NATALIE WOOD (1938-1981)

NATALIE WOOD (1938–1981)

She stood 5'0" (1.52 m) tall.

Natalie Wood

(born Natasha Nikolaevna Zakharenko) was born on July 20, 1938, in San Francisco, California. She was the daughter of Russian immigrants who adopted the surname Gurdin upon settling in America. Under this name, Natasha began her early artistic career, studying ballet shortly after learning to walk. She made her film debut at age four with an uncredited appearance in *Happy Land* (1943), directed by Irving Pichel. During the second half of the 1940s, the newly renamed Natalie Wood (taking the surname from director Sam Wood) appeared in films such as *Tomorrow Is Forever* (1946) and *The Ghost and Mrs. Muir* (1947)—a wonderful romantic fantasy directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. Young Natalie rose to stardom with *Miracle on 34th Street* (1947), a Christmas classic in which she played Maureen O'Hara's daughter. She successfully navigated the often-troublesome transition from child actress to teenager, becoming one of Hollywood's most prominent young actresses of the 1950s. Her most significant films included *The Blue Veil* (1951), *Just for You* (1952), *The Star* (1952)—co-starring the great Bette Davis—John Ford's western *The Searchers* (1956), and, above all, *Rebel Without a Cause* (1955), directed by Nicholas Ray and starring James Dean; the latter was particularly pivotal, as it marked the beginning of her career as a leading lady. For *Rebel Without a Cause*—despite being the female lead—she received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. In 1957, Natalie married actor Robert Wagner, with whom she co-starred in the film *All the Fine Young Cannibals* (1960). They divorced in 1963 but remarried in 1972; in the interim, she was married to Richard Gregson from 1969 to 1971. The 1960s got off to a strong start for Natalie's film career, as she starred in hits such as Elia Kazan's drama *Splendor in the Grass* (1961)—alongside a young Warren Beatty—and the musical *West Side Story* (1961), directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins. In the latter, she acted and danced but did not sing, as the voice heard in the film belongs to Marni Nixon. Natalie was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for *Splendor in the Grass*. Two years later, the California-born actress was once again a contender for the statuette—though ultimately unsuccessful—for the film *Love with the Proper Stranger* (1963). She died prematurely in 1981 after falling into the water at night from her yacht, *The Splendour* (named after the film that had established her as an actress, *Splendor in the Grass*). The vessel was anchored off Catalina Island, near Los Angeles; at the time, Natalie was finishing the film *Brainstorm* with Christopher Walken, a friend of the couple who was with them when the tragedy occurred. She was 43 years old. Her remains are interred at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, California. In 2011, the police reopened the case following the publication of a book by author Marti Rully, who claims that the actress's husband, Robert Wagner, was deeply involved in her death. In the book, the author presents testimony from Dennis Davern—captain of the yacht *The Splendour*—who stated that Wagner had played a role in the actress's death. In 2018, investigators reclassified her death as "suspicious."