Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko (July 20, 1938 - November 29, 1981), better known as Natalie Wood, was an American film actress. She was the sister of the also famous actress Lana Wood.

She was born in San Francisco, California as the daughter of Russian immigrants. Soon her parents changed their surname to Gurdin, and at the age of 4 she was billed as Natasha Gurdin. A well-known child actor, she was one of the relatively few who made the transition to adult stardom. By the time she was 28, she was already a three-time Oscar nominee, winning Academy Award nominations for Rebel Without a Cause, Splendor in the Grass and Love With the Proper Stranger. Another of her great films was the musical by Leonard Bernstein, West Side Story, in which she played the leading character Maria. Having a nice voice, she was supposed to sing all her songs; however, in the end she was dubbed by professional singer Marni Nixon, which was to her a great disappointment. During these years, which were the best of her career as an adult actress, she was a real Hollywood star, and was compared favorably with Elizabeth Taylor.

Her two marriages to actor Robert Wagner, conducted in the public eye, were stormy, but they were once more reconciled at the time of her death. She was in the middle of filming of the movie Brainstorm and preparing to make her stage debut in a Los Angeles production of Anastasia, opposite Dame Wendy Hiller, when she drowned in a 1981 overnight accident while their yacht, The Splendor,was anchored at Catalina Island, off the coast near Los Angeles at the age of only 43. The exact circumstances of her death remain the subject of much speculation. Los Angeles coroner Thomas Noguchi pressed for a deeper investigation into Wood's death. There were many unanswered questions. Wood was on board the yacht with Wagner and actor Christopher Walken. There were reports that Wagner and Walken had a violent argument; Wood tried to leave the yacht and accidentally fell overboard. A woman on shore later said she heard cries for help in the water that night and heard other voices saying they were coming. Strangely, Wagner, Walken and the captain of the Splendor all denied this. Doctor Noguchi pointed out that Wood was legally intoxicated at the time of her death and there were unexplained marks and bruises on her body.

She is buried in Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery.

Awards and Nominations

1956:

• Academy Award- Rebel Without a Cause (1955) - Best Actress in a Supporting Role (nominated)

1957:

• Golden Globe Award - Most Promising Newcomer (won!)

1958:

• Golden Laurel Awards - Marjorie Morningstar (1958) - Top Female Dramatic Performance (nominated)
• Golden Laurel Awards - Top Female Star (nominated: 13th place)

1959:

• Golden Laurel Awards - Top Female Star (nominated: 7th place)

1960:

• Golden Laurel Awards - Top Female Star (nominated: 9th place)

1961:

• Golden Apple Awards: Sour Apple - Least Cooperative Actress (won!)
• Golden Laurel Awards - Top Female Star (nominated: 14th place)

1962:

• Academy Award - Splendor in the Grass (1961) - Best Actress in a Leading Role (nominated)
• Golden Laurel Awards - Top Female Star (nominated: 5th place)
• Golden Laurel Awards - Splendor in the Grass (1961) - Top Female Dramatic Performance (3rd place)

1963:

• British Academy of Film and Television Arts - Splendor in the Grass (1961) - Best Foreign Actress (nominated)
• Golden Globes Awards - Gypsy (1962) - Best Motion Picture Actress: Musical/Comedy (nominated)
• Golden Laurel Awards - Gypsy (1962) - Top Female Musical Performance (2nd place)

1964:

• Academy Award - Love with the Proper Stranger (1963) - Best Actress in a Leading Role (nominated)
• Golden Globe Award - Love with the Proper Stranger (1963) - Best Motion Picture Actress: Drama (nominated)
• Golden Laurel Awards - Top Female Star (3rd place)
• Golden Laurel Awards - Love with the Proper Stranger (1963) (2nd place)
• Mar del Plata Film Festival - Love with the Proper Stranger (1963) - Best Actress (won!)

1965:

• Golden Laurel Awards - Female Star (nominated: 6th place)
• Golden Laurel Awards - Sex and the Single Girl (1964) - Comedy Performance (nominated: 5th place)

1966:

• Golden Apple Awards: Sour Apple - Least Cooperative Actress (won!)
• Golden Globe Award - Inside Daisy Clover (1965) - Best Motion Picture Actress: Musical/Comedy (nominated)
• Golden Globe Award - World Film Favorite: Female (won!)
• Golden Laurel Awards - Female Star (nominated: 8th place)

1967:

• Golden Globe Award - This Property is Condemned (1966) - Best Motion Picture Actress: Drama (nominated)
• Golden Laurel Awards - Female Star (3rd place)
• Golden Laurel Awards - This Property is Condemned (1966) - Female Dramatic Performance (3rd place)

1968:

• Golden Laurel Awards - Female Star (nominated: 12th place)

1970:

• Golden Laurel Awards - Female Star (nominated: 9th place)

1971:

• Golden Laurel Awards - Female Star (nominated: 9th place)

1980:

• Golden Globe Award - From Here to Eternity (1979) (mini) - Best TV Actress: Drama (won!)

Filmography

• Happy Land (1943)
• Tomorrow Is Forever (1946)
• The Bride Wore Boots (1946)
• Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
• The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947)
• Driftwood (1947)
• Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay! (1948)
• Chicken Every Sunday (1948)
• The Green Promise (1949)
• Father Was a Fullback (1949)
• No Sad Songs for Me (1950)
• Our Very Own (1950)
• The Jackpot (1950)
• Never a Dull Moment (1950)
• Dear Brat (1951)
• The Blue Veil (1951)
• The Rose Bowl Story (1952)
• Just for You (1952)
• The Star (1952)
• The Silver Chalice (1954)
• One Desire (1955)
• Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
• The Searchers (1956)
• A Cry in the Night (1956)
• The Burning Hills (1956)
• The Girl He Left Behind (1956)
• Bombers B-52 (1957)
• Marjorie Morningstar (1958)
• Kings Go Forth (1958)
• Cash McCall (1960)
• All the Fine Young Cannibals (1960)
• Splendor in the Grass (1961)
• West Side Story (1961)
• Gypsy (1962)
• Love with the Proper Stranger (1963)
• Sex and the Single Girl (1964)
• The Great Race (1965)
• Inside Daisy Clover (1965)
• Penelope's Fashion Show (1966) (short subject)
• This Property Is Condemned (1966)
• Penelope (1966)
• Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969)
• The Candidate (1972)
• I'm a Stranger Here Myself (1974) (documentary)
• Peeper (1975)
• Meteor (1979)
• The Last Married Couple in America (1980)
• Willie and Phil (1980)
• Brainstorm (1983) (released after Wood's death in 1981)

External links