Nov. 30, 1981— After a frantic search, the
body of actress Natalie Wood was
found early in the morning, near Catalina Island off the coast of Southern
California, hours after a night of drinking and quarreling with husband Robert Wagner aboard his yacht.
That much is known and admitted, not only by Wagner
but by the subject of his quarrel with his wife, Christopher Walken, her co-star in Brainstorm. A subsequent investigation determined that, after the fight, she had attempted to board the boat’s dinghy.
What has become a bone
of contention in the years since is how and why Wood came to be there when she had a
lifelong fear of deep water.
Coroner Thomas Noguchi issued a report labeling
Wood’s death an accident, with Wagner not held responsible. Three years ago,
however, after recent news reports raised questions about how much the couple
had fought and the nature of Wood’s injuries, the cause of death was changed to
“drowning and other undetermined factors,” citing bruises that occurred before Wood entered the water.
Why has this tragedy continued to resonate over the
years? It’s not just the elements of scandal—the rumored infidelity and
murder—that cling to the event. Nor is it because of a promising career gone
before it had barely begun, as with James Dean, River Phoenix and Heath Ledger.
I think Wood continues to fascinate people because
she represented touchstones for people’s lives. Millions had watched her as a
little girl in Miracle on 34th
Street. They had seen her as a teen in Rebel
Without a Cause and Splendor in the
Grass, sharing the struggles of adolescence with the boy she loved. They
had witnessed her negotiate the terms of lifelong commitment to another human
being in Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice.
In short, they had watched her grow up, passing through the stages of life as
they had done.
What they didn’t realize was that, like many of
them, she was passing through another stage of life as well: being regarded as
obsolescent—old—by the industry for which she worked.
From all appearances,
Wood remained as vibrant and glamorous as ever, as attested to by the photo accompanying this post, a still from Brainstorm. But Hollywood, even more back
then than now, was cruel to aging actresses.
The last significant role Wood had played—adulterous
soldier’s wife Karen Holmes in From Here
to Eternity—had been two years before. As Nancy Collins noted in a Newsweek article five years ago, Wood had turned 43 in the same month that she
had lost a role she desperately desired: the lead in Sophie’s Choice. It could not have escaped her notice that the
actress who won the coveted (and ultimately Oscar-winning) part, Meryl Streep, was a full decade younger.
Wood, then, was at her most vulnerable when she
began to act with Walken, caught up in the excitement of interacting
with a Method-trained actor.
Wagner admitted in his memoir Pieces of My Heart to suspicions that his wife might be carrying on
“an emotional affair.” He was hardly delighted, then, when Wood invited the
younger Walken aboard their boat.
While Walken prudently walked away to avoid becoming caught up in the couple's fight, Wood and Wagner continued to argue until just before midnight, when she was reported to have gone up to the captain's cabin to sleep. Wagner reported her missing about an hour and a half later.
Last weekend, I saw Wagner appear on TCM with stepdaughter
Natasha in a daylong tribute to Wood. He talked easily and happily about his wife's
pride in making Inside Daisy Clover and
Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice. Then
he mentioned the film that would conclude the tribute: Brainstorm.
With Brainstorm
on well after midnight, I wasn’t able to see how Wagner dealt with this awkward topic.
Beyond mentioning that it was her
last film, how could he have freely discussed why she had died during filming?
How could he say that her death caused such a mess, involving the studio and the insurance company, that it would be two years
before it was released?
How could he tell viewers that the fight that occurred
during filming had left young Natasha without her mother?
The name of the couple's luxury yacht, Splendour, referred, of course, to one of Wood's signature roles. But given the circumstances surrounding her death and how much it has haunted those who knew her, it might more aptly have been called the Misery.
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