Classic Taint: Natalie Wood

By: Sweepea Natasha Nikolaevna Gurdin was born in July 20, 1938 in San Francisco, California. Natalie got her first role at the age of 4 in a movie called Happy Land ). She continued playing the roles of young girls until the age of 17, where she landed the lead female role in the legendary film Rebel Without a Cause. For this role she was nominated for her first Academy Award, showing Hollywood and the world that she had grown up into a beautiful and very talented young woman. Natalie dated many big names in the entertainment business: James Dean, Elvis, Raymond Burr and Dennis Hopper. However, on December 28th, 1957 Natalie married the love of her life Robert Wagner. They divorced in 1962, later to remarry. In the 1960s Natalie's career boomed and she was nominated for two more Academy Awards (Splendor in the Grass in 1961 and Love With The Proper Stranger in 1963. In 1969 Natalie married producer Richard Gregson and had a daughter, but she divorced Gregson after finding out he was having an affair. Robert Wagner and Natalie reconnected and married in 1972. Natalie had a deep fear of drowning ever since she barely survived being drowned during the filming of The Green Promise as a child. She said in interviews that she loved to be around water, just not in the water. It's ironic that what she feared the most would be the cause of her death. In November 29, 1981 Wood was on board their yacht Splendor with Wagner and actor Christopher Walken. There were reports Wagner and Walken had a loud argument and Wood apparently tried to either leave the yacht or to secure a dinghy that was banging against the hull when she accidentally slipped and fell overboard. A woman on shore said she heard cries for help from the water that night, along with voices replying, "We're coming!" Wagner, Walken, and the captain of the Splendor said they heard nothing. Although her death is still ruled today as an accidental drowning, there is much speculation as to what happened that night. Police later revealed that Wood was legally intoxicated when she died and there were marks and bruises on her body, which could have been received as a result of her fall. She was only 43.