Demi Moore as Ann Woodward in ‘Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans’.Photo:Pari Dukovic/FX
Pari Dukovic/FX
Demi Mooresteps into the role of Ann Woodward inFeud: Capote Vs. The Swans,inwhich her character faces accusations of murder afterTruman Capotepublished “La Côte Basque, 1965” in November 1975.
Woodward had been on the outs of Manhattan’s high society following the death of her husband William Jr., which authorities deemed an accident.
Moore, 61, tells PEOPLE she agrees with the official ruling. “This couple, they had a very tumultuous relationship,” the actress says of the Woodwards. “But on this evening, there was a burglar that had been present in this area. And the actual cause of death, which is why it was really deemed an accident, it was a buckshot. Even if you were shot directly, shouldn’t have killed someone. But it ricocheted and went into his temple, which is why it was one of those very odd flukes.”
Moore suspects Ann and William Jr. “were not the most centered and healthy people emotionally” the night of his death, “but I don’t think she was a murderess.”
William Woodward, Jr. and his wife, Ann.Getty
Getty
In real life, Ann shot and killed her husband one night in 1955 while staying in their Long Island, N.Y. home. A burglar had been spotted in the area and Ann opened fire on William upon mistaking him for the criminal. Though police determined the shooting to be an accident, New York City’s elite banished Ann.
“From all the research I did, it was in fact an accident,” Moore concurs.
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“I think that the truth for Truman was, as he said, should never get in the way of a good story,” Moore says.
Ann married into New York City’s high society after moving from Kansas and meeting banker William Woodward while working as a showgirl at FeFe’s Monte Carlo nightclub. Married at the time, William restrained himself from taking his things beyond a flirtation with Ann, but he wanted to keep things in the family, so he recommended Ann meet his son. Rumors had been swirling that William Jr. was a virgin and identified as homosexual, and William hoped Ann could help change that.
Ann did more than that — she and William Jr. fell in love and got married in 1943. They had two kids and a second home on Long Island, N.Y. The honeymoon phase didn’t last long, though, and Billy eventually asked Ann for a divorce. The theory circulating at the time suggested that Ann killed William Jr. to avoid the embarrassment and change in status that would have come with a divorce in that era.
Socialite Ann Woodward.Getty
Moore learned all of this for the first time while prepping forFeud.
“I feel like I knew the general broad strokes of this feud, but I didn’t know some of the details within that story,” she admits. “I hadn’t read theEsquirepieces and again, I didn’t really know the women as people. They were more almost just sketches of this idea. It always held a very glamorous, kind of romanticized idea, but getting into it really allowed for a chance to get into the humanness of it.”
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Feud: Capote Vs. The Swansairs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET on FX.
source: people.com
