"Rachel, Rachel" | Joanne Woodward Academy Award® Nomination Plaque

In this beautifully sensitive, mature film directed by her husband Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward portrays a repressed small town schoolteacher as she struggles to overcome her shyness and take control of her life. The film's initial critical reception was overwhelmingly positive, especially in light of Woodward's performance. At the time of its release, Time wrote: "It is in the transcendent strength of Joanne Woodward that the film achieves a classic stature. There is no gesture too minor for her to master. She peers out at the world with the washed-out eyes of a hunted animal. Her walk is a ladylike retreat, a sign of a losing battle with time and diets and fashion. Her drab voice quavers with a brittle strength that can command a student but break before a parent's will. By any reckoning, it is Actress Woodward's best performance."