There have been many, many mysterious deaths in Hollywood. Some involve hotels, some involve mansions, a few involve gardens or driveways, but ask anyone for the name of someone who suffered a strange death involving a boat, and most – if not all – will say just one person: Natalie Wood.
Born on 20 July 1938, Natalia Nikolaevna Zahkarenko was the daughter of Russian parents, though she herself was born in San Francisco. Natalie loved the movies and her mother would take her to the cinema at every opportunity, where she would sit on her lap and watch the great stars sparkle on the silver screen. Her mother saw a certain something in her child, and after Natalie gained a few small roles, she decided to move the family to Los Angeles, where she actively pursued a career as a showbiz mother to her young daughter. Once in California, things looked bright for Natalie and she was cast – aged just seven – as a German orphan in the movie Tomorrow Is Forever (1946). Not only that, but the film was a vehicle for Claudette Colbert and Orson Welles, meaning that Wood was introduced to Hollywood royalty from a very early age.
But while Tomorrow Is Forever was a success, it was her appearance in the 1947 Christmas movie Miracle on 34th Street that propelled the young child to superstardom. The film tells the story of a department store Santa who insists he is the real thing, and Natalie plays a young girl who had been prompted by her mother to reject all notions of Santa Claus, magic and fantasy. Of course, everything works out well in the end and as a result the film has gone on to become one of the all-time Christmas favourites, still being shown on television each year over sixty-five years since its first release.
Natalie’s star continued to climb and she made a successful transition from child star to young actress, starring opposite James Dean and Sal Mineo in the 1955 film Rebel Without a Cause. But in spite of the fact that she was a hard-working actress, she still managed to keep up with her studies and graduated successfully from high school, much to the delight of herself and her family. Then six years after Rebel Without a Cause came West Side Story, which was undoubtedly one of her most – if not the most – famous and successful movies as an adult actress.
But away from a movie career, the young woman craved a happy and peaceful personal life, and in the mid-1950s, while still a teenage actress, Natalie was introduced to actor Robert Wagner, who was eight years her senior. The two travelled in different circles, so they did not have the chance to get to know each other well at that time, and it was not until 1956 when Wagner saw her again at a fashion show that he began to take a real interest in her. Natalie had long since had a crush on the famous movie star (although she had chosen not to advertise the fact), so when Wagner asked her to accompany him to a film premiere – which also happened to be on her eighteenth birthday – she was absolutely delighted.
The couple began dating seriously from that moment on, though Natalie’s family – and in particular her mother Maria – were very much against the idea of the young actress dating an older man. Still, the relationship continued and on 28 December 1957 they were married in a quiet ceremony in Scottsdale, Arizona, away from the glare of Hollywood glitz and glamour.
Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner were classed as Hollywood’s golden couple – the happiest romance in the whole of California. It was, as these perfect marriages often are, just an illusion though, and in reality the marriage began to crumble quite quickly, with Wood later complaining that her husband would criticize her friends and the way she kept house. He was also reported to have left her alone while she was ill with flu and had also been rude to her mother, which did not go down too well at all, considering her mother was against the marriage in the first place.
Things were tested even more when Natalie got herself into a dispute with Warner Brothers, which saw the studio taking offence at the actress asking for more money and retaliating by suspending her for eighteen months, the longest suspension in Hollywood history. With no work to do, Wood was often seen sitting on Robert Wagner’s sets, watching him film his latest movie, but this too caused problems and on one particular occasion a director put his foot down and ordered her off the set.
The problems were further intensified when rumours came of a romance between Natalie and actor Warren Beatty, which columnist Hedda Hopper decided to ask Natalie about in the midst of her marriage problems. “You may or may not know that I haven’t been discussing anything that personal,” she told the reporter, and when Hopper mentioned that it had always appeared that she and Wagner shared an idyllic marriage over the years, she replied, “Lots of things can happen in that time – and did.”
When the couple announced a separation in June 1961, their representatives told reporters that there were no plans for divorce and the couple hoped that they would be able to work their problems out. This was not to be, however, and in April 1962 the couple were granted a divorce in just eleven minutes after Wood told the judge that during the last year of their marriage, Wagner preferred going out by himself to staying in with her. “He was always telling me he was going out to play golf and didn’t have time to discuss our problems,” she said.
On 30 May 1969 Natalie married Richard Gregson, a British producer whom she had been dating for a couple of years. The marriage did not last and they separated in 1971, though the relationship did give Natalie a much-loved daughter called Natasha. Shortly before the divorce was finalized, Wood and Wagner ran into each other in a restaurant and, much to the surprise of everyone, rekindled their romance. It was a fast-paced affair and just months after the divorce from Gregson, the two tied the knot again in a quiet ceremony aboard their boat, The Splendour, in the presence of just a few of their closest friends.
“It’s wonderful,” Natalie told reporters at the time. “We’re starting again. We’re starting new.” Wagner got in on the act, too, by declaring that their new life was beginning aboard the boat, which as it turned out would become a highly ironic comment.
It would seem that this second attempt at marriage was a lot more successful than the first, possibly as a result of both Wagner and Wood being older and more settled, and also because by this time the actress had decided to tone down her acting career and go into semi-retirement. She gave birth in March 1974 to their daughter, Courtney, and while she did still enjoy the occasional film role, she spent most of the time at home, raising her children.
In late November 1981, Natalie was making a movie entitled Brainstorm with actor Christopher Walken. Despite being scared of water – and particularly dark water – Natalie loved sailing in their yacht and that Thanksgiving weekend, she and Wagner invited her co-star to join them on their boat. The friends, together with the ship’s captain Dennis Davern, sailed the boat out to Catalina, stopping first in Avalon, and then continuing to Isthmus Cove where they went ashore for dinner and drinks. The official statement from Wagner’s representative stated that after the trip to the restaurant, they all returned to the boat, where Robert went to his cabin and Wood to the stateroom. By the time the actor went to the room to join his wife, however, she was apparently nowhere to be found, and an inflatable boat that had been tied to the yacht had disappeared.
“Since Mrs Wagner often took the dinghy out alone, Mr Wagner was not immediately concerned,” said the representative, adding, though, that after ten or fifteen minutes Wagner was worried enough by the disappearance to take a small boat out to look for Wood himself, only to come up with nothing. Help was called and by 7.45 a.m. on 29 November 1981 the body of Natalie Wood was found tragically floating face down in the ocean, her inflatable boat close by.
After formally identifying the body of his late wife, a distraught Robert Wagner returned to Beverly Hills where his family were waiting for him. He then had the unenviable task of breaking the news about Natalie’s death to her daughters Courtney and Natasha, who took it very hard. Natasha was told first, and it was the sound of her screams that woke Courtney. She later told Fox News that she was very lucky to have her nanny by her side when her father announced the news that she wouldn’t be able to see her beloved mummy again.
Meanwhile, the body of the beautiful forty-three-year-old actress was taken back to Los Angeles for an autopsy to be performed. It was announced shortly afterwards that a blood alcohol level of .14 was found, as well as caffeine and “very small amounts” of two medications, though this was said to be in no way related to her death. Coroner Richard Wilson released a statement that said it looked as though the actress had taken a headache tablet, a seasickness pill and had drunk a cup of coffee, hence the traces of medications and caffeine found during the autopsy.
It was determined that Natalie Wood, wearing just a nightdress and parka coat, must have untied the dinghy boat and tried to climb aboard, only to lose her footing, slip and consequently drown in the water below. This was further shown to be a possibility when it was revealed that the actress had slipped while trying to board the same boat in order to go to dinner that evening. On that occasion she did not fall into the water, but she was not so lucky, it would seem, later that night. Bringing all the evidence together, a verdict of accidental drowning was reported although even at this early stage there were rumblings and rumours that not everything had been as simple as had previously been thought.
Coroner Thomas Noguchi – who was famous for performing the autopsies on the likes of Marilyn Monroe and Robert Kennedy – claimed that while on the yacht, there had been a heated argument between actors Robert Wagner and Christopher Walken. Conclusions were formed that the argument may not have been about Natalie Wood, nor involved her in any way, but had annoyed her to such a degree that she decided to seek solace on board the inflatable boat. She then slipped and fell into the water in the process.
This idea of a heated argument was brushed aside somewhat by investigator Roy Hamilton, however, who told reporters, “I don’t know where the coroner got that information. I think he was juicing it up a little bit.” It would seem that Noguchi’s love of talking freely to the press and “juicing things up” led him to be reprimanded shortly after the investigation, and he would ultimately step down from his position as a result. Meanwhile, Assistant Coroner Richard Wilson came into the debate by adding that argument may be too strong a word, and instead there may have been an “animated conversation . . . a heated conversation . . . a lot of conversation over a number of hours”.
The idea of the argument was presented to Robert Wagner’s representative, lawyer Paul Ziffren, who gave a statement saying that he could not possibly elaborate on any disagreement between Wagner and Walken as he had not yet talked to him. “He’s still in a total state of shock,” said Ziffren. He then added that it was an important matter that Noguchi had concluded death by accidental drowning, “and frankly, I don’t see the relevance of some of the other things”.
Many others didn’t see the relevance either, except for Noguchi’s supposed love for juicy details, but still he did manage to bring things back down to earth when he told reporters that there was “no evidence of foul play” on Natalie’s body, and bruises – including one that had been found on her left cheek – were caused by her falling against the yacht as she fell. “It was not a homicide,” he said, before adding, “It was not a suicide, it was an accident.” However, he did add that the woman could quite possibly have yelled for assistance while in the water, “but no one heard”.
The fact that the coroner brought up the idea that Natalie could have tried to get help ties in with what a woman by the name of Marilyn Wayne told police on the morning after the body had been found. She and a friend had been on a boat in the same cove as the Wagners when the tragedy happened, and Wayne had been asleep before being woken up by her friend. According to her, her friend frantically shook her awake to ask if she could hear a woman crying for help. Wayne listened quietly and sure enough, there was a voice shouting, “Help me, somebody help me”, from the water.
The friends looked into the dark sea but could not determine where the voice was coming from. Added to that, there was a party on another boat near to them and several times they heard people shout, “We’re coming to get you.” Presuming that the shouts for help were related to fun at the party, they did not feel they should interfere. “Boats are funny,” Wayne told reporters. “People don’t want you interfering on their boats. You never know what the reaction will be.” Other boat owners in the vicinity later claimed not to have heard anything at all though the two friends remained adamant that the woman’s voice was clear and coming from somewhere in the water. Shortly after midnight, however, the sound stopped altogether, and silence fell on the water once more.
While people were arguing over whether or not there was any kind of mysterious circumstance that led to the death of Natalie Wood the actress, Natalie the wife and mother was buried beneath a tree in Westwood Memorial Park – the same cemetery where Marilyn Monroe and a host of other stars were laid to rest over the years. Friends including Frank Sinatra, Rock Hudson and Gene Kelly attended the proceedings, while Roddy McDowall paid tribute to the star, saying that she was “capable of truly giving with adult delight and childlike naughtiness”. Robert Wagner, his daughter Courtney and Natalie’s daughter Natasha then took a flower each as a memento, before the grieving man finally leant over the coffin and said a brief goodbye, kissing the closed casket just one last time.
Friends and co-stars then gave their tributes to the world’s press with Michael Caine describing Natalie as a “great family woman, which I’ve noticed is quite rare in America. She was devoted to her husband and her children.” James Stewart, who acted with Natalie when she was just a child, declared, “we were just sure she would develop into a very fine actress – and she did”, while Fred MacMurray, who had also worked alongside the child actress, described her as a “lovely little girl”.
The tributes were warm and heartfelt but, once given, the friends of Natalie Wood then went back to work and on with their lives. The Wagner family, however, were left to try and pick up the pieces, but this need for quiet reflection did not stop the many rumours and stories springing up over the years, with many discussions and even whole documentaries being dedicated to what could – or could not – have happened during that dark night in 1981.
In November 2011 the case of Natalie Wood’s death was reopened after lobbying from the actress’s sister Lana, Natalie’s biographer, Marti Rulli, and the captain of the boat, Dennis Davern. It had taken the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department a year to reopen the case, but after claiming that new information had been presented, a new investigation was sought and the press went frantic.
According to reports at the time, some of the new information came when an audio emerged of Lana Wood discussing her sister’s death. In the tape the woman apparently discloses that the boat’s captain Dennis Davern told her that when Natalie fell overboard, Robert Wagner had insisted she be left in the water to “teach her a lesson”. Unfortunately – if the story is to be believed – the lesson went too far and the woman ultimately drowned.
Another piece of new evidence was that the captain had apparently admitted to lying during a previous enquiry, and later claimed that a fight between Wood and Wagner had taken place prior to the actress’s death. These two pieces of information were enough to reopen the case and the press went wild about the possibility of more mud-raking and mystery. Of course, the first person they contacted was Robert Wagner, though it has to be said that it was made very clear from the start that he was not a suspect in the death of his wife. Through a spokesperson the actor and his family declared that they were in full support of the department’s work, though added that they sincerely hoped the new information was from a credible source, rather than someone simply trying to profit from Wood’s death, thirty years afterwards.
Although Christopher Walken was not considered to be a suspect in the inquiry either, newspaper reporters still banged on his door for a comment. None came, however, and instead he hired a lawyer to represent his interests in the case. A year later the actor appeared on CBS This Morning and declined once again to talk, stating that there was so much information on the internet that anything the interviewer wanted to know could be easily looked up.
Not much is known about the reinvestigation, as much of the information was kept under wraps. However, one interesting thing surfaced, and that was the whereabouts of the boat, The Splendour, which had been the biggest dumb witness in the Natalie Wood case. Its owner, Ron Nelson, had bought the boat in 1986, and had known about the investigation for a few weeks before it became public knowledge. However, whether or not the police found anything of any interest in the boat itself is unlikely, as after thirty years and some time being used as a charter boat, any remaining evidence was going to be long gone.
Eventually, after nine months of investigation, Natalie Wood’s death certificate was amended from accidental drowning to “drowning and other undetermined factors” and stated that the circumstances surrounding the death were “not clearly established”. Then in early 2013 more information was released when it was claimed that the bruises found on Natalie Wood’s body had been sustained before she went overboard, and not after. The marks, it was stated in the report, could have been “non-accidental”, according to the medical examiner, and investigations are said to continue quietly though it is not known how long they will remain active. In the meantime, the coroner’s office is not willing to openly discuss the case, preferring to leave the majority of its enquiry private for as long as possible.
After two investigations and thirty years of speculation and rumour, Natalie Wood’s death still remains a mystery and unless something substantial is brought to the table, it seems that it will forever remain that way.