Natalie Wood (née Zacharenko; July 20, 1938 – November 29, 1981) was an American actress who began her career in film as a child and successfully transitioned to young adult roles.
Wood started acting at age four and was given a co-starring role at age eight in Miracle on 34th Street (1947).[2] As a teenager, she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Rebel Without a Cause (1955), followed by a role in John Ford's The Searchers (1956). Wood starred in the musical films West Side Story (1961) and Gypsy (1962) and received nominations for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performances in Splendor in the Grass (1961) and Love with the Proper Stranger (1963). Her career continued with films such as Sex and the Single Girl (1964), The Great Race (1965), Inside Daisy Clover (1965), and Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969).
During the 1970s, Wood began a hiatus from film and had two daughters: one with her second husband Richard Gregson, and one with Robert Wagner, her first husband whom she married again after divorcing Gregson. She acted in only two feature films throughout the decade, but she appeared slightly more often in television productions, including a remake of From Here to Eternity (1979) for which she won a Golden Globe Award. Wood's films represented a "coming of age" for her and for Hollywood films in general.[3] Critics have suggested that her cinematic career represents a portrait of modern American womanhood in transition, as she was one of the few to take both child roles and those of middle-aged characters.[4][5]
On November 29, 1981, at the age of 43, Wood drowned in the Pacific Ocean near Santa Catalina Island during a break from production of her would-be comeback film Brainstorm (1983). She was with her husband Wagner and Brainstorm co-star Christopher Walken. The events surrounding her death have been the subject of conflicting witness statements,[6] prompting the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, under the instruction of the coroner's office, to list her cause of death as "drowning and other undetermined factors" in 2012.[1] In 2018, Wagner was named as a person of interest in the ongoing investigation into her death.[7]
^ ab"Natalie Wood's death certificate changed to reflect new uncertainty". The Guardian. Associated Press. August 22, 2012. Archived from the original on August 3, 2019. Retrieved August 3, 2019.
^Wilkins, Barbara (December 13, 1976). "Second Time's the Charm – Marriage, Natalie Wood, Robert Wagner". People. 6 (24). Archived from the original on April 21, 2016. Retrieved May 1, 2023.
^Cite error: The named reference Tibbetts was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Lucia, Cynthia; Grundmann, Roy; Simon, Art, eds. (2015). 'Natalie Wood, Studio Stardom and Hollywood in Transition.' in American film history : selected readings. Chicester, West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons. pp. 423–447. ISBN 978-1118475133. OCLC 908086219.
^Sullivan, Rebecca (2016). Natalie Wood. London: British Film Institute. ISBN 978-1844576371. OCLC 933420525.
^Kashner, Sam. "Natalie Wood's Death, Still Shrouded in Mystery – and the Clues That Remain". Vanities. Archived from the original on July 16, 2017. Retrieved January 13, 2018.
^Salam, Maya (February 3, 2018). "New Doubts in Natalie Wood's Death: 'I Don't Think She Got in the Water by Herself'". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 13, 2020. Retrieved June 3, 2019.
NatalieWood (née Zacharenko; July 20, 1938 – November 29, 1981) was an American actress who began her career in film as a child and successfully transitioned...
in the James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever. Her older sister was NatalieWood. Wood was born Svetlana Lisa Gurdin to Russian immigrant parents, Maria...
NatalieWood (1938–1981) was an American actress who started her career as a child by appearing in films directed by Irving Pichel. Wood's first credited...
The Mystery of NatalieWood is a two-part 2004 made-for-TV biographical film directed by Peter Bogdanovich. Partly based on the biographies Natasha: the...
his then-wife NatalieWood (they married in 1957) in All the Fine Young Cannibals (1960), made for MGM. In January 1961, Wagner and Wood formed their own...
actress. She is the daughter of film producer Richard Gregson and actress NatalieWood. She has appeared in films including Lost Highway, Two Girls and a Guy...
and later moved to Venezuela. He was engaged to the Hollywood actress NatalieWood. Her father died when she was seven and she was raised by her mother...
depicting delinquents in urban slum environments. The film stars James Dean, NatalieWood, Sal Mineo, Jim Backus, Ann Doran, Corey Allen and William Hopper. Dennis...
directed by Elia Kazan, from a screenplay written by William Inge. It stars NatalieWood and Warren Beatty (in his film debut) as two high school sweethearts...
Organizations. In 1956, he received 62,000 valentines. Hunter, James Dean, and NatalieWood were the last actors to be placed under an exclusive studio contract...
Hackman and director John Schlesinger. He married the American actress NatalieWood on 30 May 1969. The couple filed for divorce on 4 August 1971, and the...
middle-aged Civil War veteran who spends years looking for his abducted niece (NatalieWood), accompanied by his adopted nephew (Jeffrey Hunter). It was shot in...
featured in American mini-series The Mystery of NatalieWood, playing the part of Jackie Estes, NatalieWood's best friend. That same year saw her play a part...
partnership with Endeavor, including Fatal Voyage: The Mysterious Death of NatalieWood and Epstein: Devil In The Darkness. By 2024, he had returned to Australia...
a Prism Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of NatalieWood in The Mystery of NatalieWood, a 2004 TV movie directed by Peter Bogdanovich. In 2006...
Alan J. Pakula from a screenplay by Arnold Schulman. The film stars NatalieWood, Steve McQueen, Edie Adams, Herschel Bernardi and Harvey Lembeck. The...
Jessica in Frank Herbert's Children of Dune (2003), NatalieWood's mother in The Mystery of NatalieWood (2004), Joan Collins in Dynasty: The Making of a...
1963 novel of the same name, directed by Robert Mulligan and starring NatalieWood. It follows a tomboy becoming a Hollywood actress and singer. In 1936...
in a number of American productions – such as television movies about NatalieWood and the making of Dynasty (where she played Catherine Oxenberg), and...
1983 film Brainstorm with her husband Christopher Walken and the late NatalieWood. The Walkens have been married since 1969 and reside in rural Connecticut...
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