Anecdotes

Orphaned as a child, she was the elder of two daughters. Her mother and baby sister were killed in a one-car accident. Joanna was the only member of the family not in the car. Her father, who was the driver, died of complications from his injuries (ruptured spleen) a year later.

Mother, with Ryan O'Neal, of Tatum O'Neal and Griffin O'Neal.

In early 1960 she went deaf, and had to learn to lip-read in order to understand what people were saying. In 1962 she had corrective surgery and regained her hearing.

Her eldest grandson Kevin McEnroe (son of Tatum O'Neal and John McEnroe) wrote a roman à clef about her titled "Our Town", that was published in 2015. The protagonist's name in the novel is Dorothy, which is Moore's real first name.

Her grandson Kevin McEnroe had her likeness tattooed onto his shoulder so he will never forget the influence she's had on his life, calling her his "guardian angel". He also dedicated his novel "Our Town" (2015) to her, since she inspired the main character Dorothy.

Lost three fingers on her left hand from a car accident, and she later wrote a short story about a woman interacting with a grandchild who kept staring at "Nana's little hand.".

Developed an alcohol problem later in life and in the 1980s was arrested five times for drunken driving.

Came to Hollywood after she won a beauty contest in her home state of Georgia.

Her career began after being spotted at a cocktail party by a Universal producer.

Alfred Hitchcock placed her under personal contract and she appeared several times on his TV show, but the contract was later dissolved. According to the 1979 biography "Hitch: The Life and Times of Alfred Hitchcock" by John Russell Taylor, it wasn't a happy experience for both actress and director. Hitchcock tried to make her over with new hairstyles and wardrobes but she wasn't cooperative, and she also didn't seem to like anyone that she came into contact with at the studio. Both Hitchcock and Moore were alive when the book was published, and neither refuted the claims.

Lung cancer from chain-smoking cigarettes is what killed her. Towards the end, she told her grandson Kevin McEnroe not to smoke cigarettes, while she was lighting one cigarette to another.

She acted with Elvis Presley in Le Shérif de ces dames (1962), and even though, they had a similar Southern background, her daughter Tatum O'Neal claimed that Moore didn't have a romance with him.

In 1952, she petitioned the court to change her name to Jo Ann Carrison, as she had been living with the D.A. Carrison family. She married Willis Moore as Jo Ann Carrison.

Former mother-in-law of tennis champ John McEnroe

Joanna Moore died on the same day of the month, November 22, as President John F. Kennedy had been assassinated in 1963, exactly 34 years earlier than her death from lung cancer in 1997.