Natalie Wood - Biography

Last Editor: DinaMaus				Natalie Wood Biography -   Name : Natalie Wood Profession : Actress Birth Details : born Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko Birth name : Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko Height : 5' (1.52 m) Nickname : Natalia Natasha Personal quotes : "You get tough in this business, until you get big enough to hire people to get tough for you. Then you can sit back and be a lady." "I Salary : Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969) 10% of the net profits. Penelope (1966) $750,000 West Side Story (1961) $250,000 All the Fine Young Canni Spouse : Robert Wagner (16 July 1972 - 29 November 1981) (remarried) (her death); 1 child Richard Gregson (30 May 1969 - 1 August 1971) (divorced) 1 child Ro

Natalie Wood Trivia -

Sister of Lana Wood and Olga Wood. Mother of Natasha Gregson Wagner. Named after director Sam Wood. Favorite actress was Vivien Leigh. In the 1950s she was known as a "Hollywood Badgirl" along with Janet Leigh & Debbie Reynolds. Natalie was suffering from a deep fear of drowning after having barely survived an accident 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). Interred at Westwood Memorial Park, Los Angeles, California, USA, Section D, #60. Was commonly listed as 5' 3" wearing heels in movie magazines, though her actual height was 5' 0". On April 23, 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. 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. Splendour, the name of the yacht Wood was on the night she died, was named after her 1961 movie Splendor in the Grass (1961). She co-starred in the film with former love Warren Beatty. An accident on a movie set 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. The rubber dinghy 'Prince Valiant' she'd been trying to board after falling from husband Robert Wagner's yacht that fateful Thanksgiving weekend in 1981, was named after Wagner's 1954 movie, a film the actor considered among his worst 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. Director Sydney Pollack credits her with his big break. Attended ballet classes with two time husband Robert Wagner's third wife Jill St. John and Wagner's "Hart to Hart" (1979) co-star Stefanie Powers. Pallbearers at her funeral were Rock Hudson, Frank Sinatra, Laurence Olivier, Elia Kazan, Gregory Peck, David Niven, and Fred Astaire. By the early 1960s, Natalie Wood was considered one of Hollywood's most valuable and wanted actresses. However, her career lost steam and never recovered from the box office failure of the highly-touted Inside Daisy Clover (1965) despite the fact that film critics had blamed the production's failure on a poor script that included stilted dialog written for Wood's character by screenwriter Gavin Lambert. Daughter with Robert Wagner: Courtney Brooke (b. 9 March 1974). Daughter with Richard Gregson: Natasha (b. 29 September 1970). Her death was kismet, as she always cited a fear of water Natalie dated Elvis Presley in the 1950s, Elvis wanted to marry her, but Elvis's mother did not like Natalie. Natalie 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). The daughter of a Russian architect and a French ballerina could do a proper plié before she could barely walk. Her mother, Maria, claimed that the family was closely related to the Romanov dynasty. Spoke Russian and English Though some people cite her mother as being French, her mother was Russian. The source of this misconception comes from the studio that Natalie worked at when she was young - people noticed her mother's accent and when asked if she was French, Maria replied: "Oh yes", a white lie that would contribute to this confusion. Younger sister Lana Wood made a ABC TV special on Natalie's life, The Mystery of Natalie Wood (2004) (TV). Wore dress size 5. Measurements: 32-20 1/2-32 (at age 18), 32B-22-33 ("Parade" magazine December 1962), (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine) Portrayed by Rebecca Budig in _James Dean: Race with Destiny (1997)_ , by Justine Waddell in The Mystery of Natalie Wood (2004) (TV) and by Abi Young in Elvis (1979/I) (TV) Turned down the role of Judith Anderson in "The Devil's Disciple" (1959) because she didn't want to work with Kirk Douglas for "personal" reasons. Turned down the films "Bonnie and Clyde" (1967), "Barefoot in the Park" (1967) and "Goodbye Columbus" (1969).

Natalie Wood Detailed Biography -

Born: July 20, 1938 San Francisco, California, USA Died: November 29, 1981 Catalina Island, California, USA Occupation: Actress Annual salary: Net worth: Spouse: Robert Wagner Website: Natalie Wood (born Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko) (July 20, 1938 – November 29, 1981), was an American film actress. She was born in San Francisco, California to Russian Orthodox immigrants, Nikolai and Maria Zakharenko. Her parents changed their surname to the less cumbersome Gurdin, and by the age of 4 she was billed as Natasha Gurdin. As a child actor, her mother tightly managed and controlled the young girl's career and personal life from her start in films at the age of five. She starred in multiple films as a child including Miracle on 34th Street in 1947. Her father is described by Wood biographers as a passive alcoholic who went along with his wife's demands. Natalie Wood and James Dean in a screenshot from Rebel Without a Cause. At the age of 16 Natalie celebrated her release from child-star status by winning the role of Judy in Nicholas Ray's Rebel Without a Cause, co-starring James Dean, Sal Mineo, and Dennis Hopper. She was one of the relative few who made a successful transition to adult stardom. By the time she was 28, she was already a three-time Oscar nominee, with nominations for Rebel Without a Cause, Splendor in the Grass and Love With the Proper Stranger. Another of her widely noted films was the Leonard Bernstein musical West Side Story, in which she played Maria. Wood was initially signed to do her own singing but in the end she was dubbed by professional singer Marni Nixon, which is said to have disappointed her. Nonetheless she enjoyed worldwide celebrity, comparable to that of Elizabeth Taylor. As a restless on-screen companion of James Dean and an off-screen date of Elvis Presley, she was much admired and envied by the young girls of the day. Wood's two marriages to actor Robert Wagner were publicized and stormy, but they were reconciled at the time of her death. In 1981, at the age of forty-three, Wood drowned while their yacht The Splendor was anchored at Catalina Island. An investigation by Los Angeles coroner Thomas Noguchi resulted in an official verdict of accidental drowning, although speculation about the circumstances continued. Wood was on board the yacht 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 pilot of the Splendor said they heard nothing. Noguchi 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. At the time of her death Wood was filming Brainstorm and preparing to make her stage debut in a Los Angeles production of Anastasia, opposite Dame Wendy Hiller. She is buried in Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery. She was survived by her husband Robert Wagner and daughters Katie Wagner (from Wagner's previous marriage to Marion Marshall), Natasha Gregson Wagner (from her marriage to Richard Gregson), and Courtney Wagner, as well as her sister Lana Wood, and her mother.