Natalie Wood

Born on July 28, 1938, Natalie Wood was already entrenched in the golden age of Hollywood by the time she was five years old. That was when she made her very first appearances on the silver screen in The Moon is Down and Happy Land. Although those bit parts remain uncredited, they opened the door to more roles for her in the coming years.

Natalie Wood Grows Up as a Hollywood Starlet

Some of Wood’s early roles included Miracle on 34th Street (1947), Never a Dull Moment (1950), and Rebel Without a Cause (1955). Throughout the late 1940s and early 1950s, Natalie also took guest-starring roles on television. Some of those appearances included Mayor of the Town, The Ford Television Theatre, and Studio One.

Ms. Wood also starred in West Side Story (1961), The Candidate (1972), and the TV miniseries From Here to Eternity in 1979. As the 1980s arrived, so did a wider range of roles for Natalie Wood. In addition to dramas, comedies, and westerns, Natalie was starting to explore the Sci-fi genre, starring in the 1979 film Meteor. Her final onscreen appearance was in Brainstorm (1983). Who knows where her career might have taken her if she hadn’t died mysteriously on November 29, 1981?

Love on the Rocks: A Brief Look at the Marriages of Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner

Marrying actor Robert Wagner probably seemed like fate to Natalie Wood even though she was only a 10-year-old girl the first time she saw him on the set of Miracle on 34th Street. At the time, Wagner was 18 years old and already a well-known star in his own right. In a later interview, Wood recalled seeing Robert Wagner and remarking to her mother that she would marry him one day.

In 1956, Wagner and Wood would be reunited for a promotional date arranged by Twentieth Century Fox. At that time in Hollywood history, it was common for studios to arrange public dates for the stars under contract with them. Even though Wood was 18 and eight years younger than Robert, the date was set up to promote the studio.

This would eventually lead to the first wedding for the duo. Showing his romantic side, Wagner slipped a pearl and diamond engagement ring into Wood’s champagne glass during a dinner date. The couple were married a year after their first date on December 28, 1957.

While the wedding was a highly publicized event with plenty of fanfare, the marriage quickly grew stale. Natalie and Robert divorced in 1962, only five years after their fairytale wedding. While the truth behind the divorce was never revealed, rumors suggested extramarital affairs were to blame. Natalie Wood spent the following years in therapy, seemingly confirming that the breakup was less than amicable.

The ensuing years saw both Wood and Wagner marrying others. Robert Wagner married Marion Marshall in 1963 and Natalie Wood married Richard Gregson in 1969. Each of their marriages was short-lived. Robert was separated from Ms. Marshall by the time he reunited with Natalie at a Hollywood party in 1970.

Natalie and Robert stayed in touch following that party, talking regularly on the phone. In an interview, Wood remarked that she’d seen a change in her ex-husband since their divorce. She told People magazine that Robert had grown from a boy into a man since their divorce.

On July 16, 1972, Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner got married for the second time. The ceremony took place aboard the Ramblin’ Rose, a 55-foot yacht. During the ceremony, the yacht was anchored in the harbor at Malibu’s Paradise Cove. The wedding was small with only a handful of close friends and relatives attending the event.

Brainstorm Brings a Tragic End to Natalie’s Bright Future

In 1981, filing for the sci-fi thriller Brainstorm began. Its cast included Natalie Wood in the starring role alongside Christopher Walken. On the evening of November 28, 1981, Robert Wagner invited Walken to dinner aboard his yacht, the Splendour. Aside from the yacht’s crew, Wagner, Wood, and Walken were the only ones in attendance.

On the following day, Natalie’s body was found floating in the bay with a small dingy boat floating astray nearby. Both the boat and Wood’s body were more than a mile from the anchored Splendour. Very few details were discovered.

Investigators questioned Wagner and Walken. Robert told police that Natalie had gone to bed early, leaving the two men alone to enjoy drinks and conversation. By the time Wagner retired to bed, he found Wood missing. Upon a search for her, he said that he and Walken discovered that a dingy was also missing.

The police report described Natalie as wearing a flannel nightgown with a down jacket. She only wore socks on her feet. The initial autopsy determined that Natalie Wood’s cause of death was accidental drowning. In regard to the abrasion on her cheek and multiple bruises on her arms, the medical examiner reported that the injuries were superficial. He determined that the bruises were the result of falling from the boat.

Case Closed! Or Is It?

The case of Natalie’s tragic death was closed and remained so for years even though Wood’s family insisted on extending the investigation. Splendour Captain Dennis Davern came forward in 2011, stating that he had omitted key details from his report. Those details had something to do with a potential love triangle between the three actors.

According to Davern, Wood and Wagner had been feuding throughout the weekend over Natalie’s flirtatious demeanor with Christopher Walken. Whether Ms. Wood really was flirting with Walken remains unclear, but, according to Davern, Wagner was definitely jealous of his wife’s Brainstorm co-star.

Another fact that had been initially left out of the report was that all three actors had been drinking heavily. Wood and Walken spent hours sharing drinks at a local bar. When Wagner showed up, he was furious over the incident. He eventually calmed down and the group left the bar and went to Doug’s Harbor Reef Restaurant for a late dinner.

What Really Happened on the Splendour?

Captain Davern also reported that the feud between the three actors wasn’t resolved by the time the trio returned to the yacht. They continued drinking aboard the Splendour, and Wagner seemed to grow even more jealous and irate. At one point, he smashed a wine bottle in a fit of rage.

“Are you trying to f--k my wife,” he reportedly screamed at Christopher Walken.

Eventually, the fight seemed to end if not momentarily. The yacht captain revealed that Wood and Wagner retreated to their bedroom while Walken went to his guest bedroom. Davern said he heard Natalie and Robert screaming at each other once alone in their bedroom.

Natalie might have tried to flee from the bedroom and Wagner’s jealous rage, because Davern reported hearing the argument continue on deck. After a few minutes, everything fell silent. Concerned, Davern went to check on the couple, but he only found Wagner standing alone on the yacht’s deck.

At that point, Wagner told the captain that Natalie was missing and he was afraid that she’d taken the dingy out alone. Davern was suspicious because he was familiar with Wood’s intense fear of water. Taking a dingy out alone wasn’t something she would do.

Robert Wagner Forestalled the Investigation

Even though his wife was reportedly missing, Robert Wagner told Davern not to turn on the yacht’s floodlights in search of the Brainstorm actress. He didn’t want to draw attention to the situation as there were several other yachts in the bay.

In one yacht, anchored almost 80 feet away, a witness named Marilyn Wayne reported to police that she thought she’d heard a woman screaming. She said she didn’t respond because she couldn’t be sure it wasn’t a joke, There were several large parties going on aboard yachts in the bay.

“Somebody please help me, I’m drowning,” was the cry for help Wayne thought she’d heard.

The pleas stopped within at around 11:30 p.m., 30 minutes later.

Wagner finally allowed Davern to call the police at 1:30 a.m., but it was too late.

After Davern confessed these details in 2011, a new investigation was launched. Wood’s cause of death has been amended and now reads accidental and undetermined factors. Davern has said he is certain Robert Wagner is “responsible” for Natalie Wood’s death and the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department has called the incident “suspicious”. After the renewed investigation was launched, police named Wagner as a person of interest. Investigators report that Wagner seems a likely suspect since he was the last person to see Natalie alive. They have also said that Wagner has repeatedly changed his story over the years and none of them are consistent with the facts.

While Dennis Davern and Christopher Walken continue to cooperate fully with the police investigation, Wagner still refuses to comment further.

After so many years have passed, there’s very little new evidence to discover in this case. Did Robert Wagner cause Natalie’s death? If so, why didn’t Christopher Walken intervene? And why was Natalie heard screaming for help a mile away if Wagner murdered her on board the Splendour?

If Natalie Wood was the victim of foul play, her attacker may never face justice.