Natalie Wood

Natalie Wood, born Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko, also billed as Natasha Gurdin (July 20, 1938, San Francisco, California – November 29, 1981, Santa Catalina Island, California) was a three-time Academy Award nominated American film actress. Wood began appearing in movies when she was 5 years old, had parts in successful Hollywood films and unlike many child actors made the difficult transition to adult roles, most notably in Rebel Without a Cause (1955) and West Side Story (1961). By age 25 she was a three-time Oscar nominee for Rebel Without a Cause, Splendor in the Grass and Love With the Proper Stranger. After her untimely death Time magazine noted that although critical praise for Wood had been sparse throughout her career, "she always had work."

In September and October 1981, Wood and Wagner stayed in Raleigh, North Carolina while Wood did location work for the science-fiction film Brainstorm. Wood then spent most of November in California shooting interior scenes with Christopher Walken and other cast members on the MGM lot in Culver City.

After Thanksgiving, Wood, Wagner and Walken went on to Catalina Island for the weekend and on Saturday night their yacht (Splendor) was anchored in Isthmus Cove. Also on board was the boat's skipper, Dennis Davern, who had worked for the couple for many years. Wood apparently tried to either leave the yacht or secure a dinghy from banging against the hull when she accidentally slipped and fell overboard. A woman on a nearby yacht said she heard calls for help at around midnight. The cries lasted for about 15 minutes and were answered by someone else who said, "Take it easy. We'll be over to get you". "It was laid back," the witness recalled. "There was no urgency or immediacy in their shouts". An investigation by Los Angeles County coroner Thomas Noguchi resulted in an official verdict of accidental drowning. Noguchi concluded Wood had drunk "seven or eight" glasses of wine and was intoxicated when she died. There were marks and bruises on her body which could have been received as a result of her fall. Noguchi later wrote had Wood not been intoxicated she likely would have realized her heavy down-filled coat and wool sweater were pulling her underwater and would have removed them. Noguchi also wrote that he found Wood's fingernails embedded in the rubber boat's side.

At the time of her death at the age of 43, Wood was scheduled to make her stage debut in an Ahmanson Theatre production of Anastasia with Dame Wendy Hiller. Rehearsals were planned to begin in December. Brainstorm was released in theaters two years later (missing at least one unfilmed scene meant for Wood) and was neither a critical nor a commercial success. She is buried in Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery.