After going out for a yacht ride with her husband Robert Wagner and friend Christopher Walken, actress Natalie Wood died by drowning off the coast of California's Catalina Island in 1981, but some say there was foul play involved.
On November 29, 1981, actress Natalie Wood died at the age of just 43 after drowning off the coast of California’s Catalina Island.
The Academy Award-nominated actress had starred in some of the most popular films of all time, and she was one of the few actresses of her era who successfully made the transition from child star to well-regarded adult actress. She worked with legendary directors like John Ford and Elia Kazan, and she had a fling with Elvis Presley before tying the knot with actor Robert Wagner. She was living the American Dream.
That dream, however, quickly turned into a nightmare – and it all happened over the course of a single weekend.
The night before her body was found floating off the coast of Catalina, Natalie Wood had been aboard a yacht named Splendour in the company of her husband Robert Wagner, famous actor Christopher Walken, and the boat’s captain, Dennis Davern. But the next morning, when the men awoke, Natalie Wood was nowhere to be found.
Though Natalie Wood’s death was initially classified as an accident, her death certificate would ultimately state that she died of “drowning and other undetermined factors.” It remained that way for decades, until 2018, when her then-87-year-old widowed husband officially became a person of interest, prompting some to ask: Did Robert Wagner kill Natalie Wood?
Steve Schapiro/Corbis via Getty ImagesActors Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood.
Looking back on the case, the story of what happened on that boat seems more complicated than “accidental drowning.” In fact, the yacht’s captain, Dennis Davern, admitted as early as 2011 that he left out some key details about what really transpired on that fateful night in 1981.
For starters, Davern said the weekend was filled with arguments between Wood and Wagner, largely stemming from the clearly flirtatious chemistry between Wood and Walken.
Walken and Wood had spent hours at a bar on Catalina Island before Wagner showed up, and he was angry right from the start. Later, the three of them, along with Davern, went to grab dinner. At some point during the meal, either Walken or Wagner threw a glass at the wall, and then around 10:00 p.m., the group decided to head back to the Splendour.
Walken also admitted to having a “small beef” with Wagner. Initial reports said the argument fizzled out towards the end of the night, but Davern suggested otherwise, saying that Wagner broke a wine bottle over a table and threatened Walken with it, asking if he was trying to sleep with his wife.
Davern said he heard Wood and Wagner continue to fight into the night, before, as he put it, “everything went silent.” When Davern went to check on them, Wood and the dinghy were gone, and Wagner turned to him and said, “Natalie is missing.”
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