Wood’s dark-haired beauty captivated audiences in such films as Tomorrow Is Forever and Miracle on 34th Street. She also starred in Rebel Without a Cause and West Side Story. She had a daughter with actor Robert Wagner and later married again. According to the yacht’s skipper, Dennis Davern, a manager at the mainland restaurant where they had dined was concerned that Wood might not make it back to their boat, Splendour.
Natalie Wood was born in San Francisco on July 20th, 1938 to first-generation Russian immigrants Maria Stepanovna and Nikolai Zakharenko. Her mother enrolled her in ballet classes when she was four, and Wood quickly gained fame as an adorable child star. She began appearing in films at age five and, as her career progressed, starred in more and more complex roles. In her later years, Wood gave exceptional performances on the screen, including in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and the miniseries From Here to Eternity.
At the time, California laws required that all child actors attend school three hours a day, so Wood received most of her education on film sets. She had a hard time adapting to the life of an actress, and her parents were often concerned about her isolation from other children. She was also a troubled teenager and her personal infatuations were frequently covered by the media.
After her second feature film, the 1946 drama Tomorrow Is Forever with Claudette Colbert and Orson Welles, Wood landed another major role in 1947, playing a little girl who doubted Santa Claus’ existence in Miracle on 34th Street. This film made her a household name and a popular Christmas icon.
Following her success, Wood’s career flourished, but she continued to have difficulty separating her personal life from her work. She was always a focus of tabloid headlines for her romantic infatuations and her rebellious nature. She dated actor Robert Wagner, eight years her senior, in the 1950s and her volatile relationship with him attracted extensive press coverage.
By the end of her career, Wood had appeared in more than 100 films. She was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance in Splendor in the Grass, and she won a Golden Globe and BAFTA Award for her role in the 1960 film West Side Story. She was also nominated for an Emmy for her work in the television series From Here to Eternity and for the miniseries The Cracker Factory.
She made her film debut at the age of five
After a few short films, Natalie Wood’s performance in the 1945 film Happy Land caught the eye of movie director Irving Pichel. He cast her in a number of family films, including the role of Fred MacMurray’s daughter in Father Was a Fullback and Dear Brat, Margaret Sullivan’s daughter in The Jackpot, James Stewart’s daughter in The Blue Veil, and Joan Blondell’s neglected daughter in The Star. Eventually, her success as a child actress led to a contract with 20th Century Fox.
Wood’s film career reached its peak when she appeared in the 1947 Christmas classic Miracle on 34th Street. This role made her a star and earned her significant media attention. After the film’s release, Macy’s invited her to appear in their Thanksgiving Day parade. The following year, she was nominated for an Academy Award as the best supporting actress. She also starred in several other well-known films, such as Rebel Without a Cause and The Searchers.
In addition to acting, Wood also sung in many of her films. Her most memorable singing roles include the 1962 musical Gypsy and the lead in the slapstick comedy The Great Race. She also acted in a number of television shows and miniseries. She gave outstanding performances in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and the television movie From Here to Eternity.
In her later years, Wood continued to act sporadically. However, her appearance in the 1969 film Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice, a sex comedy, revived her career. She starred with Elliott Gould and Dyan Cannon in the film. Her marriage to British actor Richard Gregson ended in divorce, and she later married Robert Wagner.
She starred in a number of films
After appearing in a number of films as a child actress, Natalie Wood gained acclaim for her performance as a precocious skeptic of Santa Claus in Miracle on 34th Street (1947). She continued to star in various movies through the 1950s. Throughout this time, she earned three Academy Award nominations and became the second youngest actress to receive such a nod, behind Teresa Wright. She also appeared in musical films such as Splendor in the Grass, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, and West Side Story.
By the time she was 16, Wood had become a leading lady and starred opposite James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause (1955). This film marked a turning point for her career. It allowed her to step away from child actress roles and focus on playing ingenues.
Wood was a natural in these kinds of roles, and she often received critical praise. However, she had a hard time with her personal life. She was married twice and divorced twice. She also struggled to balance her work with her family responsibilities. She had one daughter with actor Robert Wagner and another with producer Richard Gregson.
In her later years, Wood began to take on more mature roles. She appeared in the disaster film Meteor (1979) with Sean Connery, as well as the sex comedy The Last Married Couple in America (with George Segal). In this film, she broke ground for an actress with a clean, middle-class image, using the word “fuck” in a frank marital discussion with her husband.
In her final role, she starred in the science fiction drama Brainstorm. She was excellent in this role, and received a Golden Globe nomination for her performance.
She married an actor
Wood began her career as a child actress and gained fame as a teenager with her role in Rebel Without a Cause. She starred in several other films before receiving an Academy Award nomination for Splendor in the Grass. She then took a hiatus from acting and had a series of marriages. During this period, she appeared in television films and made a comeback with her performance in the miniseries film From Here to Eternity. She went on to make four more theatrical films before her death.
The young starlet fell in love with her co-star, the 26-year-old 20th Century Fox contract player Robert Wagner. Her mother opposed the marriage, but Wood was determined to live out the ‘fairy-tale romance’ she imagined at age 11 when she stuck a picture of Wagner above her bed. She and Wagner splashed out on a snow-white mansion in Beverly Hills and bought each other matching Jaguars to park outside.
Wagner was unhappy with his wife’s success and felt that she was neglecting her family. He became increasingly irritated with her and he slapped her once in front of their children, prompting her to smash a crystal glass and flee the house in her nightgown. Eventually, she went to her sister’s home to call for help.
In the years leading up to her death, Wood had been troubled by erratic behavior. She had been drinking heavily and was taking a painkiller that increased the effects of alcohol. In addition, she was suffering from psychological problems that had led her to seek treatment.
The Los Angeles coroner ruled her death an accident. Investigators found traces of alcohol in her system and also discovered that she had taken a motion-sickness pill and a painkiller that could have affected her balance. In addition, she had bruises on her body and arms that could have been caused by a fall.
She had a daughter
After her success in Rebel Without a Cause, Wood took a break from acting and married a producer named Richard Gregson. The pair had a daughter, Natasha, and Wood seemed to set her career aside to focus on motherhood. Natasha grew up to be an actress herself, and her credits include Two Girls and a Guy, Lost Highway, High Fidelity, and ER. She is also set to star in an upcoming HBO documentary about her mom.
Wood was a pioneer in the film industry for her efforts to gain more control over her projects and equal pay with male co-stars. She was one of the first female stars to demand some form of profit participation for her roles, and her success helped pave the way for other actresses to make similar demands.
Despite her success on the screen, Wood’s personal life suffered many twists and turns, including a drug overdose in 1966. In her later years, she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and experienced a number of health problems. Her volatile lifestyle often led to troubled relationships, and she had a total of five marriages.
After Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, Wood appeared in a few more movies but went into semi-retirement. She divorced Gregson and remarried Robert Wagner, with whom she had a daughter named Courtney. In the late 1970s, she returned to acting with a series of popular television shows and a role in the miniseries From Here to Eternity.
After her death in 1981, she was a beloved icon of American cinema. Despite the many mysteries surrounding her death, she is remembered as an incredibly talented and dedicated actress. During an interview with OK!, Gregson Wagner said that her mother’s fame hampered their ability to grieve in privacy following her death.