NATALIE WOOD

'Natalie Wood' (July 20, 1938 – November 29, 1981) was a three time Academy Award nominated American film actress.

Contents

Early life and acting career

Relationships

Drowning at Catalina Island

Footnotes

Trivia

Awards and nominations

Filmography

Television work

Bibliography

References

External links

Early life and acting career

Wood was born 'Natalya Nikolaevna Zakharenko' in San Francisco, California, to Russian immigrants, Nikolai and Maria Zakharenko. Her parents changed their surname to "Gurdin", and by the age of 4 she was billed as ''Natasha Gurdin''. Her mother tightly managed and controlled the young girl's career and personal life from her start in films at the age of five. She starred in multiple films as a child including both ''Miracle on 34th Street'' and ''The Ghost and Mrs Muir'' in 1947. Her father is described by Wood's biographers as a passive alcoholic who went along with his wife's demands. Her sister, Lana Wood, is also an actress, notably a Bond girl, and was featured in a Playboy pictorial (she was not, however, a Playmate).
At age sixteen, Natalie won the role of Judy in Nicholas Ray's ''Rebel Without a Cause'', co-starring James Dean, Sal Mineo, and Dennis Hopper. Most biographers say that she slept with Ray and Hopper in order to advance her career.^[1] Wood became one of the relatively few child stars to make the transition to adult stardom. By the time she was 28, she was already a three-time Oscar nominee, for ''Rebel Without a Cause'', ''Splendor in the Grass'' and ''Love With the Proper Stranger''.
Another of her widely noted films was the Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise musical ''West Side Story'', in which she played Maria. Wood was initially signed to do her own singing, but in the end, she was dubbed by professional singer Marni Nixon, which is said to have disappointed her. Nonetheless, she enjoyed worldwide celebrity status, comparable to that of Elizabeth Taylor. Natalie also starred with Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis for the slapstick comedy, ''The Great Race'' in 1965. As a restless on-screen companion of James Dean and an off-screen date of Elvis Presley, she was much admired and envied by the young girls of the day. She once stated about Elvis, "He can sing, but he can’t do much else."

Relationships

Among the men Wood frequently dated were singer Elvis Presley and actors Raymond Burr, Dennis Hopper, Warren Beatty, Nick Adams, Tab Hunter, Michael Caine and Scott Marlowe.
According to Mary F. Pols, the teenaged Wood went on studio-arranged dates, often with closeted gay actors. In 1956, one of these was Tab Hunter, seven years her senior, with whom she developed a genuine friendship. They would attend parties to promote the two films they co-starred in that year, The Burning Hills and The Girl He Left Behind. Wood biographer and Hollywood screenwriter, Gavin Lambert, also confirms that Wood had studio-arranged dates with homo- or bisexual actors, the first of which was with Nick Adams. Hunter in his autobiography elaborates on how a Hollywood studio's publicization of a sham romance between two actors each under contract to it was a strategy to stimulate public desire for seeing that studio's forthcoming films. The demographic segment he in particular appealed to was the newly influential teenage girl market segment, since he had swiftly established himself as a leading "heartthrob" for that demographic.
According to Lambert and his reviewer David Ehrenstein, Wood financially supported homosexual playwright Mart Crowley in a manner that made it possible for him to write his play, ''The Boys in the Band''.
Concerning a possible relationship between Wood and homosexual actor Raymond Burr, 21 years her senior, Wood's biographer, Suzanne Finstad, cites Dennis Hopper as saying, "I just can't wrap my mind around that one. But you know, I saw them together. They were definitely a couple. Who knows what was going on there."
Gavin Lambert wrote that, contrary to popular belief, Wood's casting in ''Rebel Without a Cause'' did not lead to a romance with co-star James Dean: "Like many people, she was fascinated by his charm. He had this magnetic quality on the screen and in life... They got on very well, they liked each other a lot." However, most biographers write that she slept with Hopper and director Nicholas Ray.^[2] Lambert added that both Dean and Ray helped renew her passion for acting after a diet of lackluster movies like ''Chicken Every Sunday'', ''Dear Brat'' and ''Father Was a Fullback''.
Wood's two marriages to actor Robert Wagner were publicized and stormy, but they were reconciled at the time of her death. According to Suzanne Finstad, she ended her first marriage to Wagner after she caught him "in a compromising position with another man."^[3] Wagner is aware of Finstad's claim, and he has called it untrue.

Drowning at Catalina Island

On November 29, 1981, at the age of 43, Wood drowned while her and Wagner's yacht ''The Splendor'' was anchored near Catalina Island. An investigation by Los Angeles County coroner Thomas Noguchi resulted in an official verdict of accidental drowning, although speculation about the circumstances continues.
Wood was on board the yacht with Wagner and Christopher Walken. The couple had invited the character actor to join them during the Thanksgiving break from the filming of the science-fiction screenplay ''Brainstorm''. Wood and Walken, who co-starred in the project, had shot love scenes several days earlier in North Carolina, which had recently become known to Hollywood executives as an excellent production site. Wood and her husband had stayed together in the Tar Heel State for weeks without causing any trouble or negative rumors in the vicinity of her filming location. (Wagner was on a break from filming his Aaron Spelling - produced hit TV series Hart to Hart.) Mart Crowley, employed as Natalie's personal assistant since the 1960s, accompanied her to North Carolina. He joined the actress, her mother and sisters and Wagner for Thanksgiving dinner in Los Angeles, but he declined Natalie's invitation to spend the holiday weekend on the yacht.
Anchored in the Pacific Ocean on the Saturday night of the holiday weekend, Wagner and Walken reportedly had a loud argument about how Walken was behaving around Wood on the yacht and possibly in a Catalina Island restaurant where they all had partied earlier that day. Wood apparently tried either to leave the yacht or to secure a dinghy that was banging against the hull when she accidentally slipped and fell overboard. A woman on a nearby yacht said she heard cries for help from the water at around midnight, along with voices replying "Take it easy. We'll be over to get you." ^[4] The woman, a commodities broker who had never met Wood, Wagner or Walken, said this "call and response" continued for more than 15 minutes. She added that the woman who kept repeating "Help me" did it in a curiously flat, unemotional tone of voice. To quote the witness directly, "There just wasn't much credibility in that droning repetition." For that reason the commodities broker did nothing, and said that she felt "a lot of guilt" when she learned that Wood had drowned.
Wagner has always refused to discuss the events of that night. Walken said in a New York Times interview in 1992 that there was no argument and that neither he nor Wagner witnessed Wood's fall. He added that her small physical stature (five feet tall) was a major factor in the accident. ^[5] The skipper of the yacht, Dennis Davern, videotaped a rambling and confusing interview in 1992 for the TV documentary program "Now It Can Be Told" hosted by Geraldo Rivera. At one point during the interview, his girlfriend, who never met any of the yacht's passengers, appears to goad him into making an accusation, and Davern hesitates.
Of the three witnesses who have talked, only the commodities broker told her story to the media without being pressed and within a reasonable amount of time. (She gave reporters her whole story less than two days after Wood's body was discovered; Walken and Davern both waited more than ten years to say anything.)
Dr. Noguchi revealed that Wood was legally intoxicated when she died and that there were marks and bruises on her body, which could have been received as a result of her fall. In Noguchi's memoir, ''Coroner'', he stated that had Natalie not been intoxicated, she likely would have realized that her heavy down-filled coat and wool sweater were pulling her underwater, and would have removed them. Noguchi said he found Natalie's fingernails still embedded in the rubber boat's side.
At the time of her death Wood was filming ''Brainstorm''. Released in theaters two years later without a climactic scene that Wood was scheduled to film the week after Thanksgiving, it turned out to be a box-office disaster. Wood was also scheduled to make her stage debut in an Ahmanson Theatre production of ''Anastasia'', opposite Dame Wendy Hiller. She was scheduled to begin rehearsals shortly after wrapping ''Brainstorm''.
She is buried in Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery. She was survived by her husband, Robert Wagner, and two daughters, Natasha Gregson Wagner (from her marriage to Richard Gregson), and Courtney Wagner, her daughter with Robert Wagner. Other survivors included her stepdaughter Katie Wagner (from Robert Wagner's previous marriage to Marion Marshall), her sister, Lana Wood,sister Olga Virapaeff, and her mother. Lana Wood later published a biography of Natalie.

Footnotes

1. According to Suzanne Finstad, Wood slept with director Nicholas Ray while she was trying to land the leading role in what became her breakthrough picture, Ray's ''Rebel Without a Cause.'' See Suzanne Finstad, ''Natasha: The Biography of Natalie Wood'' (Three Rivers Press, 2001). See also Chris Foran, "Natalie Wood deserved a better ending". ''The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel'', July 31, 2001.
2. According to Douglas L. Rathgeb, ''The Making of Rebel Without a Cause'' (2004), p. 90, "Dennis Hopper and Natalie Wood were involved in 'the youngest romance on the [Warner Bros.] lot these days.' Unknown to Dennis Hopper, and the Hollywood gossips, sixteen-year-old Natalie Wood had also began a romance with forty-three-year-old Nicholas Ray. Hopper discovered what many in the cast already knew when he made an unannounced visit ... and found Ray and Wood together in bed."
3. See Finstad, ''Natasha: The Biography of Natalie Wood'' (2001). See also Chris Foran, "Natalie Wood deserved a better ending". ''The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel'', July 31, 2001.
4. Time magazine, December 14, 1981
5. New York Times, June 24, 1992, page C1

Trivia

★ Height: 5'0"

★ When she was nine she had an accident on a movie set that left a slight but permanent bone protrusion on her left wrist. For the rest of her life, on camera or in public, she wore a bracelet to cover it. The nighttime accident, in which a footbridge holding Wood collapsed, caused her to fear dark water and drowning for the rest of her life.

★ Wood's fear became an issue during the filming of at least three of her films in which her character becomes immersed in water. During the making of ''This Property Is Condemned'', she was so scared of performing a skinny-dipping scene that co-star Robert Redford held her feet underwater to help steady her while shooting it.

★ She is one of several child actors to have been nominated for an acting-related Oscar in adulthood. Other examples are Elizabeth Taylor (who won two Oscars in adulthood), Jodie Foster (also won twice in adulthood), Jennifer Connelly (won once), Judy Garland, Natalie Portman, Dean Stockwell, Mickey Rooney, Joaquin Phoenix, Mary Pickford, Jackie Earl Haley and a few others.

★ Wood spoke Russian.

★ She and Robert Wagner were close friends of Joan Collins.

Awards and nominations

''Successful nominations in 'bold'.''
1956:

★ Academy Award: ''Rebel Without a Cause'' (1955) — Best Actress in a Supporting Role
1957:

★ 'Golden Globe Award — Most Promising Newcomer'
1958:

★ Golden Laurel Awards: ''Marjorie Morningstar'' (1958) — Top Female Dramatic Performance

★ Golden Laurel Awards — Top Female Star (thirteenth place)
1959:

★ Golden Laurel Awards — Top Female Star (seventh place)
1960:

★ Golden Laurel Awards — Top Female Star (ninth place)
1961:

★ 'Golden Apple Awards: Sour Apple — Least Cooperative Actress'

★ Golden Laurel Awards — Top Female Star (fourteenth place)
1962:

★ Academy Award: ''Splendor in the Grass'' (1961) — Best Actress in a Leading Role

★ Golden Laurel Awards — Top Female Star (fifth place)

★ Golden Laurel Awards: ''Splendor in the Grass'' (1961) — Top Female Dramatic Performance (third place)
1963:

★ British Academy of Film and Television Arts: ''Splendor in the Grass'' (1961) — Best Foreign Actress

★ Golden Globes Awards: ''Gypsy'' (1962) — Best Motion Picture Actress: Musical/Comedy

★ Golden Laurel Awards: ''Gypsy'' (1962) — Top Female Musical Performance (second place)
1964:

★ Academy Award: ''Love with the Proper Stranger'' (1963) — Best Actress in a Leading Role

★ Golden Globe Award: ''Love with the Proper Stranger'' (1963) — Best Motion Picture Actress: Drama

★ Golden Laurel Awards — Top Female Star (third place)

★ Golden Laurel Awards: ''Love with the Proper Stranger'' (1963) (second place)

★ 'Mar del Plata Film Festival: ''Love with the Proper Stranger'' (1963) — Best Actress'
1965:

★ Golden Laurel Awards — Female Star (sixth place)

★ Golden Laurel Awards: ''Sex and the Single Girl'' (1964) — Comedy Performance (fifth place)
1966:

★ 'Golden Apple Awards: Sour Apple — Least Cooperative Actress'

★ Golden Globe Award: ''Inside Daisy Clover'' (1965) — Best Motion Picture Actress: Musical/Comedy

★ 'Golden Globe Award — World Film Favorite: Female'

★ Golden Laurel Awards — Female Star (eighth place)
1967:

★ Golden Globe Award: ''This Property Is Condemned'' (1966) — Best Motion Picture Actress: Drama

★ Golden Laurel Awards — Female Star (third place)

★ Golden Laurel Awards: ''This Property Is Condemned'' (1966) — Female Dramatic Performance (third place)
1968:

★ Golden Laurel Awards — Female Star (twelfth place)
1970:

★ Golden Laurel Awards — Female Star (ninth place)
1971:

★ Golden Laurel Awards — Female Star (ninth place)
1980:

★ 'Golden Globe Award: ''From Here to Eternity'' (1979) (mini) — Best TV Actress: Drama'

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Other notes
1983	''Brainstorm''	Karen Brace
1980	''The Memory of Eva Ryker''	Eva/Claire Ryker
	''The Last Married Couple in America''	Mari Thompson
1979	''Meteor''	Tatiana Nikolaevna Donskaya
	''The Cracker Factory''	Cassie Barrett
1976	''Cat on a Hot Tin Roof''	Maggie	With husband Robert Wagner and Laurence Olivier
1975	''Peeper''	Ellen Prendergast
1973	''The Affair''	Courtney Patterson
1969	''Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice''	Carol Sanders
1966	''Penelope''	Penelope Elcott
	''This Property Is Condemned''	Alva Starr	Golden Globe Nomination - Best Actress (Drama)
1965	''Inside Daisy Clover''	Daisy Clover	Golden Globe Nomination - Best Actress (Musical or Comedy)
	''The Great Race''	Maggie DuBois
1964	''Sex and the Single Girl''	Helen Gurley Brown
1963	''Love with the Proper Stranger''	Angie Rossini	Academy Award nomination - Best Actress; Golden Globe Nomination - Best Actress (Drama)
1962	''Gypsy''	Gypsy Rose Lee	Golden Globe Nomination - Best Actress (Musical or Comedy)
1961	''West Side Story''	Maria
	''Splendor in the Grass''	Wilma Dean Loomis	Academy Award nomination - Best Actress; Golden Globe Nomination - Best Actress (Drama); BAFTA Award Best Foreign Actress
1960	''All the Fine Young Cannibals''	Sarah 'Salome' Davis
	''Cash McCall''	Lory Austen
1958	''Kings Go Forth''	Monique Blair
	''Marjorie Morningstar''	Marjorie Morgenstern
1957	''Bombers B-52''	Lois Brennan
1956	''The Girl He Left Behind''	Susan Daniels
	''The Burning Hills''	Maria Christina Colton
	''A Cry in the Night''	Liz Taggert
	''The Searchers''	Debbie Edwards (older)
1955	''Rebel Without a Cause''	Judy	Academy Award nomination - Best Supporting Actress
	''One Desire''	Seely Dowder
1954	''The Silver Chalice''	Helena as a child
1952	''The Star''	Gretchen
	''Just for You''	Barbara Blake
	''The Rose Bowl Story''	Sally Burke
1951	''The Blue Veil''	Stephanie Rawlins
	''Dear Brat''	Pauline
1950	''Never a Dull Moment''	Nancy 'Nan' Howard
	''The Jackpot''	Phyllis Lawrence
	''Our Very Own''	Penny Macaulay
	''No Sad Songs for Me''	Polly Scott
1949	''Father Was a Fullback''	Ellen Cooper
	''The Green Promise''	Susan Anastasia Matthews
	''Chicken Every Sunday''	Ruth Hefferan
1948	''Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay!''	Bean McGill
1947	''Driftwood''	Jenny Hollingsworth
	''The Ghost and Mrs. Muir''	Anna Muir as a child
	''Miracle on 34th Street''	Susan Walker
1946	''The Bride Wore Boots''	Carol Warren
	''Tomorrow Is Forever''	Margaret Ludwig
1943	''Happy Land''	Bit Part	uncredited

Television work

★

★ ''From Here to Eternity'' (1979) (miniseries)

★ ''Hart to Hart'' (1979) (Cameo) (pilot for series)

Bibliography

★ Gavin Lambert, ''Natalie Wood: A Life''. London: Faber and Faber, 2004. ISBN 0-571-22197-1

★ Suzanne Finstad, ''Natasha: The Biography of Natalie Wood''. Three Rivers Press, 2001. ISBN 0-609-80957-1

★ Warren G. Harris, ''Hollywood's Star-Crossed Lovers "Natalie and R.J."''. Doubleday, 1988. ISBN 0-385-23691-3

★ Christopher Nickens, ''Natalie Wood: A Biography in Photographs''. Doubleday, 1986. ISBN 0-385-23307-8

★ Lana Wood, ''Natalie: A Memoir by Her Sister''. Putnam Pub Group, 1984. ISBN 0-399-12903-0

★ Frascella, Lawrence and Weisel, Al : ''Live Fast, Die Young: The Wild Ride of Making Rebel Without a Cause''. Touchstone, 2005. ISBN 0-7432-6082-1

References

External links

★

★ Foul Play on Catalina Island? The Mysterious Death of Natalie Wood

★ Natalie Wood at Find a Grave

★ ''Natalie Wood Style and Beauty Page''

★ Who2