The Famous Celebrity Death Of Natalie Wood, The Starlet Who Was Found Mysteriously Drowned
Wikimedia CommonsNatalie Wood’s sudden death has implicated several other well-known celebrities as potential suspects.
Before her dramatic demise, Academy Award-nominee Natalie Wood was born Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko on July 20, 1938, in San Francisco, California. Her early life foreshadowed her later difficulties, however. Her father was an alcoholic and her mother was an overbearing stage parent.
Though Wood was beautiful, talented, and an all-around presence on screen, her future would be marred by a tragic end.
As a beloved child star, Natalie Wood rose through the ranks of Hollywood with her ability to quickly perform her lines, which earned her the nickname “One Take Natalie.” By 18, Wood earned her first Academy Award nomination for her role in Rebel Without A Cause, co-starring James Dean. She earned two more Oscar nominations before she turned 25.
The excitement of her success on screen was also mirrored in her personal life. She dated several Hollywood studs, namely Elvis Presley, Christopher Walken, and Robert Wagner, who she married in 1957. But their strenuous marriage would evolve into something even more sinister — and Wagner was possibly even connected to her mysterious death 24 years later.
Tim Boxer/Getty ImagesNatalie Wood’s mother was told by a fortune teller that she should “beware of dark water” and the star consequently lived in fear of water her whole life.
On Thanksgiving Weekend in 1981, Wood and Wagner went on a trip to Santa Catalina Island off California’s coast. Walken, Wood’s co-star in the film Brainstorm, and boat captain Dennis Davern were with them.
What exactly happened on the night that Natalie Wood disappeared is still unclear, but a confession from Davern decades after the actress’s famous death established none other than Robert Wagner as a person of interest in the case.
According to Davern, the group had gone a cruise aboard Wagner’s yacht Splendour, but it was contentious from the get-go. Natalie Wood and Walken, who Wagner suspected of having an affair with his wife, spent hours together at a Catalina Island bar before Wagner showed up furious.
“The tension was going through the whole weekend. Robert Wagner was jealous of Christopher Walken,” Davern said. Staff at the island restaurant recalled either Wagner or Walken had thrown a glass at the wall before the group decided to head back to the yacht on their dinghy.
The conflict continued aboard the yacht. Wagner allegedly broke a wine bottle over a table and screamed at Walken, “Are you trying to f–k my wife?” At that point, Walken retreated to his cabin. The fighting couple also returned to their quarters.
Paul Harris/Getty ImagesThe yacht, Splendour, one day after the famous celebrity death of Natalie Wood.
Later that same night, Wagner informed Davern that his wife was missing, and it appeared as though she had taken out the dinghy. The fact that Wood went off alone on the little boat could be plausible, except that it was late at night and Wood was deathly afraid of water.
The next morning, officials found the missing dinghy beached nearby and Wood floating in the water in a flannel nightgown, socks, and a down jacket.
A witness on another boat told investigators that she and her boyfriend had heard a woman screaming for help around 11 p.m. They called the harbormaster but received no response and assumed that the commotion was from a nearby party boat.
Wood’s autopsy showed that she had multiple bruises on her arms and an abrasion on her left cheek, possibly sustained at the time of her drowning.
The coroner ruled Natalie Wood’s death as an “accidental drowning” at the time, but Wood’s death certificate was later amended to “drowning and undetermined factors” following new information revealed in recent years.
Bettmann/Getty ImagesRobert Wagner bends over to kiss Natalie Wood’s casket at her star-studded funeral at Westwood Memorial Park Cemetery. Dec. 2, 1981.
Investigators say Wagner, now in his 80s, is a person of interest in the ongoing case, but he has refused to cooperate with authorities. Walken, meanwhile, has fully cooperated. Doubts continue to muddy her demise.
“She got in the water somehow, and I don’t think she got in the water by herself,” said L.A. County Sheriffs Department Lieutenant John Corina, who handled Natalie Wood’s mysterious case.
Unfortunately, little else has been revealed in the case of this famous celebrity death over the decades.
