Natalie Wood was a talented actress who shot to stardom in 1947’s Miracle on 34th Street. She went on to make a number of movies, including West Side Story.
Born Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko, she was later given the name Gurdin and then Natalie Wood. She acted in many films before her death in 1981 at the age of 43.
Natalie Wood was a beautiful and accomplished actress who made a smooth transition from child star to leading lady. She was also a woman with a volatile personal life. Her first marriage to Robert Wagner ended in divorce, and she went on to date many men, including Warren Beatty, Arthur Loew Jr, and Ladislav Blatnik. She eventually married British talent agent Richard Gregson and had a daughter with him. Her second marriage to Wagner lasted until her death in 1981.
Wood made her acting debut in 1943 when she was five years old. Her scene was only 15 seconds long, but her performance caught the attention of director Irving Pichel, who kept in contact with her family and helped her get a role in the film Tomorrow Is Forever. Wood starred in several films that followed, but her biggest triumph came when she portrayed Susan Walker in the 1947 Christmas classic Miracle on 34th Street. This movie brought her wide recognition and a large following of fans.
In 1961, she appeared in the Oscar-winning film West Side Story as Maria. Her performance was well-received, and she was nominated for an Academy Award. During this period of success, Wood suffered from mental health problems and sought therapy. She was able to overcome these problems, and her acting career continued until 1966.
After her retirement from acting, Wood focused on her personal life and became a mother. She was also interested in painting, and she had a home in Los Angeles where she exhibited her work. She was also a supporter of the arts, and she gave generously to numerous causes.
The book Natasha: The Biography of Natalie Wood is a comprehensive look at the life of the actress. It is written by Suzanne Finstad, who has done extensive research on her subject. She interviewed many people who knew Wood and has included information from her private diary. It is a must-read for anyone who is interested in the life of this legendary actor. Finstad also covers some of the controversy surrounding Wood’s death.
She is a Filmmaker
Natalie Wood was a rare commodity in the fading factories of Hollywood at the end of the nineteen-fifties: an adorable, precocious child actress who outgrew her baby teeth and exhibited a poise and vulnerability onscreen that made her a top contender for adult roles. She was not just pretty; her eyes registered intelligence and sincerity, qualities that would carry over into her later work as an adult.
Her first big role, as the little girl who tugs at Santa Claus’ beard in Miracle on 34th Street (1947), earned her a long-term contract with 20th Century Fox. She soon scored other big-screen hits in westerns and romances, as well as more serious dramas, and her ability to shift from juvenile to mature actress was evident in her breakthrough performance in the juvenile delinquent thriller Rebel Without a Cause (1955). She continued her success with Splendor in the Grass and West Side Story, and her performances earned her three Academy Award nominations.
In her later career, Wood delved into more experimental projects that took advantage of the loosening of the Production Code, including the controversial film Cry (1965) with the great Raymond Burr and a script penned by the director. She also starred in a few comedies such as Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969), which treated adult sexual ennui and experimentation on the kind of terms that wouldn’t be heard until the era of Miley Cyrus and Hilary Duff.
The documentary includes interviews with co-stars and friends who attest to Wood’s fortitude and heart, and it is capped by a final look at her last film, the eerie science-fiction flick Brainstorm (1981), which was shot shortly before she died on a foggy November weekend in 1981 aboard her husband Robert Wagner’s yacht Splendour off California’s Catalina Island. Her body was found a day after she vanished in the water, sparking decades of speculation about what happened and why.
Manoah Bowman’s documentary, which benefits from extensive access to family and business associates as well as archived industry and personal photographs (including many never-before-published images), is a worthy addition to the filmography on Wood. It sheds significant light on the transitional place she occupied in her art as a product of the old studio system who, like James Dean and Marlon Brando, injected movies with an explosive kind of neurosis.
She is a Singer
Natalie Wood is best known for her work in acting and film, but she was also a talented singer. She sang in several films and performed at the prestigious Carnegie Hall. Her vocal range was impressive, and she often portrayed complex characters. She starred in many hit films, including Splendor in the Grass and West Side Story.
Despite her tumultuous childhood and a mother obsessed with acting, Wood managed to build a successful career for herself. In her later years, she became a bridge between Old Hollywood and New Hollywood. She starred in such films as Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice and the miniseries From Here to Eternity. In addition, she had a number of successful television appearances.
Wood began her career as a child actor in 1943, and soon she was appearing in more than 20 films. Her breakthrough role was as Susan Walker in the 1947 Christmas movie Miracle on 34th Street, which made her a star. After the success of this film, she received numerous offers for more roles.
While she was a talented actress, Wood struggled with addictions to alcohol and drugs. She attempted suicide in 1966, but survived the attempt. She was able to overcome her personal and professional problems and went on to become one of the most popular stars of her time.
In 1961, she starred in the film Splendor in the Grass, which earned her critical and commercial acclaim. In the film, she portrayed a young woman who is torn between desire and social conventions. She won a Golden Globe Award for her performance. In the same year, she starred in West Side Story, an urban retelling of Romeo and Juliet that proved to be a huge box office success.
Despite her success in these films, Wood was unhappy with the way she was being treated by directors and producers. According to her biographer Suzanne Finstad, she was upset that the producers dubbed her voice in West Side Story. She felt that her singing was better suited to the character of Maria than Marni Nixon’s.
She is a Model
Natalie Wood is an American actress, model and singer who rose to fame as a child star. She starred in a number of films, including Miracle on 34th Street and The Searchers. Her role in the latter film won her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She continued to perform throughout her teenage years, earning acclaim for her roles in films such as Splendor in the Grass and Gypsy. She also received three Academy Award nominations, making her one of the few actors to receive such a number by age 25.
After making a brief comeback in the television show The Pride of the Family, Wood became an ingenue and had a larger role in Rebel Without a Cause (1955), director Nicholas Ray’s film about teenage rebellion. It was a huge hit and marked her transition from child actor to ingenue. She had a small but crucial role in John Ford’s The Searchers (1956).
In 1961, she starred in the musical West Side Story with Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise. The film was a box office and critical success, and critic Richard Tibbetts writes that it “echoed the modern allegory of Romeo and Juliet, with youth gangs and juvenile delinquency taking on the form of a love story.”
Later in her career, Wood starred as burlesque entertainer Gypsy Rose Lee in 1962’s blockbuster Gypsy. Although she did not sing in this film, historians praise her performance as a broader and more mature one than Maria in West Side Story, with witty dialogue and a greater emotional range.
Wood also starred in the slapstick comedy The Great Race (1965), with Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis and Peter Falk. Her ability to speak Russian served her well in this film, as it made the character of a reporter more convincing.
In 1969, she appeared in the social comedy Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, which had themes of marriage swapping. Despite a few career stalls, Wood was able to revitalize her status in the mid-1970s with roles such as that of a housewife in the 1970 comedy Love with a Proper Stranger. During this time, she married actor and producer Robert Wagner twice. The second marriage ended in 1972, but they reunited a year later and welcomed a daughter named Courtney.