A powerful and comprehensive book that should be read by all Natalie Wood fans. Suzanne Finstad does an excellent job in presenting the facts of her life, her death and the aftermath.
Child star turned teen idol, Natalie Wood married square-jawed Hollywood heartthrob Robert Wagner on her 18th birthday in 1957. But their fairy tale first marriage ended just four years later, and she never refuted fan magazine gossip that it was because of her affair with Splendor in the Grass co-star Warren Beatty. Keep going to uncover more details about Natalie Wood Death.
Natalie Wood was a beauty who became an actress with a big, booming voice and a gift for conveying emotional turmoil. She starred in more than 90 films, winning acclaim as a precocious Santa Claus skeptic in Miracle on 34th Street and a rogue suffragette in Rebel Without a Cause. Wood also starred in a string of TV series and dated famous men, including Elvis Presley. She married twice, and her younger daughter was born from her second marriage to producer Richard Gregson.
The day of her death, November 28, 1981, Wood was sailing off Catalina Island in Southern California with Dennis Davern, the captain of the yacht, and Christopher Walken, her co-star from Brainstorm. She had been drinking alcohol and taking medication for motion sickness and painkillers, which can be fatal if taken in large doses.
It was ruled an accident, but the case dragged on for decades because of unresolved questions and evidence that a crime had been committed. Forensic scientists discovered that she had ingested a cocktail of drugs—including tranquilizers, antidepressants and alcohol—and her body was riddled with cuts and bruises.
Wagner was never convicted of murder, but he has always been considered to have played a role in her death. In the book, Finstad reveals that when police investigators looked into the case, they were helped by Hollywood fixers like Peter Pitchess and Frank Sinatra. Finstad shows how this tangled web of deception and shady characters influenced the investigation.
One piece of evidence that isn’t in Finstad’s book but that is important to understanding the circumstances of Wood’s death is a behind-the-scenes documentary shot on that fateful weekend. The footage shows Wood gingerly stepping down the ladder into the dark water, clinging to trained divers.
It’s a chilling reminder that even in the heyday of her stardom, she was terrified of the water. In fact, she had a long-held fear of drowning that lasted until the day she died. It was a fear that may have contributed to her tragic end. The original version of this story appeared in the July/August 2016 issue of Travel + Leisure.
What Happened to Robert Wagner?
The actor was the square-jawed heartthrob that young girls (and many men) across the world adored. He starred in blockbuster films such as Titanic, The War Lover and The Pink Panther. He also had a long television career, appearing in series such as Hart to Hart and The Thin Man.
But a dark cloud hung over Wagner’s life in the aftermath of his wife’s death, and it was linked to a number of skeletons that he tried to hide from the public. He denied that he had an affair with his costar in Splendor in the Grass, and he never refuted Playboy magazine gossip that suggested he had a sexual relationship with his butler while filming the movie.
On the night of Wood’s death, he was sailing his yacht with actress and recent Oscar winner Christopher Walken and the yacht’s skipper, Dennis Davern. The manager of a mainland restaurant where the group had dined earlier in the evening said that he was concerned all of them were too intoxicated to sail safely back to the yacht. (Wood’s toxicology report showed she had a blood-alcohol level of 0.14 percent, more than twice most states’ DWI limit.)
Wagner has claimed that after a heated argument with Walken, both went to separate cabins on the boat. He says that he returned to the main deck later to find Wood missing and that when he saw her life vest in the dinghy, he assumed she had fallen in. He claims he did not attempt to rescue her because he did not want to risk losing his friend.
There was a lot of bruising on Wood’s body, and her death was ruled an accident. A year after her death, detectives on the case relabeled Wagner as a person of interest, but they never charged him with any crime and he has refused to speak about the investigation.
But Wood’s sister, Lana, has not stopped trying to get the truth from Wagner. In a 2020 documentary, she tells the story of how she was the only witness to the events of that fateful night, and she claims she heard a conversation between Wagner and Walken in which they discussed wanting to “f–k” each other.
What Happened to Their Children?
Sadly, both Wood and Wagner had children. In fact, Wagner was a father twice over; he had two daughters with his first wife before they divorced in the early 1970s. He also had a son from his second marriage with actress Lana Turner, a relationship that ended in the late 1980s.
Despite her star status, Natalie Wood was not a wealthy woman; in fact, she was practically broke by the time she died. Nevertheless, she had built up a solid resume with more than four dozen films by the time of her death.
Her acting skills were top-notch, as exhibited in her work in Miracle on 34th Street and Rebel Without a Cause. She was a talented singer, having sung the national anthem at a professional baseball game and appeared in numerous stage musicals.
Although she did not have the most stable of childhoods, Wood managed to turn her tragedies into triumphs in the end. She was a hardworking and dedicated wife, mother, and sister, as well as a great friend and entertainer.
While her film career never took off the way she had hoped, she managed to find steady work in TV and some minor movie roles. Her sexy appearance in Playboy magazine led to her remarriage to Wagner, and the two had a happy life together for many years.
Unfortunately, the happiness did not last. Almost immediately after the couple married in 1957, she began to see other men, including director John Huston and actor Christopher Walken. She was involved in several other affairs, and rumors of drug addiction plagued her as well.
By the time she drowned in the chilly waters of Southern California on November 29, 1981, she was already an alcoholic. She had spent hours drinking with fellow actors and the ship’s captain, Dennis Davern.
The night of her death was ruled an accident, but a coroner’s report later revealed that her injuries were consistent with a violent attack. In 2018, the police reopened the investigation, and they named Wagner as a person of interest. He has not spoken publicly about the incident.
What Happened to Their Friends?
In her later years, Wood grew increasingly isolated from her friends. She was a self-described “dutiful” girl who followed her mother’s advice to never rock the boat, and she certainly didn’t want to upset Wagner, even after he had betrayed her in their divorce settlement and then went on to marry actress Jill St. John.
In 2010, Vanity Fair reported that Wagner was a person of interest in Wood’s death, citing an unnamed source who said that Walken and Wagner had gotten into a heated argument on the night of Wood’s disappearance. The source claimed that Wagner told Walken he wanted to f–k her and then prevented him from calling for help.
But in his 2009 book, Dennis Davern, the actor who played Wood’s father in Diamonds Are Forever and The Great Rae, gave a much different account of what happened on board Splendour that night. He said that the argument was sparked when he heard Wagner tell Walken that he was worried about her acting ability, and he accused him of wanting to take advantage of his wife. Davern also said that he heard the couple arguing about money and other personal issues, and he brushed off claims that he overheard them talking about having sex.
After the end of her filming for The Great Rae, Wood tried to commit suicide, but was unsuccessful, according to the documentary. Her daughter Natasha Gregson Wagner says she believes that attempt was a cry for help. In the days afterward, she stayed at her parents’ home and was seen with a bruised wrist and bloody nose. Gregson Wagner says her mother was “afraid and confused” by the rumors that she had cheated on Wagner with her co-star Marty Crowley.
When she was found dead, it was originally ruled that she drowned, but in 2011, the LA County Sheriff’s Department reopened the case because of new evidence. It still hasn’t been determined what exactly happened on the night of her death, but some suspect that her husband may have killed her. Others think she fell or was pushed overboard, and others believe that Kirk Douglas may have assaulted her.