This Crazy Thing Called Love: The Golden World and Fatal Marriage of Ann and Billy Woodward (Hardcover)

by Susan Braudy (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
In 1955, Ann Woodward shot her husband, Billy, in their Oyster Bay, Long Island, home. While she was cleared by a grand jury, which believed her story that she had mistaken Billy for a prowler who had been recently breaking into neighboring houses, New York society was convinced that she had deliberately murdered Billy and that her formidable mother-in-law, Elsie Woodward, had covered up the crime to prevent further scandal to the socially prominent family. The incident became fiction in Truman Capote's malicious 1975 Esquire story, leading to Ann's suicide, and later was the subject of Dominick Dunne's The Two Mrs. Grenvilles ( LJ 7/85). Now, after years of research, Braudy reveals the truth behind the legend. Tracing Ann's life from her difficult Kansas childhood through her early years as a model and aspiring actress to her stormy marriage to Billy Woodward and the sad years of her social exile after his death, Braudy shows how Ann, a victim of cruel gossip and class snobbery, could not have deliberately killed Billy. Fans of Dunne's book will enjoy this sympathetic chronicle. Recommended. Excerpted in the July 27, 1992 issue of New York magazine.--Ed.
- Wilda Williams, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
Braudy (What the Movies Made Me Do, 1985, etc.) sets out to do a background book on a high-society ``murder'' already addressed fictionally by Dominick Dunne in The Two Mrs. Grenvilles and Truman Capote in Answered Prayers--and finds herself defending the so- called murderess. Although Ann Woodward was never indicted for murdering her husband, William Woodward, Jr., his mother, Elsie, spread the rumor that Ann had deliberately killed Billy--and spread it first by insinuating that she herself had had the killing covered up for the sake of her grandsons. In Capote's vile version, Ann shot Billy in the shower, then dragged his body (with the butler's help) down the hall to the doorway of his bedroom. By the time Braudy finishes with the facts, there's no doubt that both Capote and Dunne were swimming in fantasy, that the death was an accident (Ann apparently thought that Billy was an intruder), and that Ann was victimized by the snobbery of the ultrarich, who exiled her after Billy's death. Braudy sticks to a weave of impressively fine detail taken from over a thousand interviews, though occasionally one wonders about her recording the inner thoughts of her fatal pair. But her cool drawing of the Woodwards' social background, their casual spending of immense sums, and their hobnobbing with the Duke and Duchess of Windsor is jaw-dropping. Ann, born to poor country folk in Kansas, chose early to better herself as a Powers model. She danced nights in an upscale Manhattan chorus line and was a respected radio actress by day when she met shy, virginal, playboy Billy. When married, their greatest claim to fame was their racing stable and fantastically fast horse, Nashua. Both were adulterers and engaged in rages before sex: What happened to them can be seen as the result of unrestrained immaturity. Hypnotic, though Braudy keeps a cool mask on her prose. (One hundred photographs.) -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 484 pages
• Publisher: Knopf; 1st edition (August 4, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0394532473
• ISBN-13: 978-0394532479
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #504,056 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The never-ending Woodward Saga, April 4, 2000

By	blair schulman (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews

Susan Braudy's lucidly-written book does justice to the fearless, insular Woodward clan of mid-Century New York society. Poor Ann Woodward, who wanted nothing more than everything the Woodwards had, claws her way to the upper social strata using her good looks and sexual wiles to capture the heart of William Woodward, Jr., a handsome, rich and directionless young man. Their relationship desinergrates early, held together only by the birth of their two sons, but Ann Woodward fiercely clings to the power of her status and in the process, shoots the very man whose existence gives her validation in that tenuous world. Shunned from society after that, Ann travels the globe restlessly while the Woodward family falls apart, a glory of worlds past. After her suicide in 1975, her youngest son, Jimmy commits suicide by jumping out of a tall window. Ironically, in 1999, the oldest son, William Woodward III, does the same. This brief shining world of the Woodwards is factualy accounted for here and should not be missed by any lover of the rich and infamous.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Dramatic Showdown, September 1, 2003

By	Heather Marshall Negahdar "SUGAR-CANE" (Bridgetown, Barbados) - See all my reviews

I must say that I enjoyed this book tremendously and could not wait to get back to it on evenings.
For those of you who love to read about the golden world of the ultra rich traveling from pillar to post, having champagne and caviar at every corner of the globe, this book is for you.
Ann Crowell was a dirt poor kid from Kansas, but when she married Billy Wood ward, the heir of a banking fortune her world changed instantly. Though not accepted by the rich society whom Bill wined and dined with, and just barely appreciated by her mother in law Ellen, it wasn't an easy life for Ann.
She was more obsessed with Bill than he was with her but there was this certain magic surrounding her which kept him returning to her every time he went astray
"Money makes the mare fly" and Ann Crawford had no urgent desire to divorce him or leave him. She knew where her bread was buttered and she wanted every slice. Ms, Braudy takes us through their torrid life together, as they travel to the various polo matches all spanning various continents.....until things start going wrong, Very wrong.
I encourage those lovers of true crime situations, to get their hands on this book ....soonest possible.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally, the Whole Story, December 6, 2005

By	Author "johnnybrooklyn" (Brooklyn, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: This Crazy Thing Called Love: The Golden World and Fatal Marriage of Ann and Billy Woodward (Mass Market Paperback)

This story had all the trappings of a Ross Hunter production of a Lana Turner tearjerker. I can see John Gavin in the Billy Woodward part. It was fifty years ago that Ann Woodward made a double-barreled blast into the headlines when she mistook her husband for a prowler and shot him. Twice. (The first time, she missed.) And thus was born not only the misery of Ann Woodward and her children but the delight of Truman Capote and his book "Answered Prayers." Tru intended to make the Woodward murder the highlight of his first excerpt in Esquire magazine, labeling her a "malicious Betty Grable." When word filtered back to her, Ann Woodward swallowed a cyanide pill leaving her two sons orphans. What makes this tale of passion and death so moving and sad is the children. Both of them followed their parents to an early grave. Both by jumping from windows. They say the murder house is haunted to this day.

Dominick Dunne would go on to soften Ann's image with the two Mrs. Grenville's, giving justification for her bewitching success in captivating society's finest and most eligible bachelor. She couldn't be completely bereft of any redeeming features whasoever.

Susan Braudy attempts to fully rehabilitate Ann's image here, and the mistruths told about her case. Her attempt is largely successful except for one major thing. Ann Woodward aimed at her naked husband (most prowlers arrive clothed) and fired. Twice.

Although meticulous, Braudy doesn't address a theory put forth that the elder Mrs. Woodward paid the prowler to confess to being on the roof that night. If that theory is false, then Ms. Braudy has posthumously exonerated Ann Woodward and is to be applauded.

This Crazy Thing Called Love is a beautifully written book, spare and yet lush at the same time. I could not put it down because everything is spot on perfect, not least of all the idle arrogance of the upper classes who flocked to parties featuring those boring marionettes, the Duke and Dutchess of Windsor, who were reduced to charging their hosts by the hour for personal appearances.

Braudy knew William Woodward III and was actually introduced to Ann Woodward herself, and she writes about a meeting with her at her maisonette apartment which had me riveted to the page.

It is interesting to note that the Woodward women, strivers in their own day, all turned out to be perfect little snobs themselves. But isn't that always the case.

If you are as obsessed with the Woodward case as I am (I grew up nearby and remember the case), this is the definitive word on this particular crime. I read Truman's La Cote Basque piece in Esquire and of course Dominick Dunne's book The Two Mrs Grenvilles. I even drove out to the Woodward "Playhouse" where the murders took place and swung my car around on the same cobblestones Mary Queen of Scots walked over to her execution. Ann was so proud of them. Suddenly, there it was, the plain, art deco-ish exterior with the trellis and the porthole windows.

I noticed that Dominick Dunne had the author of this book on as a contributor to a segment he did on the Woodward murder on his television program. She has done a masterful job putting together this book. Although Dunne is not listed as a source, a clue is given as to who the real "Basil Plant" is in The Two Mrs. Grenvilles. It isn't Truman Capote, but an actual employee of a cruise ship, the cruise ship from the opening of The Two Mrs. Grenvilles, who knew both Dunne and Capote.

Five stars. Great read.