FX series Feud: Capote vs. The Swans looks into New York socialite and radio actress Ann Woodward’s case. Ann Woodward, who was married to Hanover National Bank heir William Woodward Jr., fatally shot him in 1955 at their Oyster Bay mansion.
According to People Magazine, Ann had claimed she thought her husband was a burglar. A Nassau County grand jury exonerated her, ruling the shooting death accidental. Nonetheless, the New York high society shunned her and also considered her a gold digger who got away with her husband’s murder. Rumors suggested that Ann shot him after learning of his alleged affair with another woman at the time.
Town & Country reported that Ann would eventually move to Europe, where she met Truman Capote and became one of his swans. In Capote’s La Côte Basque 1965, he bases the character of Ann Hopkins on Ann. He describes her as a gold digger who shoots her husband.
Eventually, in October 1975, Ann Woodward committed suicide by overdosing on sleeping pills in her New York City apartment, reported Vogue. She was 59 years old at the time of her death.
Why did Ann Woodward shoot her husband, William Woodward Jr.?
According to Harper’s Bazaar, Ann Woodward worked as a model and a radio actress after moving to New York City from her native Kansas. Ann also worked as a dancer at Fefe’s Monte Carlo nightclub, where she met William Woodward Sr., a wealthy banker. She would later meet his son, William Woodward Jr., marry him in 1943, and have two sons.
However, they were far from being a happily married couple, per Town & Country. William reportedly asked for a divorce in 1947, but Ann refused. Laurence Leamer, the author of Capote’s Women: A True Story of Love, Betrayal, and a Swan Song for an Era, told Fox News, “It was a troubled marriage. But if, in every troubled marriage, the wife killed her husband, the cemeteries would be full.”
Then, in 1955, a string of burglaries occurred in the Oyster Bay, Long Island, neighborhood where the Woodwards resided, per the outlet. On the night of October 30, Ann Woodward shot her husband twice, killing him. Ann later told authorities that she had heard someone and that she thought her husband was a burglar. Leamer said, “There was a burglar probably in the house at that point. She [Ann] shot her shotgun — a bird rifle — and he died. But it was an accident.”
A Nassau County grand jury eventually acquitted Ann of her husband William Woodward Jr.’s murder. However, there were swirling rumors that William’s alleged extramarital affair was the murder motive. Fox News said that New York’s high society believed Ann got away with murder and labeled her a gold digger.
Town & Country further stated that after the shooting, Ann Woodward and her two sons moved in with her mother-in-law. However, she eventually left for Europe, where she met Truman Capote for the first time. Capote eventually wrote her story in La Côte Basque in 1965, describing her character Ann Hopkins as a gold digger who shoots her husband.
Shortly after, in October 1975, Ann, then 59, committed suicide. She overdosed on sleeping pills in her New York City apartment. Vogue Magazine stated that she left an unaddressed note, saying, “Remember Ann Woodward.”
The second season of Ryan Murphy’s Feud: Capote vs. The Swans premiered on January 31, 2024, after a seven-year hiatus. The eight-episode anthology series premiered on FX and Hulu.
