Natalie Wood: The Complete Biography

Film director Elia Kazan said about Natalie Wood that “her eyes lingered on whoever she was speaking to, clinging to them with her eyes.” Kazan knew that there was something magical about Natalie Wood and it translated onto the screen in film. Her most famous movie roles continue to inspire new generations of fans.“Natalie Wood: The Complete Biography” by Suzanne Finstad was fascinating to read and was informative. I would also say it contained many repetitive observations that were told and re-told so many times it became annoying. Over a period of four years Finstad interviewed a massive number of people and traveled everywhere Natalie Wood went during her life to write this highly detailed biography. If you are looking for a biography of Natalie Wood that details her private life from birth to her untimely death, this is a good one. If you’re looking for discussion of her best and worst film and TV appearances, then you should seek out maybe Ebert or Maltin, etc.Beyond the repetitive nature of the work, Finstad made countless assumptions concerning Natalie’s state of mind, inner turmoil, and mental health. On numerous occasions the same exact phrases and statements concerning Natalie’s psychological turmoil was repeated despite if Natalie was eight years old or thirty-something.The final third of the book is all about Natalie’s death and Finstad inserts herself into the narrative, at times seeming like an amateur Nancy Drew or fanzine journalist trying desperately to prove her beloved Natalie was murdered by Robert Wagner (by the way … maybe he did do it!) These factors alone gave the book a rough, amateurish style more suited to a weekly tabloid than a polished, professional biography.Otherwise, it contains enough material to keep you following the narrative if you have patience and perhaps skim read numerous redundant passages.Natalie was the product of abuse, neglect, and immense pressure to succeed as a child actor. Her mother was a compulsive liar and a quite a character. Her father was an alcoholic who would fly into alcohol-driven rages. Finstad constantly draws direct lines and makes connections between her parent’s behavior as the cause for Natalie’s various phobias, anxieties, fears, neurosis, and other issues. True, Natalie openly discussed many of these things with family and friends. Often a person is convinced they have a problem when it may be something else entirely. Finstad, of course, was not Natalie Wood’s psychiatrist, and had no access to any private documents of that nature.For example, Natalie Wood called her public persona “The Badge” and made a distinction between this and her private self. As a celebrity and public figure, she was acutely aware that she wanted to project a smiling, agreeable, professional image on set and out in public despite her inner turmoil, whatever that may have been at any given moment. This doesn’t mean that Natalie Wood had a split personality or other psychological condition. This was her practiced, measured behavior when out in public to be successful and project an image of a screen star.I won’t rehash the salacious parts of the book which discusses the ‘greatest hits’ of Natalie Wood’s Hollywood scandals since the 1950’s.Seemingly everyone has an opinion concerning Natalie’s death, yet despite Finstad’s book examining so many desperate scraps of details there remains a mystery concerning a missing hour and a half to two hours after she entered the water.Why did it take Robert Wagner (Natalie’s husband) over two hours to call the Coast Guard to search for her or rescue her? How and why did she get in the water? Why was the dinghy untied from the boat? Although Christopher Walken and the yacht captain, Dennis Davern, were both onboard that night there remains a question about what they knew and had seen and if either of them is complicit in anything that may have contributed to Natalie’s death. Many questions remain. In fact, the ME of Los Angeles changed the cause of death to mysterious circumstances and the case was reopened in 2011 making Robert Wagner a ‘person of interest.’ Christopher Walken has been deposed since and has been cooperative.Davern has been a frustrating and opportunistic individual giving vague and partial information over the years in bits and drabs to various magazines for cash. There were people on a nearby boat who heard Natalie’s screams for over 20 minutes and since her death suddenly they never spoke another word on the matter.I often think of Christopher Walken as a guy simply who was out on a boat drunk with three other drunk people and he was stuck in a bad situation. This may be true. It also might be true that his behavior, knowingly or unknowingly, fueled a violent drunken rage in Robert Wagner.A man when drunk and in a rage, can unleash jealous, violent, or abusive behavior he would never even consider when sober.I’ve always tried to reserve judgement about Robert Wagner. He is detailed in this book as bisexual and guilty of second-degree murder or manslaughter. Both things he fervently denies in the few instances he has spoken to the police or to the press on this matter; however, bisexuality is nothing to be ashamed of these days.Has Robert Wagner been carrying a terrible, awful guilt-ridden private memory of that night? Or is he simply a loving husband who had a famous wife who accidently drowned after falling off his boat?Based on what I’ve read, so far, I think Robert Wagner pushed Natalie Wood off the boat in a violent drunken, jealous rage. It is also possible that he saw her floating in the water nearby the boat and assumed she was safe since she was floating seemingly out of danger or clinging to the dinghy. I will end my own speculation there, but I could add many more detailed ideas that are possible or plausible.Lana Wood, Natalie’s sister, will publish a new memoir “Little Sister: My Investigation into the Mysterious Death of Natalie Wood (due out November 9, 2021). Apparently, the yacht captain Davern revealed everything he knew and had seen on that fateful night only to Lana.Natalie Wood was an actress at a pivotal moment in film history when a whole new generation of filmmakers, actors and technicians began making highly personalized films and forged radically different styles of expression. In many ways, Natalie was able to bridge this gap in her own career from an older generation because she started out so young and with each film role, she gave voice to a new character based on the screenplay and the creative team involved. Several of Natalie Wood’s made for TV movies are yet to be discovered by fans along with some of her lesser-known films she made in the 1960s such as “This Property Is Condemned,” and “Sex and the Single Girl,” and “Love with the Proper Stranger.” I haven’t seen “Inside Daisy Clover,” but I read that although overlooked in theatrical release it has grown in popularity.I think it’s great to have an added depth of understanding to Natalie’s real life and the way she struggled to find happiness, love, and family. However, I wonder if some of the negative aspects of Finstad’s book would be unforgivable to the average reader.

If you’re a fan of Natalie Wood from Miracle on 34th Street, Rebel Without a Cause, and West Side Story, this book is a must read! It’s a little long and wordy and repetitive at times, especially in the middle, but it’s definately worth the effort. It’s extremely well researched and probably the most truthful account of all of the biographies out there. It tells the story, from beginning to end, of a tender child star named Natasha who transitioned into one of the last great studio stars of her time. Her story is a tragedy, a mystery, a sad song of a bright light that became a star. The questions remain: How did Natalie, who was deathly afraid of dark water and afraid to be alone at night, end up in the water?What role did her husband Robert Wagner play in her death? Did he do it, or not? Why did he wait two hours to report she was missing? Why didn’t he immediately contact the coast guard? A nearby boat reported having heard screams of someone drowning for twenty minutes and men’s voices mocking her. Was Natalie Wood’s death a tragic accident, a Hollywood celebrity cover-up, a botched investigation by a star struck police force, or a jealous murderous rage of a husband with secrets of his own? Did the supposed love of her life end her life in a fit of alcohol anger, or was everyone on board that night just too whacked out on drugs and alcohol to respond to the situation? The final 36 hours of Natalie’s life has remained a mystery, a chain of alcoholic circumstances, strange behaviors, and contradictory explanations of murky details like the dark waters Natalie had always feared would take her life. A mystery … until now.Aa a child actress, Natalie was known as One-Take Natalie, the wonder child, who made the difficult transition into a teenage and adult actress. Her story is also a story about three sisters and the dysfunctional family they lived in—an alcoholic abusive father and an ambitious Hollywood obsessed mother. Olga, the oldest, was the lucky one who chose to marry and have children, opting for a normal life, leaving her manipulative mother behind. Natalie was the world famous beauty, foretold by a gypsy to her superstitious mother before she was born, who captured all her mother’s attention; the good daughter, the obedient one, who did what she was told, absorbing all her mother’s fears and phobias. The youngest of the three sisters, Lana Wood, was the survivor, the smart one who achieved academically in an environment that only appeared to value stardom. Overlooked and neglected, feeling invisible in the ‘house of horrors’ she grew up in, she both worshipped and envied her older star sister.Regardless of which author told her story best amidst the secrets, mysteries, lies, money and fame, it is obvious that Natalie Wood, the brightest of stars who was trained by her mother to stay silent and not ‘rock the boat,’ had no one to protect her in life or in death. Her life became a Shakespearean tragedy as she struggled alone in the dark sea, living out the fear of the reoccurring dream she’d been plagued with her entire life, with supposedly no witnesses and no one responding to her calls for help. She died as ‘Natasha,’ the little Russian girl with the daunting, expressive eyes, alone and afraid in her pajamas and quilted red parka, not as Natalie Wood the Star, the persona—‘the badge’—her mother and the studios created that would never have left the boat without being decked out in full Hollywood attire. What is now known, is that there was a heated, violent argument between Natalie and her husband Robert Wagner, and he was the last one to see her before she was either pushed, shoved, or tossed overboard. According to the evidence uncovered, the love of her life was in no hurry to retrieve her from the water she feared, and the autopsy on her body revealed disturbing evidence of an altercation, inconsistent with an accidental drowning.In death Natalie was betrayed emotionally and sexually by those who professed to love her best, especially by Robert Wagner who lied about his bisexual appetite and let her take the blame for their two marriage disasters and ultimately her own death. Wagner’s closeted secret homosexual behavior—a revelation that would have ended his career back then—was the dark cloud that hung over their seemingly perfect marriage. In the words of the author, Suzanne Finstad, “Not only was Natalie’s death not an accident, but the ensuing investigation was almost nonexistent.” The chilling fact is that “all three men on the boat with her that night should all be held accountable for her drowning.” Their eery silence that followed, were part of a “Chekhovian tragedy with no resolution short of a confession.” However, the gifts Natalie Wood gave her fans during her short lived life—at the expense of her own identify—will live on forever in her movies.

I liked this book as it gave a thorough background to Ms. Wood's life. I mostly tho wanted to read about the latest findings on why she died. There was so much background info on her life -- and a sad life it was. I was surprised to learn of her early sexual relationships as she was merely a child really. It illuminates how much a Hollywood hot-shot can control the media and misdirect info re what was actually going on. It's astounding but not surprising how power and money can cover up indiscretions and even criminal activity (re her underage experiences with older, powerful Hollywood men). Good writing and good research as well.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book reading about Natalie’s life and tragic death. Hopefully in todays “me too” movement, this sometimes tragic life she lead would not be possible now.I remember how heartbroken I felt at 30 years old hearing about Natalie’s death. From my house I remember looking out into the ocean that day where I could see Catalina Island and wishing I could have been there that night to save her from those ‘dark waters’ she was so afraid of.

nothing could help this lovely, talented broken woman. she fought professional help and did what she wanted. not a wasted life, but not long enough to help herself from her own thoughts and desires. I thought this was not a well-crafted biography.

It was interesting to read but some areas seemed more detailed than others.

Great read, recommend.

I can't quite get through the book. It is so boring, It talks so much about her mother and family , I thought it would be more ab out her marriages, and love life and marriage. I have read about her great love for Robert Wagner and I wanted to know about her marriage and children and her life after she grew up. Not so much about her mother and sisters.