Historical Figures Codexery

Natalie Wood

From child star to acclaimed leading lady

Natalie Wood was an American actress born in San Francisco on July 20, 1938.[1][2] Wood drowned in the Pacific Ocean at Santa Catalina Island on November 29, 1981, at age 43.[3][4] At four years old, she started her acting career, and by eight, she had a co-starring role in the 1947 film Miracle on 34th Street.[1]

Quick Facts

Birth name
Natalie Zacharenko
Born
20 July 1938
Birthplace
San Francisco, California, U.S.
Died
29 November 1981
Place of death
Pacific Ocean near the Isthmus of Catalina Island
Cause of death
"Drowning and other undetermined factors"
Resting place
Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery
Other names
Natasha Gurdin

Facts from the source article.

Life and work

RKO executives changed her surname to "Wood" as a tribute to filmmaker Sam Wood.[5] Wood's first screen appearance came at age four in the March 1943 release of The Moon Is Down.[6] Wood practiced the Russian Orthodox faith and had Russian ancestry.[7] At age 16, she moved from child roles to playing a young adult, co-starring in the 1955 film Rebel Without a Cause.[8]

In the 1970s, Wood took a break from making movies and gave birth to two daughters.[9]

What the cited sources add

A 2001 biography by Suzanne Finstad reports that Wood was the second highest-paid actress in the world in 1962.[10] The same source states that Wood began a sexual relationship at age 16 with 43-year-old director Nicholas Ray.[10] Finstad's biography also reports that Wood was raped at 16 by an unnamed "powerful and famous actor-producer"[10] The Guardian reported in 2012 that Wood's death certificate was amended to list "drowning and other undetermined factors"[11]

The Los Angeles County sheriff's chief of detectives stated the decision to amend the certificate was made by the coroner's office.[11] A piece in Vanity Fair mentions that Wood's well-known terror of deep water was legendary.[4]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Natalie Wood" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Wilkins, "Second Time's the Charm – Marriage, Natalie Wood, Robert Wagner", People, December 13, 1976 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Natalie Wood" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Registry, CaliforniaBirthIndex.org. Accessed October 18, 2022. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Natalie Wood" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Kashner, "Natalie Wood's Death, Still Shrouded in Mystery – and the Clues That Remain", Vanities; "Natalie Wood's death certificate changed to reflect new uncertainty", The Guardian, August 22, 2012; Salam, "New Doubts in Natalie Wood's Death: 'I Don't Think She Got in the Water by Herself'", The New York Times, February 3, 2018 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Kashner, "Natalie Wood's Death, Still Shrouded in Mystery – and the Clues That Remain", Vanities. facts only, no text reused. vanityfair.com
  5. Wikipedia, "Natalie Wood" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Finstad 2001, p. 16; "South Bay history: Actress Natalie Wood's 1981 death near Catalina Island remains unsolved", Daily News, 2024-03-11; LEBARON, "Film that put Santa Rosa on the map", The Press Democrat, 2009-03-29; Finstad 2001, p. 16; Wood 1984, p. 8 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Natalie Wood" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Amelio, "Bibliographia Dystopia: Volume 1, John Steinbeck's The Moon Is Down", Primedia, 2020, p. 163 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Natalie Wood" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Acevedo-Muñoz 2019, p. 252; Finstad 2020; Finstad 2001, p. 16 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Natalie Wood" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Natalie Wood Hits Promo Trail: Natalie Wood Blume, Mary. Los Angeles Times (1923–1995); February 8, 1970: q10. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Natalie Wood" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "American Classic Screen Profiles", Scarecrow Press, 2010, p. 146–149; "'Natalie Wood, Studio Stardom and Hollywood in Transition.' in American film history : selected readings", John Wiley & Sons, 2015, p. 423–447; Sullivan, "Natalie Wood", British Film Institute, 2016 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  10. Moore, "Natalie Wood's life of beauty, agony", The Baltimore Sun, July 8, 2001. facts only, no text reused. baltimoresun.com
  11. "Natalie Wood's death certificate changed to reflect new uncertainty", The Guardian, August 22, 2012. facts only, no text reused. theguardian.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Natalie Wood (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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