Turner Classic Movies isn't the only one showcasing Natalie Wood's name these days. As the 30th anniversary of the actress' untimely death is fast approaching, renewed interest in her mysterious drowning continues to mount. On November 29, 1981, Natalie was boating with husband Robert Wagner and Brainstorm co-star Christopher Walken when she disappeared from her yacht, The Splendour. She was found dead hours later.
But Hollywood has never stopped talking about Natalie. Throughout the years, in interviews and in memoirs, co-stars have shared their impressions of the tragic star. These are but a glimpse of their memories.
Orson Welles
By 1946, Hollywood was prepping Natalie Wood to become their newest little star, casting her alongside veterans Orson Welles and Claudette Colbert in Tomorrow is Forever. A bleached and braided Natalie affected a German accent to play the orphaned Margaret Ludwig in a performance Orson Welles called "almost terrifyingly professional" (Lambert 35).
As he watched her in between filming, he couldn't help but sense something amiss with the little girl.
"[There was] something very sad and lonely about this compelling child," he remembered. He sat Natalie atop his knee to try and comfort her. When he encountered Natalie's domineering mother, who was determined to force her child to become a star at any cost, Orson suddenly understood the sadness. (Lambert 35)
Years later, at a 1975 AFI tribute to Orson Welles, Natalie referenced a similar scene that actually played out in the film.
"That was a scene with me on Orson's lap. Of course, I'm a little bigger now and so is Orson's lap," she told the audience.
Then, to Orson: "It was as delightful to sit on your lap then as it's been to sit at your feet now. I'd like to thank you from both angles," she said (Lambert 268).
Maureen O'Hara
"The day she died, I cried shamelessly. It was such a horrible way to go for such a lovely, lovely girl," Maureen remembered in her autobiography 'Tis Herself.
To her, Natalie had always been the little girl who played her skeptical daughter with such ease and charm in the classic Miracle on 34th Street (1947). The two became fast friends and, in between the late-night filming sessions in Macy's department store, they would walk together and admire the toys and clothes. For years, Maureen even cherished keepsakes from her little co-star.
"She loved making little ceramics on the weekends and used to bring me gifts of lovely painted animals and people. Unfortunately, Hurricane Hugo in St. Croix stole them all and I can't find even one," she said (O'Hara 117).
Bette Davis
By 1952, fourteen year-old Natalie was used to always playing someone's daughter, but when that someone turned out to be Bette Davis, she rightly predicted The Star would be a memorable experience. Her first interaction with the legendary actress was fraught with Bette's infamous, volatile temper. Lucky for Natalie, that temper flared in her own defense. She remembered the incident years later while presenting at the 1977 AFI Lifetime Achievement celebration in honor of Bette:
So, the first day we were filming on Sterling Hayden's sailboat, and all of the sudden it turned out that I had to jump off the boat and swim to a faraway raft. So, there I was, faced with the threat of being flung into the ocean or losing the part, and I went into hysterics. It must have been heard all the way to Catalina. In any case, Miss Davis certainly heard them.
She came out of her dressing room to find out what all the commotion was. This was the only time I saw the famous Bette Davis temperament, and it was not on her own behalf. But she did tell the director that she wouldn't stand around while he threw some terrified kid into the ocean, and if he'd wanted a swimmer, he should have gotten Johnny Weissmuller (Chandler 211).
Natalie was sure Bette would forget about that "terrified kid" who once played her daughter, but Bette always remembered her fondly.
"I loved having Natalie Wood as my daughter in the film. What a wonderful girl! And she was already a fine actress, very professional, talented, a special person. She was a lovely, lovely child. How I would love to have had her really as my daughter," Bette said (Chandler 211).
Karl Malden
Karl Malden and Natalie Wood both began their Hollywood careers at nearly the same time in the early '40s, but didn't cross paths professionally until 1957 with Bombers B-52.
"The character everyone noticed was the girl. She was Natalie Wood, nineteen years old, full of life, and as beautiful as a girl could be," Karl remembered in his memoir When Do I Start?. They would work together two more times in Gypsy (1962) and in Meteor (1979).
Despite frustrations with director Mervyn LeRoy, he remembers Gypsy in particular as being "a joy from start to finish," and gives credit to Natalie and co-star Rosalind Russell, "two wonderful women." (Malden 290)
Robert Redford
"I knew Natalie Wood long before she knew me," Robert Redford recalled.
Although he and Natalie would go on to star together in Inside Daisy Clover (1965) and This Property is Condemned (1966), the two met like any ordinary boy and girl - in high school. Natalie, always the latecomer, was rushing through the halls of Van Nuys High School to make it to an assembly on time when Robert refused to let her through the doors of the gymnasium. She was furious.
Not yet an actor himself, and admittedly unimpressed with celebrities, he had no idea he'd just turned away a movie star.
As they became friends (he even served as a best man in Natalie's 1969 wedding to Richard Gregson), Robert never lost his love of teasing Natalie. He tells Turner Classic Movies:
"Natalie had this mannerism when she acted where she would swish her head to one side and give a puzzled look...so I would do it back to her, exaggerated, and there we would be, two cocked heads looking at each other."
Natalie loved to laugh and took the joking in stride, which only added to the actors' on-screen chemistry.
"I think it's wonderful when actors working together can find areas of connection, when they can touch the soul of that other person, and I think that happened for Natalie and me," he said.
Sources:
Chandler, Charlotte. The Girl Who Walked Home Alone: Bette Davis, A Personal Biography. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 2007. Print.
Lambert, Gavin. Natalie Wood. London, England: Faber and Faber Limited, 2004. Print.
Malden, Karl. When Do I Start? New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 1997. Print.
O'Hara, Maureen. 'Tis Herself: An Autobiography. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 2004. Print.
"TCM Presents: Natalie Wood." Nar. Robert Redford. Turner Classic Movies. June 2010. Television.
Amanda Flinner - Amanda is a freelance writer who earned her Bachelor's degree in Writing from Geneva College in 2006. Although a variety of interests ...
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