Groomed for stardom by her ambitious Russian mother, Natalie Wood shot to fame at age five in 1947’s Miracle on 34th Street. Later, she navigated Hollywood’s shark-infested waters and dated a number of men, including Robert Wagner (twice).
When she drowned in mysterious circumstances off the coast of California’s Catalina Island at age 43, it stunned the world. Natasha Gregson Wagner’s clear-eyed documentary examines the many facets of her life and career.
Few actresses have touched as many hearts in a brief life as Natalie Wood. Born Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko in San Francisco in 1938, she was the daughter of Russian immigrants. Her mother, Mary Tatuloff, had unfulfilled dreams of becoming a ballet dancer, so she transferred them to her daughter. From an early age, Wood was groomed for stardom and enrolled in acting lessons. She acted in numerous films as a child, including the 1947 classic Miracle on 34th Street. At the time, she was one of the most popular child stars in Hollywood.
She was a hard-working child actor who studied not only her own lines but those of everyone in the film. She was so committed to her work that she earned the nickname “One Take Natalie.” By the time she was a teenager, she rebelled against her mother’s tight control and ultra-wholesome image. Despite her resentment, she continued to act and eventually won a role in Rebel Without a Cause.
Her performance in this movie made her a breakout star. For the remainder of her career, she starred in several classics including The Searchers, West Side Story, Splendor in the Grass, and Gypsy. She was nominated for three Academy Awards and won two Golden Globes.
Wood had several marriages and a difficult relationship with her mother. She also struggled with drugs and alcohol. She tried to kill herself several times and suffered from mental illness. She overdosed on drugs in 1966, but survived. She became involved with the director Warren Beatty and had a daughter, Courtney Wagner, during this period.
In the 1970s, Wood returned to acting and began a series of television shows. She guest starred on anthology TV shows like Studio One in Hollywood, Camera Three, Kings Row, and Warner Brothers Presents. She also starred in a couple of Western films, including The Burning Hills and One Desire. She also starred in films with her former child star Tab Hunter.
In the late ’60s and ’70s, she took a break from acting to focus on her family. She married twice and had two children with her second husband, actor Robert Wagner.
Her film career
After moving to California, Natalie Wood’s mother arranged for her daughter to meet director Irving Pichel. The short scene she took in the 1943 film Happy Land made a good impression, and two years later Pichel cast her as the title character in the melodrama Marjorie Morningstar.
After that, Wood appeared in several family films as the daughter of leading men, including Fred MacMurray, Joan Blondell and James Stewart. When she was 9, however, she landed her first starring role in the Christmas classic Miracle on 34th Street. This performance earned her instant recognition, and she was soon a regular in feature films, often cast as the child of famous stars.
In Rebel Without a Cause, a juvenile delinquent drama that made an icon of James Dean, Wood proved she was more than just a pretty face and blonde locks. Her raw emotional intensity and sexual rebelliousness was unmistakable. Her career was further cemented, and she earned an Oscar nomination for her role as Judy in the film.
Throughout her career, Wood would receive numerous Best Actress nominations for a wide variety of roles in such films as West Side Story and Gypsy, Splendor in the Grass and Love with a Proper Stranger. Despite her success, she began to take on fewer and fewer roles as she settled into motherhood and marriage.
Her final films, the sex comedy Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice (1968) and the symphony of a murder thriller The Four in a Bed (1970), were both critical and commercial disasters. In the latter, she co-starred with Elliot Gould as the woman who gets married to four men. Her edgy performance was controversial, but she found peace in her life with husband Richard Gregson and their daughter Natasha.
After her hiatus, Wood made a few television appearances, and in 1979 she took a comeback role in the acclaimed TV miniseries From Here to Eternity. In her last film, the sex comedy The Last Married Couple in America (1980), with George Segal and Valerie Harper, Wood broke from her clean, middle-class image and used the word “fuck” in a frank marital discussion.
Her marriages
While Wood was the star of her films, her personal life was a bit more turbulent. She was linked to several men, both public and secret, including actor Dennis Hopper, hotel heir Nicky Hilton, and singer Elvis Presley. Her sister Lana recalled that she once tried to commit suicide after her first marriage ended, and suffered from severe depression at various times throughout her life.
She began her film career with a string of flops, but finally found success in 1956’s The Searchers, a western about an abducted Indian woman. The movie marked a coming of age for both Wood and Hollywood westerns, and became one of her most beloved works.
Wood’s next few films were less successful, but she continued to find work, often in supporting roles. She starred opposite teen heartthrob Tab Hunter in the ill-received 1959 romantic comedy The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and again with James Dean in the critically acclaimed drama Rebel Without a Cause.
By the time she reached her 30s, Wood was a highly desirable leading lady with a large and devoted fan base. She went on a studio-arranged date with fellow actor Robert Wagner in 1957, and they married a year later.
Their first marriage lasted just a few years, but they had a daughter together, Natasha Gregson Wagner. After her divorce from Wagner, Wood married British producer Richard Gregson in 1969. The couple separated in 1971, when Gregson had an affair, but they remarried the following year.
During her second marriage, Wood starred in the television series The Affair and Hart to Hart, and made a brief cameo appearance as herself in 1972’s The Candidate. In the late 1970s, she moved into semi-retirement, making just four more theatrical films and a few television appearances.
In 1981, Wood appeared in the poorly-received sci-fi flick Meteor and paired with Sean Connery for the flop Brainstorm. Her volatile personal life took another turn that year, when she slapped Wagner in the face after he allegedly broke a bottle over her relationship with Walken on a yacht trip off California’s Catalina Island.
Her death
The premature death of Natalie Wood off the coast of Catalina Island, California in 1981 has become one of Hollywood’s most controversial unsolved mysteries. Sam Perroni examines the case using new documents and interviews, and reveals that local police and powerful studio insiders glossed over the investigation.
The daughter of Russian immigrants, Wood began acting at a young age and starred in several popular films as a child actress. She was a natural talent and alluring on-screen presence, and her natural beauty won her widespread fame and accolades. Her breakthrough role came with the drama Rebel Without a Cause (1955), which garnered her an Academy Award nomination. This performance marked a departure from her sweet and innocent image in previous films, and it showcased her dramatic range.
Wood’s next major film was West Side Story (1961), in which she portrayed Maria, a restless Puerto Rican girl. The movie was a huge commercial and critical success, and film historians consider it to be one of her best performances. In 1962, she played burlesque performer Gypsy Rose Lee in the highly successful musical drama Gypsy (1962). The film was another milestone for Wood and is often cited as one of her finest performances.
After the success of West Side Story, Wood’s health declined, and she suffered from chronic nerve pain in her back. She starred in only four more theatrical films after this, including the mystery comedy Peeper (1975), the science fiction film Meteor (1979), and the 1980 comedy The Last Married Couple in America.
In her personal life, Wood was also a troubled woman. Her first marriage, to actor Robert Wagner, eight years her senior, garnered much media attention when she married him at age 18 in 1957. The relationship was tumultuous and ended in divorce in 1962. She then dated and eventually married British producer Richard Gregson, with whom she had a daughter, Natasha.
In her final years, Wood refocused her career on television, where she found greater success. Her appearances in made-for-TV movies and miniseries such as From Here to Eternity and Anastasia earned her high ratings. In 1970, she married Gregson and gave birth to their daughter. Towards the end of her life, she struggled with drug addiction and mental illness.
