Post by Kaz ~;~ on Aug 10, 2010 14:36:26 GMT -5
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Date of Birth
20 July 1938, San Francisco, California, USA
Date of Death
29 November 1981, Santa Catalina Island, California, USA (drowning)
Birth Name
Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko
Nickname
Natalia
Natasha
Height
5'
Biography
She is one of the greatest talents and most beautiful women ever to grace the screen, and remains one of the most popular and controversial actresses of our time more than a quarter century after her tragic, untimely death from drowning. From child star to teen idol to American icon, Natalie Wood made 56 films for TV and the silver screen and received 3 Oscar nominations before turning 25.
Her real name was Natasha Gurdin, and she was born in San Francisco on Wednesday, July 20th, 1938, to Russian émigrés Maria and Nicholas Zakharenko (they had changed their last name to Gurdin before coming to America). Natalie has one sister, Lana Wood, who is younger. They have a half-sister, Olga Viriapaeff, who is older. When she was just 4 years old, Natalie made her film debut in Happy Land (1943), although she had less than 10 seconds of screen time. When she was 7, she was cast in a major role opposite the legendary Orson Welles in Tomorrow Is Forever (1946). The following year, she starred as Susan Walker in one of the most famous films of all time, Miracle on 34th Street (1947), which for many people has become a traditional viewing every Christmas. Natalie stayed very busy as a child actress and appeared in over 20 films, including The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947), Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay! (1948), Our Very Own (1950). During her childhood and adolescence, she performed with such veteran stars as Maureen O'Hara, James Stewart, Marilyn Monroe, Fred MacMurray, Paul Newman, Bing Crosby and Bette Davis.
When she was 16, Natalie got her big break when she was cast as Judy in Rebel Without a Cause (1955), starring opposite screen legend James Dean and Sal Mineo. Her performance earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. The film was hugely popular and is now considered a classic. Both of her male co-stars in the film also died young under tragic circumstances, and the main cast has become known as the "tragic three," The following year, she played a small but crucial role in the classic western The Searchers (1956), with John Wayne and, in a small role, Lana. Natalie was a rebellious teenager, started smoking and dated famous older men, including Dennis Hopper, Elvis Presley, and Robert Wagner (aka RJ). She and Wagner became involved in the spring of 1957 when she was 18 and he was 27, and they married later the year on Saturday, December 28th, 1957. The newlyweds became financially stressed, when both of their careers started to decline. Natalie's career was ailing with flops, especially Marjorie Morningstar (1958). She and Wagner made a film together called All the Fine Young Cannibals (1960), which bombed at the box office. But this period of decline did not last long.
In 1961 Natalie starred in two blockbuster films. The first was Splendor in the Grass (1961), a drama about teen love co-starring Warren Beatty. Natalie received her second Academy Award nomination for her role, this time as Best Actress. The other film she made that year was West Side Story (1961), a musical about rival gangs in New York. During this time her marriage to RJ crumbled. Although he said that their careers conflicted with the marriage, biographer Suzanne Finstad says that she caught him "in a compromising position with another man." Their divorce was final in April 1962, and she began a relationship with Warren Beatty. Natalie's next two films were very successful: the musical, Gypsy (1962), and the melodrama, Love with the Proper Stranger (1963), in which her character becomes pregnant after a one night stand with a musician. The latter film earned her a third Academy Award nomination. Natalie was just 25 years old at the time, and to this day remains the youngest person to ever receive 3 Academy Award nominations. After this she starred in Sex and the Single Girl (1964) and The Great Race (1965), which were poorly received. She delivered some of her best work in years by playing southern depression-era teens with big dreams in the similar films Inside Daisy Clover (1965) and This Property Is Condemned (1966), both of which co-starred Robert Redford and earned her Golden Globe nominations. Although they were not box-office hits upon release, many consider the latter to be Natalie's greatest performance. In addition, her personal life was also suffering after her breakup with Warren Beatty and her suicide attempt in November of 1966. She began seeing a psychiatrist and stopped working for 3 years. She turned down opportunities to star in Bonnie and Clyde (1967), Barefoot in the Park (1967) and Goodbye, Columbus (1969) among others, and later regretted her decisions. In 1969, Natalie starred as a swinger in the hit film Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969). She played Carol, the trophy wife of Bob, who is swapped with Alice to have sex with Ted. The film embraced the sexual revolution of the hippie era and increased Natalie's star status. Her salary for the film was a record-breaking $3 million after she was given a percentage of the film's profits. In addition to her movie success, her personal life was improving as well. On Friday, May 30th, 1969, 30-year old Natalie married British producer Richard Gregson after a year-and-a-half of dating. Within a few months, Natalie was pregnant.
On Tuesday, September 29th, 1970, she gave birth to a daughter, Natasha Gregson Wagner. She loved being a new mother and devoted all her attention to her newborn. Sadly, it turned out that Gregson was having an affair with her secretary, and the couple separated in August of 1971 when their daughter was just ten months young. In 1971 and 1972, Natalie dated politician Jerry Brown and actor Steve McQueen, but neither relationship lasted very long. At this time she was quoted saying that she would never marry again. However, she reconciled with Robert Wagner in February 1972 and within a few months they were engaged. On Sunday, July 16, 1972, 33-year old Natalie and 42-year old Wagner re-married in Malibu, just 3 months after her divorce from Gregson was finalized. Natalie took a career hiatus to take care of Natasha and attempt to be a better wife than she had been before. On Saturday, March 9th, 1974, Natalie gave birth to her second child, daughter Courtney Wagner. Natalie named Courtney after her character in The Affair (1973) (TV) (she became aware that she was pregnant during filming). Once again she procrastinated on returning to acting in order to care for her baby. Her projects were few and far between, and usually had something to do with her husband (they starred in a television remake of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1976) (TV) and she made cameo guest appearances on his shows "Switch" (1975) and "Hart to Hart: Hart to Hart (#1.0)" (1979). Her only feature film during the decade was Peeper (1975), which received only a limited release and was an instant flop. Although Natalie loved being a wife and mother, cherished her daughters and made them her main priority, she feared she would be forgotten if she stayed away from Hollywood for too long.
As her daughters reached school age, Natalie returned to making movies. In 1979 she had three projects awaiting release. The most significant was "From Here to Eternity" (1979), a mini-series film that co-starred Kim Basinger and William Devane. Natalie gave a subtle yet very sexy and powerful performance, and it won her a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in 1980. She also starred in the science-fiction disaster, Meteor (1979) with Sean Connery, but it was severely bashed by critics and performed very poorly at the box office. Her next film, the sex comedy, The Last Married Couple in America (1980), with George Segal was also poorly received, despite the praise of her spunky performance. Natalie was unhappy that her film career was ailing because she had been an actress nearly all her life and loved the craft. Determined to re-ignite her film career, Natalie made an unusual choice by moving to North Carolina (something her husband hated her for doing) in late 1981 to make Brainstorm (1983), a compelling science fiction drama in which she and Christopher Walken played a husband-and-wife team of scientists who create a device that can record human thoughts.
Natalie returned to L.A. for an open house Thanksgiving and brought Walken with her. She invited him to join her, Wagner, and boat captain Dennis Davern on a boat trip to Catalina Island. On Saturday, November 28th, 1981, they dined at a restaurant on Catalina where Natalie became very intoxicated. That night, the four of them returned to their yacht, the "Splendor." The rest is a mystery, and the stories about how she ended up in the water have been conflicting. On the morning of Sunday, November 29th, 1981, her body was found floating in a cove. Rumors of foul play immediately surfaced, but Dr. Thomas Noguchi concluded that Natalie attempted to get out of the water into a rubber dingy, but was unable to due to her drunkenness. Ironically, according to her mother, a gypsy once told her that Natalie would die of drowning, which caused Natalie to have nightmares as a child. She was 43 years old. Natalie was scheduled to make her stage debut in "Anastasia" in February 1982 and star opposite Timothy Hutton in a film called "Country of the Heart." She had not completed all of her scenes in "Brainstorm," and a stand-in and sound-a-likes were used to replace her. Since then her death has continued to cause controversy.
Wagner gained custody Natalie's daughter Natasha and raised her. He also cut off all contact with the rest of Natalie's family. In 1984, her sister, Lana wrote the best-selling tell-all "Natalie: a Memoir by Her Sister," in which she expressed her disappointment concerning Wagner's behavior. This only worsened the rift between the family. Natalie had only outlived her father, Nick, for a year after he died of a heart attack. Her mother, Maria, never stopped grieving for Natalie and developed Alzheimer's disease. She died of pneumonia in Lana's home in 1998 at age 85.
Natalie does not have any grandchildren, but her legacy lives on in her sisters, nieces, nephews, and daughters. She inspired everyone who knew her and everyone who watched her. She made a great impact in modern film, and her memory will live on for generations to come through her friends, family and fans.
Spouse
Robert Wagner (16 July 1972 - 29 November 1981) (remarried) (her death); 1 child
Richard Gregson (30 May 1969 - 1 April 1972) (divorced) 1 child
Robert Wagner (28 December 1957 - 27 April 1962) (divorced)
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Trivia::
Her sister is Lana Wood. Her half-sister is Olga Viriapaeff.
Mother of Natasha Gregson Wagner and Courtney Wagner.
Named after director Sam Wood.
Favorite actress was Vivien Leigh. Favorite singer was Bob Dylan.
She suffered from a deep fear of drowning after having barely survived an accident when she was a little girl, during the filming of The Green Promise (1949). Her fear was so great that Elia Kazan had to lie - promising a double - and trick her into doing the scenes at the water reservoir in Splendor in the Grass (1961). She also had to do her own swimming scenes in "From Here to Eternity" (1979) despite her protests.
Interred at Westwood Memorial Park, Los Angeles, California, USA, Section D, #60. On her grave, marked Natalie Wood Wagner: Beloved daughter, sister, wife, mother & friend "more than love".
Was commonly listed as 5' 3" wearing heels in movie magazines, though her actual height was 5' 0".
On Suturday, April 23rd, 1966, she made Harvard history when she became the first performer voted the year's worst by the Harvard Lampoon to show up and accept her citation.
Reportedly turned down Warren Beatty's offer to play opposite him in Bonnie and Clyde (1967) because she didn't want to be separated from her analyst while the film was on location in the Midwest.
Splendour, the name of the yacht Wood was on the night she died, was named after her movie Splendor in the Grass (1961). She co-starred in the film with former love Warren Beatty.
An accident on a movie set (she fell into a river and almost drowned) when she was 9 years old left her with a permanently weakened left wrist and a slight bone protrusion, which, for the rest of her life, she hid with large bracelets. Regardless of the movie role, or anytime that she was out in public, she always wore a large bracelet on the left wrist.
The rubber dinghy "Prince Valiant" she'd allegedly been trying to board after falling from husband Robert Wagner's yacht that fateful Thanksgiving weekend in 1981, was named after Wagner's movie Prince Valiant (1954), a film the actor considered among his worst.
Had planned to produce as well as star in I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (1977), but the leading role of Deborah went to Kathleen Quinlan by the time the film was made.
Attended ballet classes as a child with Jill St. John and Stefanie Powers. All three women would go on to have long-term relationships with Robert Wagner. Natalie was married to Wagner at the time of her death and St. John is now married to him. Powers was his costar on the 1979-1984 television series "Hart to Hart.".
Pallbearers at her funeral were Rock Hudson, Frank Sinatra, Laurence Olivier, Elia Kazan, Gregory Peck, David Niven, and Fred Astaire.
Daughter: Courtney Wagner (b. 9 March 1974). Father is Robert Wagner.
Daughter: Natasha Gregson Wagner was born on Tuesday, September 29th, 1970. Natasha's father is Richard Gregson.
Her death was kismet, as she always cited a fear of water.
Had a relationship with Elvis Presley when she was 17; Elvis wanted to marry her, but Gladys Presley did not personally like Natalie.
Her and co-star Richard Beymer's singing voices were both dubbed in West Side Story (1961). The woman who dubbed Natalie, Marni Nixon, also dubbed Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady (1964) and Deborah Kerr in The King and I (1956).
The daughter of a Russian architect and a French ballerina could do a proper plié before she could barely walk.
Her mother, Maria, claimed that the family was closely related to the Romanov dynasty.
Spoke Russian and English.
Though some people cite her mother as being French, her mother is Russian. The source of this misconception comes from the studio that Natalie worked at when she was a child -- people noticed her mother's accent and when asked if she was French, Maria replied: "Oh yes", a white lie that would contribute to this confusion.
Younger sister Lana Wood made a ABC TV special on Natalie's life, The Mystery of Natalie Wood (2004) (TV).
Wore dress size 5.
Measurements: 32-20 1/2-32 (at age 18), 32B-22-33 (at age 24, "Parade" magazine December 1962), (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine).
Portrayed by Rebecca Budig in James Dean: Race with Destiny (1997) (TV), by Justine Waddell in The Mystery of Natalie Wood (2004) (TV) and by Abi Young in Elvis (1979/I) (TV).
Turned down the role of Judith Anderson in The Devil's Disciple (1959) because she didn't want to work with older actor Kirk Douglas for "personal" reasons.
Turned down roles in the films Bonnie and Clyde (1967), Barefoot in the Park (1967), Goodbye, Columbus (1969), Love Story (1970), The Great Gatsby (1974) and The Mirror Crack'd (1980).
She was cast as Maggie in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1976) (TV) quite unexpectedly, without campaigning for the role. Wood explained that when Laurence Olivier would come to Hollywood, she would often be seated with him at the table at formal sit-down dinners. When Olivier decided to make a version of the Tennessee Williams play, he thought of casting Wood, his dinner companion, and her husband, Robert Wagner, in the husband-wife roles of Brick and Maggie. Naturally, they accepted.
Wood knew screenwriter Gavin Lambert as both were intimates of director Randy Suhr. In the early 1960s, he wrote a novel about a Hollywood child star in the 1930s, Inside Daisy Clover (1965). After reading the book, Wood telephoned Lambert and said, "I'd kill for that part." He assured her she was his first choice for the movie, for which he was writing the screenplay. She got the part and Ruth Gordon got her first Oscar nomination as an actress for portraying Daisy's mother.
Both she and her sister Lana Wood have played the love interest of Richard Beymer in 2 separate films: she as Maria opposite Richard's Tony in West Side Story (1961), and Lana as Karen opposite Richard's Dean in Scream Free! (1969) (aka Free Grass).
She is the inspiration of High School Musical (2006) (TV) star, Vanessa Hudgens.
Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives." Volume One, 1981-1985, pages 889-890. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1998.
People Magazine (USA) named her one of "The 25 most intriguing People of 1976" for the January 3 1977 issue.
Entertainment Weekly placed her on the "100 greatest stars of all time" list, at #70.
Voted one of the top sex stars of the 1970s in Playboy magazine.
Called "The Most Beautiful Teenager in the World" by Life magazine in 1956.
Once interviewed Arnold Schwarzenegger, before his career took off, for the magazine "Hollywood Reporter" in 1979 two years before her her death. The article was entitled "The Body meets the Face".
Her death was listed at number 24 on E! Televisions 101 Most Shocking Moments in Entertainment.
Don Henley wrote the song "Dirty Laundry" to express his outrage at the tabloid press for their treatment of her after her death.
Met Robert Redford at Van Nuys High School when she was a sophomore and he was a senior. Natalie was Redford's leading lady in his first starring role, in This Property Is Condemned (1966).
"Natalie's Song" by David Pack, was written about Natalie Wood.
"Eyes Like Natalie Wood" by Kathy Fleischmann, was written about her.
Former stepmother of Katie Wagner.
Started smoking at age 16.
Godmother of her daughter Natasha Gregson Wagner was Ruth Gordon, who played Natalie's mother in the film Inside Daisy Clover (1965).
She starred in over 40 theatrical films between ages 4 and 27. She went into semi-retirement afterwards, only appearing in five movies between age 28 and her death at 43.
Was scheduled to make her stage debut in "Anastasia" in February 1982 and play the love interest of Timothy Hutton in a film called "Country of the Heart." Unfortunately, both projects were canceled due to her death.
A niece, Evan Taylor Maldanado, born on Sunday, August 11th, 1974.
Her mother, Maria Gurdin, died of pneumonia on January 6, 1998 at age 85.
Sister Lana Wood wrote the best-selling book about her titled "Natalie: a Memoir by Her Sister".
Her father, Nick Gurdin, died of a heart attack on Tuesday, November 18th, 1980 at age 66.
Her best friends included actresses Stefanie Powers, Dyan Cannon and Carol Lynley. She was a childhood friend of her widower's current wife Jill St. John but they were not close as adults.
Campaigned for the roles that went to Mary Tyler Moore in Ordinary People (1980), Jessica Lange in Frances (1982) and Meryl Streep in Sophie's Choice (1982).
Turned down the role that went to Faye Dunaway in The Towering Inferno (1974) because she thought the script was "mediocre.".
While taking classes at UCLA, she turned down the role of Elaine in The Graduate (1967) that went to Katharine Ross.
Jane Fonda and Faye Dunaway turned down the role of Carol in Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969) before Natalie got the part. Natalie turned down Katharine Ross's role in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) so she could star in the film.
If she lived, she would have two great-nephews, Nicholas (born 1998) and Max (born 2002), and a great-niece, Daphne (born 2000). Their mother is Evan Maldanado, who is the daughter of Natalie's sister Lana Wood.
According to a biographer, 43-year old Nicholas Ray wooed 16-year old Natalie by adorning a table with pink tablecloth and champagne, her preferred color and drink of choice.
Was the youngest nominee in her category each of the three times she was nominated for an Oscar, the first being when she was 17 and the last when she was 25.
Was one of the many actresses considered for the title role in Norma Rae (1979) which went to Sally Field.
Has multiple connections with the James Bond franchise. Her sister, Lana Wood, was a Bond girl in Diamonds Are Forever (1971). Jill St. John, who was Natalie's childhood friend and is now married to her widower, Robert Wagner, also appeared as a Bond girl in the same film. Natalie co-starred in Meteor (1979) with Sean Connery, who played the James Bond character in seven films, and in Brainstorm (1983), she co-starred with Christopher Walken, who was a Bond villain in A View to a Kill (1985). Natalie also co-starred in "From Here to Eternity" (1979) with Kim Basinger, who was a Bond girl in Never Say Never Again (1983). Robert Wagner's character, "Number Two" in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997), Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999) and Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002), is a spoof of the character "Largo" in Thunderball (1965).
Was Maureen O'Hara daughter in two movies, one being the classic Miracle on 34th Street (1947). Natalie referred to Maureen as Mama Maureen till her death in 1981.
Twice appeared in her husband's television series Switch (1975) (TV) in cameos.
In March 2010, her sister Lana Wood spoke out about her death, announcing that she wants the case re-opened.
Was chosen over Ann-Margret to play the title role in Gypsy (1962).
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Personal Quotes::
You get tough in this business, until you get big enough to hire people to get tough for you. Then you can sit back and be a lady.
[in 1961] In so many ways I think it's a bore to be sorry you were a child actor - so many people feel sorry for you automatically. At the time I wasn't aware of the things I missed, so why should I think of them in retrospect? Everybody misses something or other.
I felt a little funny when we were going to do the bed scene, all four of us, in Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969). I'm open to suggestions, I'm no prude, but four is a crowd in my book. Fortunately, Dyan Cannon was there. The thought of another woman being in there in the bed helped get me through it. It's not like it sounds. It's just that I don't think I could have done it if it had been me and three men.
[on being a child actor] I spent practically all my time in the company of adults. I was very withdrawn, very shy, I did what I was told and I tried not to disappoint anybody. I knew I had a duty to perform, and I was trained to follow orders.
[shortly before her death] You know what I want? I want yesterday.
[on dating Elvis Presley] Elvis was so square, we'd go . . . for hot fudge sundaes. He didn't drink, he didn't swear, he didn't even smoke. It was like having the date that I never had in high school.
[In 1981] I've always been terrified, still am, of water -- dark water or sea water, or river water or whatever.
[On Marilyn Monroe] When you look at Marilyn on the screen you don't want anything bad to happen to her. You really care that she should be all right...happy.
============================
Date of Birth
20 July 1938, San Francisco, California, USA
Date of Death
29 November 1981, Santa Catalina Island, California, USA (drowning)
Birth Name
Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko
Nickname
Natalia
Natasha
Height
5'
Biography
She is one of the greatest talents and most beautiful women ever to grace the screen, and remains one of the most popular and controversial actresses of our time more than a quarter century after her tragic, untimely death from drowning. From child star to teen idol to American icon, Natalie Wood made 56 films for TV and the silver screen and received 3 Oscar nominations before turning 25.
Her real name was Natasha Gurdin, and she was born in San Francisco on Wednesday, July 20th, 1938, to Russian émigrés Maria and Nicholas Zakharenko (they had changed their last name to Gurdin before coming to America). Natalie has one sister, Lana Wood, who is younger. They have a half-sister, Olga Viriapaeff, who is older. When she was just 4 years old, Natalie made her film debut in Happy Land (1943), although she had less than 10 seconds of screen time. When she was 7, she was cast in a major role opposite the legendary Orson Welles in Tomorrow Is Forever (1946). The following year, she starred as Susan Walker in one of the most famous films of all time, Miracle on 34th Street (1947), which for many people has become a traditional viewing every Christmas. Natalie stayed very busy as a child actress and appeared in over 20 films, including The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947), Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay! (1948), Our Very Own (1950). During her childhood and adolescence, she performed with such veteran stars as Maureen O'Hara, James Stewart, Marilyn Monroe, Fred MacMurray, Paul Newman, Bing Crosby and Bette Davis.
When she was 16, Natalie got her big break when she was cast as Judy in Rebel Without a Cause (1955), starring opposite screen legend James Dean and Sal Mineo. Her performance earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. The film was hugely popular and is now considered a classic. Both of her male co-stars in the film also died young under tragic circumstances, and the main cast has become known as the "tragic three," The following year, she played a small but crucial role in the classic western The Searchers (1956), with John Wayne and, in a small role, Lana. Natalie was a rebellious teenager, started smoking and dated famous older men, including Dennis Hopper, Elvis Presley, and Robert Wagner (aka RJ). She and Wagner became involved in the spring of 1957 when she was 18 and he was 27, and they married later the year on Saturday, December 28th, 1957. The newlyweds became financially stressed, when both of their careers started to decline. Natalie's career was ailing with flops, especially Marjorie Morningstar (1958). She and Wagner made a film together called All the Fine Young Cannibals (1960), which bombed at the box office. But this period of decline did not last long.
In 1961 Natalie starred in two blockbuster films. The first was Splendor in the Grass (1961), a drama about teen love co-starring Warren Beatty. Natalie received her second Academy Award nomination for her role, this time as Best Actress. The other film she made that year was West Side Story (1961), a musical about rival gangs in New York. During this time her marriage to RJ crumbled. Although he said that their careers conflicted with the marriage, biographer Suzanne Finstad says that she caught him "in a compromising position with another man." Their divorce was final in April 1962, and she began a relationship with Warren Beatty. Natalie's next two films were very successful: the musical, Gypsy (1962), and the melodrama, Love with the Proper Stranger (1963), in which her character becomes pregnant after a one night stand with a musician. The latter film earned her a third Academy Award nomination. Natalie was just 25 years old at the time, and to this day remains the youngest person to ever receive 3 Academy Award nominations. After this she starred in Sex and the Single Girl (1964) and The Great Race (1965), which were poorly received. She delivered some of her best work in years by playing southern depression-era teens with big dreams in the similar films Inside Daisy Clover (1965) and This Property Is Condemned (1966), both of which co-starred Robert Redford and earned her Golden Globe nominations. Although they were not box-office hits upon release, many consider the latter to be Natalie's greatest performance. In addition, her personal life was also suffering after her breakup with Warren Beatty and her suicide attempt in November of 1966. She began seeing a psychiatrist and stopped working for 3 years. She turned down opportunities to star in Bonnie and Clyde (1967), Barefoot in the Park (1967) and Goodbye, Columbus (1969) among others, and later regretted her decisions. In 1969, Natalie starred as a swinger in the hit film Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969). She played Carol, the trophy wife of Bob, who is swapped with Alice to have sex with Ted. The film embraced the sexual revolution of the hippie era and increased Natalie's star status. Her salary for the film was a record-breaking $3 million after she was given a percentage of the film's profits. In addition to her movie success, her personal life was improving as well. On Friday, May 30th, 1969, 30-year old Natalie married British producer Richard Gregson after a year-and-a-half of dating. Within a few months, Natalie was pregnant.
On Tuesday, September 29th, 1970, she gave birth to a daughter, Natasha Gregson Wagner. She loved being a new mother and devoted all her attention to her newborn. Sadly, it turned out that Gregson was having an affair with her secretary, and the couple separated in August of 1971 when their daughter was just ten months young. In 1971 and 1972, Natalie dated politician Jerry Brown and actor Steve McQueen, but neither relationship lasted very long. At this time she was quoted saying that she would never marry again. However, she reconciled with Robert Wagner in February 1972 and within a few months they were engaged. On Sunday, July 16, 1972, 33-year old Natalie and 42-year old Wagner re-married in Malibu, just 3 months after her divorce from Gregson was finalized. Natalie took a career hiatus to take care of Natasha and attempt to be a better wife than she had been before. On Saturday, March 9th, 1974, Natalie gave birth to her second child, daughter Courtney Wagner. Natalie named Courtney after her character in The Affair (1973) (TV) (she became aware that she was pregnant during filming). Once again she procrastinated on returning to acting in order to care for her baby. Her projects were few and far between, and usually had something to do with her husband (they starred in a television remake of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1976) (TV) and she made cameo guest appearances on his shows "Switch" (1975) and "Hart to Hart: Hart to Hart (#1.0)" (1979). Her only feature film during the decade was Peeper (1975), which received only a limited release and was an instant flop. Although Natalie loved being a wife and mother, cherished her daughters and made them her main priority, she feared she would be forgotten if she stayed away from Hollywood for too long.
As her daughters reached school age, Natalie returned to making movies. In 1979 she had three projects awaiting release. The most significant was "From Here to Eternity" (1979), a mini-series film that co-starred Kim Basinger and William Devane. Natalie gave a subtle yet very sexy and powerful performance, and it won her a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in 1980. She also starred in the science-fiction disaster, Meteor (1979) with Sean Connery, but it was severely bashed by critics and performed very poorly at the box office. Her next film, the sex comedy, The Last Married Couple in America (1980), with George Segal was also poorly received, despite the praise of her spunky performance. Natalie was unhappy that her film career was ailing because she had been an actress nearly all her life and loved the craft. Determined to re-ignite her film career, Natalie made an unusual choice by moving to North Carolina (something her husband hated her for doing) in late 1981 to make Brainstorm (1983), a compelling science fiction drama in which she and Christopher Walken played a husband-and-wife team of scientists who create a device that can record human thoughts.
Natalie returned to L.A. for an open house Thanksgiving and brought Walken with her. She invited him to join her, Wagner, and boat captain Dennis Davern on a boat trip to Catalina Island. On Saturday, November 28th, 1981, they dined at a restaurant on Catalina where Natalie became very intoxicated. That night, the four of them returned to their yacht, the "Splendor." The rest is a mystery, and the stories about how she ended up in the water have been conflicting. On the morning of Sunday, November 29th, 1981, her body was found floating in a cove. Rumors of foul play immediately surfaced, but Dr. Thomas Noguchi concluded that Natalie attempted to get out of the water into a rubber dingy, but was unable to due to her drunkenness. Ironically, according to her mother, a gypsy once told her that Natalie would die of drowning, which caused Natalie to have nightmares as a child. She was 43 years old. Natalie was scheduled to make her stage debut in "Anastasia" in February 1982 and star opposite Timothy Hutton in a film called "Country of the Heart." She had not completed all of her scenes in "Brainstorm," and a stand-in and sound-a-likes were used to replace her. Since then her death has continued to cause controversy.
Wagner gained custody Natalie's daughter Natasha and raised her. He also cut off all contact with the rest of Natalie's family. In 1984, her sister, Lana wrote the best-selling tell-all "Natalie: a Memoir by Her Sister," in which she expressed her disappointment concerning Wagner's behavior. This only worsened the rift between the family. Natalie had only outlived her father, Nick, for a year after he died of a heart attack. Her mother, Maria, never stopped grieving for Natalie and developed Alzheimer's disease. She died of pneumonia in Lana's home in 1998 at age 85.
Natalie does not have any grandchildren, but her legacy lives on in her sisters, nieces, nephews, and daughters. She inspired everyone who knew her and everyone who watched her. She made a great impact in modern film, and her memory will live on for generations to come through her friends, family and fans.
Spouse
Robert Wagner (16 July 1972 - 29 November 1981) (remarried) (her death); 1 child
Richard Gregson (30 May 1969 - 1 April 1972) (divorced) 1 child
Robert Wagner (28 December 1957 - 27 April 1962) (divorced)
-------------------------------
Trivia::
Her sister is Lana Wood. Her half-sister is Olga Viriapaeff.
Mother of Natasha Gregson Wagner and Courtney Wagner.
Named after director Sam Wood.
Favorite actress was Vivien Leigh. Favorite singer was Bob Dylan.
She suffered from a deep fear of drowning after having barely survived an accident when she was a little girl, during the filming of The Green Promise (1949). Her fear was so great that Elia Kazan had to lie - promising a double - and trick her into doing the scenes at the water reservoir in Splendor in the Grass (1961). She also had to do her own swimming scenes in "From Here to Eternity" (1979) despite her protests.
Interred at Westwood Memorial Park, Los Angeles, California, USA, Section D, #60. On her grave, marked Natalie Wood Wagner: Beloved daughter, sister, wife, mother & friend "more than love".
Was commonly listed as 5' 3" wearing heels in movie magazines, though her actual height was 5' 0".
On Suturday, April 23rd, 1966, she made Harvard history when she became the first performer voted the year's worst by the Harvard Lampoon to show up and accept her citation.
Reportedly turned down Warren Beatty's offer to play opposite him in Bonnie and Clyde (1967) because she didn't want to be separated from her analyst while the film was on location in the Midwest.
Splendour, the name of the yacht Wood was on the night she died, was named after her movie Splendor in the Grass (1961). She co-starred in the film with former love Warren Beatty.
An accident on a movie set (she fell into a river and almost drowned) when she was 9 years old left her with a permanently weakened left wrist and a slight bone protrusion, which, for the rest of her life, she hid with large bracelets. Regardless of the movie role, or anytime that she was out in public, she always wore a large bracelet on the left wrist.
The rubber dinghy "Prince Valiant" she'd allegedly been trying to board after falling from husband Robert Wagner's yacht that fateful Thanksgiving weekend in 1981, was named after Wagner's movie Prince Valiant (1954), a film the actor considered among his worst.
Had planned to produce as well as star in I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (1977), but the leading role of Deborah went to Kathleen Quinlan by the time the film was made.
Attended ballet classes as a child with Jill St. John and Stefanie Powers. All three women would go on to have long-term relationships with Robert Wagner. Natalie was married to Wagner at the time of her death and St. John is now married to him. Powers was his costar on the 1979-1984 television series "Hart to Hart.".
Pallbearers at her funeral were Rock Hudson, Frank Sinatra, Laurence Olivier, Elia Kazan, Gregory Peck, David Niven, and Fred Astaire.
Daughter: Courtney Wagner (b. 9 March 1974). Father is Robert Wagner.
Daughter: Natasha Gregson Wagner was born on Tuesday, September 29th, 1970. Natasha's father is Richard Gregson.
Her death was kismet, as she always cited a fear of water.
Had a relationship with Elvis Presley when she was 17; Elvis wanted to marry her, but Gladys Presley did not personally like Natalie.
Her and co-star Richard Beymer's singing voices were both dubbed in West Side Story (1961). The woman who dubbed Natalie, Marni Nixon, also dubbed Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady (1964) and Deborah Kerr in The King and I (1956).
The daughter of a Russian architect and a French ballerina could do a proper plié before she could barely walk.
Her mother, Maria, claimed that the family was closely related to the Romanov dynasty.
Spoke Russian and English.
Though some people cite her mother as being French, her mother is Russian. The source of this misconception comes from the studio that Natalie worked at when she was a child -- people noticed her mother's accent and when asked if she was French, Maria replied: "Oh yes", a white lie that would contribute to this confusion.
Younger sister Lana Wood made a ABC TV special on Natalie's life, The Mystery of Natalie Wood (2004) (TV).
Wore dress size 5.
Measurements: 32-20 1/2-32 (at age 18), 32B-22-33 (at age 24, "Parade" magazine December 1962), (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine).
Portrayed by Rebecca Budig in James Dean: Race with Destiny (1997) (TV), by Justine Waddell in The Mystery of Natalie Wood (2004) (TV) and by Abi Young in Elvis (1979/I) (TV).
Turned down the role of Judith Anderson in The Devil's Disciple (1959) because she didn't want to work with older actor Kirk Douglas for "personal" reasons.
Turned down roles in the films Bonnie and Clyde (1967), Barefoot in the Park (1967), Goodbye, Columbus (1969), Love Story (1970), The Great Gatsby (1974) and The Mirror Crack'd (1980).
She was cast as Maggie in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1976) (TV) quite unexpectedly, without campaigning for the role. Wood explained that when Laurence Olivier would come to Hollywood, she would often be seated with him at the table at formal sit-down dinners. When Olivier decided to make a version of the Tennessee Williams play, he thought of casting Wood, his dinner companion, and her husband, Robert Wagner, in the husband-wife roles of Brick and Maggie. Naturally, they accepted.
Wood knew screenwriter Gavin Lambert as both were intimates of director Randy Suhr. In the early 1960s, he wrote a novel about a Hollywood child star in the 1930s, Inside Daisy Clover (1965). After reading the book, Wood telephoned Lambert and said, "I'd kill for that part." He assured her she was his first choice for the movie, for which he was writing the screenplay. She got the part and Ruth Gordon got her first Oscar nomination as an actress for portraying Daisy's mother.
Both she and her sister Lana Wood have played the love interest of Richard Beymer in 2 separate films: she as Maria opposite Richard's Tony in West Side Story (1961), and Lana as Karen opposite Richard's Dean in Scream Free! (1969) (aka Free Grass).
She is the inspiration of High School Musical (2006) (TV) star, Vanessa Hudgens.
Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives." Volume One, 1981-1985, pages 889-890. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1998.
People Magazine (USA) named her one of "The 25 most intriguing People of 1976" for the January 3 1977 issue.
Entertainment Weekly placed her on the "100 greatest stars of all time" list, at #70.
Voted one of the top sex stars of the 1970s in Playboy magazine.
Called "The Most Beautiful Teenager in the World" by Life magazine in 1956.
Once interviewed Arnold Schwarzenegger, before his career took off, for the magazine "Hollywood Reporter" in 1979 two years before her her death. The article was entitled "The Body meets the Face".
Her death was listed at number 24 on E! Televisions 101 Most Shocking Moments in Entertainment.
Don Henley wrote the song "Dirty Laundry" to express his outrage at the tabloid press for their treatment of her after her death.
Met Robert Redford at Van Nuys High School when she was a sophomore and he was a senior. Natalie was Redford's leading lady in his first starring role, in This Property Is Condemned (1966).
"Natalie's Song" by David Pack, was written about Natalie Wood.
"Eyes Like Natalie Wood" by Kathy Fleischmann, was written about her.
Former stepmother of Katie Wagner.
Started smoking at age 16.
Godmother of her daughter Natasha Gregson Wagner was Ruth Gordon, who played Natalie's mother in the film Inside Daisy Clover (1965).
She starred in over 40 theatrical films between ages 4 and 27. She went into semi-retirement afterwards, only appearing in five movies between age 28 and her death at 43.
Was scheduled to make her stage debut in "Anastasia" in February 1982 and play the love interest of Timothy Hutton in a film called "Country of the Heart." Unfortunately, both projects were canceled due to her death.
A niece, Evan Taylor Maldanado, born on Sunday, August 11th, 1974.
Her mother, Maria Gurdin, died of pneumonia on January 6, 1998 at age 85.
Sister Lana Wood wrote the best-selling book about her titled "Natalie: a Memoir by Her Sister".
Her father, Nick Gurdin, died of a heart attack on Tuesday, November 18th, 1980 at age 66.
Her best friends included actresses Stefanie Powers, Dyan Cannon and Carol Lynley. She was a childhood friend of her widower's current wife Jill St. John but they were not close as adults.
Campaigned for the roles that went to Mary Tyler Moore in Ordinary People (1980), Jessica Lange in Frances (1982) and Meryl Streep in Sophie's Choice (1982).
Turned down the role that went to Faye Dunaway in The Towering Inferno (1974) because she thought the script was "mediocre.".
While taking classes at UCLA, she turned down the role of Elaine in The Graduate (1967) that went to Katharine Ross.
Jane Fonda and Faye Dunaway turned down the role of Carol in Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969) before Natalie got the part. Natalie turned down Katharine Ross's role in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) so she could star in the film.
If she lived, she would have two great-nephews, Nicholas (born 1998) and Max (born 2002), and a great-niece, Daphne (born 2000). Their mother is Evan Maldanado, who is the daughter of Natalie's sister Lana Wood.
According to a biographer, 43-year old Nicholas Ray wooed 16-year old Natalie by adorning a table with pink tablecloth and champagne, her preferred color and drink of choice.
Was the youngest nominee in her category each of the three times she was nominated for an Oscar, the first being when she was 17 and the last when she was 25.
Was one of the many actresses considered for the title role in Norma Rae (1979) which went to Sally Field.
Has multiple connections with the James Bond franchise. Her sister, Lana Wood, was a Bond girl in Diamonds Are Forever (1971). Jill St. John, who was Natalie's childhood friend and is now married to her widower, Robert Wagner, also appeared as a Bond girl in the same film. Natalie co-starred in Meteor (1979) with Sean Connery, who played the James Bond character in seven films, and in Brainstorm (1983), she co-starred with Christopher Walken, who was a Bond villain in A View to a Kill (1985). Natalie also co-starred in "From Here to Eternity" (1979) with Kim Basinger, who was a Bond girl in Never Say Never Again (1983). Robert Wagner's character, "Number Two" in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997), Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999) and Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002), is a spoof of the character "Largo" in Thunderball (1965).
Was Maureen O'Hara daughter in two movies, one being the classic Miracle on 34th Street (1947). Natalie referred to Maureen as Mama Maureen till her death in 1981.
Twice appeared in her husband's television series Switch (1975) (TV) in cameos.
In March 2010, her sister Lana Wood spoke out about her death, announcing that she wants the case re-opened.
Was chosen over Ann-Margret to play the title role in Gypsy (1962).
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Personal Quotes::
You get tough in this business, until you get big enough to hire people to get tough for you. Then you can sit back and be a lady.
[in 1961] In so many ways I think it's a bore to be sorry you were a child actor - so many people feel sorry for you automatically. At the time I wasn't aware of the things I missed, so why should I think of them in retrospect? Everybody misses something or other.
I felt a little funny when we were going to do the bed scene, all four of us, in Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969). I'm open to suggestions, I'm no prude, but four is a crowd in my book. Fortunately, Dyan Cannon was there. The thought of another woman being in there in the bed helped get me through it. It's not like it sounds. It's just that I don't think I could have done it if it had been me and three men.
[on being a child actor] I spent practically all my time in the company of adults. I was very withdrawn, very shy, I did what I was told and I tried not to disappoint anybody. I knew I had a duty to perform, and I was trained to follow orders.
[shortly before her death] You know what I want? I want yesterday.
[on dating Elvis Presley] Elvis was so square, we'd go . . . for hot fudge sundaes. He didn't drink, he didn't swear, he didn't even smoke. It was like having the date that I never had in high school.
[In 1981] I've always been terrified, still am, of water -- dark water or sea water, or river water or whatever.
[On Marilyn Monroe] When you look at Marilyn on the screen you don't want anything bad to happen to her. You really care that she should be all right...happy.