Home> Facts and Trivia > Stars > Natalie Wood
Natalie Wood Facts
| Sign | Cancer |
| Born |
Jul 20, 1938 San Francisco, CA |
| Died |
Nov 29, 1981 Santa Catalina Island, CA |
| Age | Died at 43 |
| Total Facts | 68 |
"Eyes Like Natalie Wood" by Kathy Fleischmann, was written about her.
"Natalie's Song" by David Pack, was written about Natalie Wood.
Jane Fonda and Faye Dunaway turned down the role of Carol in Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969) before Natalie got the part. Natalie turned down Katharine Ross's role in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) so she could star in the film.
Don Henley wrote the song "Dirty Laundry" to express his outrage at the tabloid press for their treatment of her after her death.
According to a biographer, 43-year old Nicholas Ray wooed 16-year old Natalie by adorning a table with pink tablecloth and champagne, her preferred color and drink of choice.
An accident on a movie set (she fell into a river and almost drowned) when she was 9 years old left her with a permanently weakened left wrist and a slight bone protrusion, which, for the rest of her life, she hid with large bracelets. Regardless of the movie role, or anytime that she was out in public, she always wore a large bracelet on the left wrist.
Attended ballet classes as a child with Jill St. John and Stefanie Powers. All three women would go on to have long-term relationships with Robert Wagner. Natalie was married to Wagner at the time of her death and St. John is now married to him. Powers was his costar on the 1979-1984 television series "Hart to Hart.".
Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives." Volume One, 1981-1985, pages 889-890. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1998.
Both she and her sister Lana Wood have played the love interest of Richard Beymer in 2 separate films: she as Maria opposite Richard's Tony in West Side Story (1961), and Lana as Karen opposite Richard's Dean in Scream Free! (1969) (aka Free Grass).
Called "The Most Beautiful Teenager in the World" by Life magazine in 1956.
Campaigned for the roles that went to Mary Tyler Moore in Ordinary People (1980), Jessica Lange in Frances (1982) and Meryl Streep in Sophie's Choice (1982).
Columbia Pictures secured the film rights for the Henry De Vere Stacpoole novel, "The Blue Lagoon" in the mid-1950s, with Natalie in the role of Emmeline Lestrange. However, the project was shelved for many years and wasn't filmed until the late 1970s and the film The Blue Lagoon (1980), released in 1980, ultimately starred Brooke Shields.
Daughter: Courtney Wagner (b. 9 March 1974). Father is Robert Wagner.
Daughter: Natasha Gregson Wagner was born on Tuesday, September 29th, 1970. Natasha's father is Richard Gregson.
Entertainment Weekly placed her on the "100 greatest stars of all time" list, at #70.
Favorite actress was Vivien Leigh. Favorite singer was Bob Dylan.
Former stepmother of Katie Wagner.
Godmother of her daughter Natasha Gregson Wagner was Ruth Gordon, who played Natalie's mother in the film Inside Daisy Clover (1965).
Had planned to produce as well as star in I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (1977), but the leading role of Deborah went to Kathleen Quinlan by the time the film was made.
Has multiple connections with the James Bond franchise. Her sister, Lana Wood, was a Bond girl in Diamonds Are Forever (1971). Jill St. John, who was Natalie's childhood friend and is now married to her widower, Robert Wagner, also appeared as a Bond girl in the same film. Natalie co-starred in Meteor (1979) with Sean Connery, who played the James Bond character in seven films, and in Brainstorm (1983), she co-starred with Christopher Walken, who was a Bond villain in A View to a Kill (1985). Natalie also co-starred in "From Here to Eternity" (1979) with Kim Basinger, who was a Bond girl in Never Say Never Again (1983). Robert Wagner's character, "Number Two" in Austin Powers: International Man of Myst
Her and co-star Richard Beymer's singing voices were both dubbed in West Side Story (1961). The woman who dubbed Natalie, Marni Nixon, also dubbed Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady (1964) and Deborah Kerr in The King and I (1956).
Her best friends included actresses Stefanie Powers, Dyan Cannon and Carol Lynley. She was a childhood friend of her widower's current wife Jill St. John but they were not close as adults.
Her death was kismet, as she always cited a fear of water.
Her death was listed at number 24 on E! Televisions 101 Most Shocking Moments in Entertainment.
Her father, Nick Gurdin, died of a heart attack on Tuesday, November 18th, 1980 at age 66.
Her mother, Maria Gurdin, died of pneumonia on January 6, 1998 at age 85.
Her mother, Maria, claimed that the family was closely related to the Romanov dynasty.
Her sister is Lana Wood. Her half-sister is Olga Viriapaeff.
Her sole niece, Evan Taylor Maldanado, born on Sunday, August 11th, 1974.
If she lived, she would have two grand-nephews, Nicholas (born 1998) and Max (born 2003), and a grand-niece, Daphne (born 2000). Their mother is Evan Maldanado, who is the daughter of Natalie's sister Lana Wood.
In March 2010, her sister Lana Wood spoke out about her death, announcing that she wants the case re-opened.
Interred at Westwood Memorial Park, Los Angeles, California, USA, Section D, #60. On her grave, marked Natalie Wood Wagner: Beloved daughter, sister, wife, mother & friend "more than love".
Measurements: 32-20 1/2-32 (at age 18), 32B-22-33 (at age 24, "Parade" magazine December 1962), (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine).
Met Robert Redford at Van Nuys High School when she was a sophomore and he was a senior. Natalie was Redford's leading lady in his first starring role, in This Property Is Condemned (1966).
Mother of Natasha Gregson Wagner and Courtney Wagner.
Named after director Sam Wood.
Often played the love interest of a significantly older man (Frank Sinatra, Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Gene Kelly and Tony Curtis) or one that was several years older (James Garner, James Dean, Michael Caine, Tab Hunter and Steve McQueen). With the exception of Dean and McQueen, all of these actors ultimately outlived her.
On Suturday, April 23rd, 1966, she made Harvard history when she became the first performer voted the year's worst by the Harvard Lampoon to show up and accept her citation.
Once interviewed Arnold Schwarzenegger, before his career took off, for the magazine "Hollywood Reporter" in 1979 two years before her her death. The article was entitled "The Body meets the Face".
Pallbearers at her funeral were Rock Hudson, Frank Sinatra, Laurence Olivier, Elia Kazan, Gregory Peck, David Niven, and Fred Astaire.
People Magazine (USA) named her one of "The 25 most intriguing People of 1976" for the January 3 1977 issue.
Portrayed by Rebecca Budig in James Dean: Race with Destiny (1997) (TV), by Justine Waddell in The Mystery of Natalie Wood (2004) (TV) and by Abi Young in Elvis (1979/I) (TV).
Reportedly turned down Warren Beatty's offer to play opposite him in Bonnie and Clyde (1967) because she didn't want to be separated from her analyst while the film was on location in the Midwest.
She is the inspiration of High School Musical (2006) (TV) star, Vanessa Hudgens.
She starred in over 40 theatrical films between ages 4 and 27. She went into semi-retirement afterwards, only appearing in five movies between age 28 and her death at 43.
She suffered from a deep fear of drowning after having barely survived an accident when she was a little girl, during the filming of The Green Promise (1949). Her fear was so great that Elia Kazan had to lie - promising a double - and trick her into doing the scenes at the water reservoir in Splendor in the Grass (1961). She also had to do her own swimming scenes in "From Here to Eternity" (1979) despite her protests.
She was cast as Maggie in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1976) (TV) quite unexpectedly, without campaigning for the role. Wood explained that when Laurence Olivier would come to Hollywood, she would often be seated with him at the table at formal sit-down dinners. When Olivier decided to make a version of the Tennessee Williams play, he thought of casting Wood, his dinner companion, and her husband, Robert Wagner, in the husband-wife roles of Brick and Maggie. Naturally, they accepted.
Sister Lana Wood wrote the best-selling book about her titled "Natalie: a Memoir by Her Sister".
Splendour, the name of the yacht Wood was on the night she died, was named after her movie Splendor in the Grass (1961). She co-starred in the film with former love Warren Beatty.
Spoke Russian and English.