Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward's Relationship: A Look Back at the Golden Age Stars' Marriage on His Would-Be 100th Birthday

Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward first met on Broadway in 1953 and remained married until his death in 2008

Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward's romance is one of the most revered love stories in Hollywood. The pair were married for 50 years — from 1958 until his death in 2008.

The couple first struck up a friendship that turned into a relationship while in the Broadway play Picnic and filming The Long, Hot Summer in 1957. Following their 1958 wedding, Woodward became a stepmother to Newman's three children — son Scott and daughters Susan and Stephanie — from his first marriage to Jackie Witte. Newman and Woodward later welcomed three daughters, Elinor, Melissa and Claire "Clea," who is now an ambassador for her father's SeriousFun camps nonprofit.

Throughout the years, the couple collaborated on a number of film projects — some of which earned them awards. By the late '80s, however, their focus and energy shifted from the big screen to establishing and funding charitable organizations.

"Both of my parents felt it was important to give back," Clea told PEOPLE following the 2022 release of her father's posthumous memoir, Paul Newman: The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man. "Me and my sisters learned that from an early age."

Newman and Woodward's love for each other, as well as for their careers and communities, also inspired a 2022 docuseries. Directed by Ethan Hawke, with help from the couple's daughters, HBO's The Last Movie Stars intimately explored the couple's relationship through their many eras.

"They had the love of newlyweds," Bob Forrester, former president and CEO of Newman's Own and a close friend of the couple, said in a 2018 tribute video. "When I would fly with him all over the world, the moment the plane landed, Paul would call Joanne and he always said, 'I love you,' even after 50 years of marriage. She was his everything. They were soul mates."

From their Las Vegas wedding to their philanthropic work, here's everything to know about Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward's relationship.

1953: Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward meet

Newman met Woodward while performing in the play Picnic on Broadway.

He was married to Witte at the time and Woodward wasn't immediately taken by her future husband's looks, despite later describing him as "an ad for an ice cream soda" on a "very hot day" on the Today show in 2002.

Related: Paul Newman's Life in Photos

1957: Paul Newman divorces his first wife, Jackie Witte, and reconnects with Joanne Woodward

Several years later, Newman and Woodward reunited on the set of The Long, Hot Summer. The duo starred as each other's love interest.

Newman split from his first wife, with whom he had fathered three children, son Scott and daughters Susan Kendall and Stephanie, and pursued a romantic relationship with Woodward.

January 29, 1958: Paul Newman marries Joanne Woodward in Las Vegas

Newman and Woodward married in Las Vegas on Jan. 29, 1958.

In 2002, she described her favorite of Newman's attributes on the Today show: "Somebody once said, 'What is your relationship based on?' and I said, 'He's very good looking and very sexy and all of those things, but all that goes out the window and what finally is left is if you can make somebody laugh, then that's very important.' And he sure does keep me laughing."

April 8, 1959: Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward welcome daughter Elinor

The newlyweds welcomed their first child together, daughter Elinor "Nell" Teresa, in April 1959. That year Newman landed the leading role of Anthony Judson Lawrence in The Young Philadelphians.

The Newman kids spent most of their childhoods in Westport, Conn., according to Town & Country. Nell would later have a brief career as a child actress in the '60s and '70s, using the name Nell Potts, and was also responsible for founding the Newman's Own Organics brand in 1993.

September 27, 1961: Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward welcome daughter Melissa

In 1961, Nell got promoted to big sister when Newman and Woodward welcomed their second daughter, Melissa Stewart. She was born on the same day that their film Paris Blues premiered in the U.S. In the musical film, Newman and Woodward played star-crossed lovers.

Growing up in Westport, Melissa also had a brief career as a child actor, appearing with her mother in See How She Runs and with her father in Sometimes a Great Notion.

In 2022, Melissa told PEOPLE that her dad, "was such a humble guy," adding that Newman's philanthropic work "is the purest manifestation of his legacy."

May 25, 1963: Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward cement themselves on Hollywood Boulevard

Newman and Woodward cemented their hand and footprints together in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater in 1963. Next to their respective imprints, they wrote "His" and "Hers."

Down the street, Woodward had received her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame — one of the original eight honorees — in 1958. Newman received his star later, in 1994.

April 21, 1965: Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward welcome their youngest daughter, Claire "Clea"

Affectionately called "Clea," Claire Olivia was born in 1965 and is the youngest of the Newman kids. Clea grew up with her sisters in Westport, where she developed a passion for horses; she later became a nationally ranked equestrian.

Fourteen years after the loss of her father, Clea told PEOPLE he was someone who had "such a heartfelt passion" for philanthropy and was especially passionate about the camps and programs he founded for children with life-threatening illnesses.

"All his extra free time was spent there, being with the kids, working to open up new camps, talking to families, talking to the kids," she said. "He really cared. It wasn't something he just said. He did it without asking. No fanfare. He didn't want a thank you. That's just who he was."

February 24, 1969: Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward are both nominated for Oscars

In 1969, the pair made history as one of the very few couples to receive Academy Award nominations in the same year. They were recognized for their work on Rachel, Rachel: Woodward was up for Best Actress, while Newman was vying for Best Picture as both producer and director.

Their daughter Nell also appeared in the film as a younger version of Woodward's character in flashbacks.

Though both left the Oscars ceremony empty-handed, Newman and Woodward both scored Golden Globes for the film.

1972: Paul Newman directs Joanne Woodward in The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds

The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds was just one of many projects on which the couple collaborated. Newman served as director, while Woodward portrayed the film's lead, Beatrice.

Nell also costarred in the drama, playing the daughter of Woodward's character. The role earned Woodward a Golden Globe nomination and an award for best actress at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival.

November 20, 1978: Paul Newman's son Scott dies at age 28

In 1978, Newman's oldest child, Scott, died from an accidental drug and alcohol overdose at 28 years old.

"I kept thinking he was going through a phase of adolescent bad judgment. I never thought it would be fatal," Newman recalled in his posthumous memoir. "Many are the times I have gotten down on my knees and asked for Scott's forgiveness."

Before his death, Scott had been performing in Los Angeles nightclubs and working as an actor and stuntman in his father's films.

In his memory, Newman established the Scott Newman Center, a drug abuse education organization based in Torrance, Calif. However, after over 30 years of service, the charitable organization closed its doors due to a lack of funding in 2013, per Vanity Fair.

1988: Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward start a nonprofit summer camp

In 1988, the couple established the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp — named after the band of outlaws in Newman's film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid — in Ashford, Conn., as a place for children with serious illnesses to experience "fun and friendship," all expenses paid.

Since its opening, celebrities like Julia Roberts, Matt Damon and Goldie Hawn have performed to fundraise for and celebrate the camp's programs.

Of his charity work, Newman reportedly once said, "I didn't turn in my citizenship card when I got my screen actor's card."

May 1990: Paul Newman speaks at Joanne Woodward and Clea's college graduation

After a 10-year pursuit of her bachelor's degree, Woodward graduated from Sarah Lawrence College alongside her daughter, Clea, in 1990. Newman was tapped to give the commencement speech.

"The best thing you can give yourself is the gift of possibility," he told the graduates, per The New York Times.

That same year, the couple starred in the film Mr. & Mrs. Bridge and Woodward received an Oscar nomination for her performance.

December 30, 1992: Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward receive Kennedy Center Honors

In 1992, Newman and Woodward were among the recipients of Kennedy Center Honors.

They were recognized for their lifetime of cultural contributions, specifically for their outstanding careers in film and their philanthropic work.

May 2005: Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward appear on the small screen together for the last time

Empire Falls marked the Hollywood power couple's last on-screen appearance together. Set in a small New England town, the miniseries dropped in two parts on HBO in May 2005.

Newman and Woodward were both nominated for Emmy, Golden Globe and SAG Awards for their performances; Newman won all three.

January 29, 2008: Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary

Newman and Woodward privately rang in their 50th wedding anniversary on Jan. 29, 2008. Over their decades-long union, the duo never missed an opportunity to show up for each other, for awards ceremonies, movie premieres and charity fundraisers.

"Sexiness wears thin after a while and beauty fades," Woodward reportedly once said, "but to be married to a man who makes you laugh every day, ah, now that's a real treat!"

Careers aside, they made their marriage a priority, too. When asked by Playboy about staying faithful, Newman famously said, "I have steak at home; why go out for hamburger?"

September 26, 2008: Paul Newman dies at age 83

Newman died on Sept. 26, 2008, surrounded by family and close friends at his farmhouse near Westport, his publicist Jeff Sanderson said in a statement to PEOPLE.

The beloved actor was reportedly undergoing outpatient treatment for lung cancer at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan. He was 83.

2012: Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward's philanthropic efforts live on in the SeriousFun Children's Network

In 2012, the couple's nonprofit organization SeriousFun combined with their global camp network, including the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, to create the SeriousFun Children's Network. The organization aims to "empower children with serious illnesses."

"He really wanted to make a difference and give back. He went very deep with the camps," Clea told PEOPLE in 2022. "We now have 30 camps and programs all over the world. Last year, we served 150,000 children and their families, all free of charge. It's an incredible thing that he started."

Clea shared that her father went "way out of his comfort zone" to ensure the camps provided the best experience possible, such as "performing and calling people to raise money." Newman was also known to tend to the campgrounds and facilities himself.

"He just felt like these children were missing out on their childhood and he wanted to give them a place to feel included and not feel isolated because of their illness," she added.

October 2022: Paul Newman says Joanne Woodward made him a "sexual creature" in posthumous memoir

In Paul Newman: The Extraordinary Life of An Ordinary Man, the beloved actor recalled how he "felt like a goddamn freak" before meeting Woodward. "Girls thought I was a joke. A happy buffoon," he wrote. But after meeting Woodward, "I went from being not much of a sexual threat to something else entirely."

Newman confessed that they "left a trail of lust all over the place," from hotels to parks to rental cars. "Joanne gave birth to a sexual creature," he said.

July 21, 2022: Ethan Hawke directs a docuseries about Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward's romance

Newman and Woodward's 50-year romance got the Hollywood treatment in an authorized docuseries directed by Ethan Hawke called The Last Movie Stars.

While promoting the project, Hawke revealed how the opportunity to document the couple's love story came across his desk.

"One of their daughters called me up a couple weeks before the [COVID-19] pandemic started and said she really wanted to make a documentary about her parents. She thought hiring an actor would be a good way to do it," he told PEOPLE in 2022.

Before his death in 2008, Newman had interviewed many of his peers on tape, only to later destroy the tapes. However, his daughters had the transcriptions of the interviews and asked Hawke to bring their parents' love story to life.

"If I had to guess what the secret of their happiness was, it was a sense of humor — and they seemed to apply it to just about everything. They had a natural humility that brought a lot of laughter into their life," Hawke told PEOPLE. "I don't know what we can attribute that to, but they were really funny. I watched all these hours and hours of interviews and they always had their wit about them. They didn't take themselves too seriously."

The director also mentioned that Newman and Woodward "had a tremendous amount of respect for each other" and the "last years of their time together was probably the happiest."

Clea told PEOPLE in 2022 that, despite facing obstacles within their marriage, her parents "fought really hard to stay together."

"There were times it was pretty close but they worked hard at it," she said. "Ultimately they came together."