was dead before it reached the newsstands. A burglar really was on her roof that night. Her mother-in-law whispered that it was murder anyway. And Capote, the man who nicknamed her "Mrs. Bang-Bang" in a St. Moritz restaurant, turned her into "Ann Hopkins" in the Esquire chapter "La Côte Basque, 1965". This documentary separates what the record shows from what the gossip and the fiction added, and says plainly where the record goes silent. CHAPTERS 0:00 Thirty minutes in Mineola 2:09 The night of October 29, 1955 6:12 The burglar on the roof 7:40 What a grand jury actually decides 8:58 A girl from Pittsburg, Kansas 10:48 FeFe's Monte Carlo and the Woodward men 12:33 Marrying Billy, and Elsie Cryder Woodward 14:49 Nashua, the horse of the decade 15:43 Cleared, and finished anyway 17:30 St. Moritz: "Mrs. Bang-Bang" 19:14 Capote's own mother 21:15 In Cold Blood and the swans 22:57 Esquire, November 1975 23:46 "Ann Hopkins" 25:54 October 10, 1975 27:12 Capote's fall 28:52 The two sons 30:31 Was it murder? 33:21 Who killed Ann Woodward? 34:50 The story that won't stop being retold SOURCES TIME, "Shot in the Dark" (Nov. 7, 1955) Gerald Clarke, "Capote: A Biography" Roseanne Montillo, "Deliberate Cruelty" Susan Braudy, "This Crazy Thing Called Love" Smithsonian Magazine: "The Real History Behind Feud: Capote vs. the Swans" Some images in this video are illustrative and do not show the real people. #AnnWoodward #TrumanCapote #HiddenHeiresses