Natalie Wood career started off slow, but she was soon a box office favorite. After a string of movies, she hit her stride in 1961’s West Side Story, portraying Maria, a restless young Puerto Rican girl torn between desire and social convention.
Elia Kazan cast her in the role because he saw “a true-blue quality with a wanton side that was held down by social pressures.” She would be nominated for an Academy Award.
Despite the fame and fortune she had garnered as one of the most popular movie stars of her time, Natalie Wood’s real-life life was filled with tragedy and turmoil. Among her many skeletons, perhaps the most disturbing was her fairy tale first marriage to Robert Wagner, a heartthrob of the day and her close friend and costar on several films, including West Side Story and Sex and the Single Girl.
But the stardom was not to last, and after four years, Wagner and Wood divorced. A slew of tabloid rumors about their troubled relationship—including a story that Wood had an affair with her West Side Story co-star Warren Beatty, which he vehemently denied—fueled the breakup.
The book also details the tumultuous life of Wood’s daughter, Natasha Gregson Wagner, who was born during the summer of her mother’s drowning. It chronicles how the actress’s aversion to water was rooted in a childhood incident that left her with a severe case of PTSD and a deep-seated fear of being harmed by water.
In addition to revealing the many false stories about her mother’s death, the book examines the role of LA County Sheriff Duane Rasure and his alleged directive to close the case in 1981. The author also exposes a manipulated official report, crime scene photos, and the initial statements of Wagner, Walken and Davern.
Moreover, the book examines new witness accounts of fresh bruises and scrapes on Natalie Wood’s body, which police never investigated. Combined with the book’s analysis of previously suppressed evidence, this new information points to the possibility that the star was murdered.
The authors also dissect the never-before-seen official probate file for Wagner’s estate, exposing how he and Hollywood “fixers” used the case to his financial advantage. They demonstrate how, based on known admissions, concrete facts and Wagner’s own words and actions, the actor was fully aware of the guilt he carried for his role in Natalie’s death. The authors conclude with a powerful argument that this knowledge is what ultimately drove him to murder the young actress.
Why Was She Drowning?
Actress Natalie Wood, who died in November 1981 on a boating trip near California’s Catalina Island, had been the silver screen symbol of a woman in transition. Few stars had made the leap from child-stardom to teenage, young adult and middle-aged roles so successfully. She was a beloved icon.
The daughter of Russian immigrant parents, Maria Gurdin (also known by multiple aliases including Mary and Musia) and Nicholas Tatuloff, Wood was born in San Francisco. Her family would soon move to Los Angeles in search of acting jobs for the talented girl. The young actress quickly became a star, appearing in a wide variety of films and television shows. Then, at the age of 16, she took on a role that was truly career-changing — she co-starred in Rebel Without a Cause with James Dean and Sal Mineo. Wood was so convincing as the troubled teenager that audiences adored her.
It was during the same period that Wood began dating a fellow actor, Christopher Walken. The pair had just finished working together on the sci-fi flick Brainstorm and hit it off. The two remained close friends even after their professional relationship ended.
But the relationship may have been the root of what eventually led to Wood’s death. In a 2009 book, former Record columnist Marti Rulli and her co-writer revealed that Wood’s husband at the time, Robert Wagner, had grown jealous of his wife’s relationship with Walken. They had fought on set and Wagner reportedly broke a bottle over the incident.
On the night of November 29, 1981, Wood was on a yacht with her husband and Brainstorm co-star, moored off California’s Catalina Island. She slipped overboard while attempting to re-tie the dinghy to her yacht, and her body was found the next morning.
Despite the fact that police initially classified her drowning as an accident, the investigation was reopened in 2011, 30 years after her death. New evidence, such as bruises and scrapes found on her body, was cited in the reopening of the case. The official cause of her death was changed from accidental drowning to undetermined factors.
What Happened to Her Body?
There were bruises on Wood’s body from an undetermined source. The bruising, along with her high alcohol levels and the fact that she was found floating a mile away from the Splendour and her small dinghy was beached nearby, led investigators to conclude that she drowned accidentally.
Her autopsy revealed that she had a blood alcohol level of 0.14 percent, more than three times the legal limit. Despite her high alcohol levels, she had not been visibly drunk at the time of her death.
During her brief acting career, Natalie Wood achieved acclaim for her roles in such films as Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. She was a favorite with many directors, including Irving Pichel and Stanley Kramer.
For decades, her death was considered a mystery. However, as recently as 2018, a new revelation has reopened the case. In an interview, former LAPD detective David Davern admitted that he had lied during the original investigation and that Wagner was responsible for her death.
Davern stated that he and Wagner had been having an argument before Wood left the yacht in her dinghy. He claimed that he saw her in the water but did not see her fall. The next morning, he reported that she had not returned to the yacht and called Harbor Patrol when she failed to return in about ten or fifteen minutes. Authorities found her body the following day floating a mile away from the Splendour with a small dinghy beached nearby.
In 2001, author Suzanne Finstad published her book, Natalie Wood: The Complete Biography. The book contains a theory that Wood was brutally assaulted by Kirk Douglas, a man she admired and looked up to. Finstad also claimed that a psychic had warned her about her impending death in dark water.
The book was updated in 2018 with new details that Finstad claims strengthen her theory. These include a new expert opinion on the cause and timing of unexplained bruising on Wood’s body; and a scratch on her throat that could have been caused by a fingernail or thumbnail.
Why Was Her Case Closed?
While Wood starred in a handful of films over the years, she also guest starred on television, working on shows like The Pride of the Family and The Pepsi-Cola Playhouse. Her most famous film role came in 1955, when she co-starred with James Dean in the groundbreaking depiction of teenage rebellion and angst in Rebel Without a Cause. Wood’s performance was so memorable that she received three Oscar nominations for her work.
In the early 1960s, she appeared in another movie that is considered to be one of her best—West Side Story. The 1961 film brought the actress critical and commercial success, with audiences and critics praising her portrayal of the restless Maria. It was followed in 1962 by Gypsy, in which she played burlesque performer and stripper Gypsy Rose Lee. Critics praised her sassy dialogue and deeper emotional range in this role.
Then in 1965, she starred as the title character in Tennessee Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, which brought her more acclaim and awards nominations. Wood took a break from acting for a few years after the release of the film, but returned with the 1969 comedy Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice. Her performance was well-received, and it marked the beginning of a more mature period for Wood.
Throughout the 1970s, she acted in several movies and TV series, including Pepper (1975), Switch (1978) and Hart to Hart (as Movie Star). She also worked on a few films that didn’t do as well at the box office, such as the 1979 disaster film Meteor and the 1980 sex comedy The Last Married Couple in America.
At the time of her death, Wood was a devoted wife to her second husband, actor Robert Wagner. The couple had a daughter, Natasha Gregson Wagner. She also had a son from her first marriage, Robert Jr.
In her spare time, Wood enjoyed fishing and diving. She was a member of the Women Divers’ Association and the American Cinema Hall of Fame. She had a love for music, too, and was an accomplished singer.