Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

The Mystery of the Death of Natalie Wood
American Thinker.com ^ | May 10, 2020 | Michael Curtis

Posted on 05/10/2020 5:31:03 AM PDT by Kaslin

An old mystery has resurfaced by the presentation on May 4, 2020 of the life and death of the actress Natalie Wood in a documentary produced by her daughter.

Some of the facts of Wood's end are known and undisputed. On the night of her death, November 28–29, 1981, her body was found floating in the shallow surf, dressed in flannel nightgown, jacket, and wool socks, with superficial bruises on her body. She was found about a mile away from where she had spent the evening in her yacht, The Splendor, off Catalina Island outside Los Angeles, together with three others. One was her husband, actor Robert Wagner, then 51 years old, to whom she was married twice, 1957–62 and 1972–81. The others were actor Christopher Walken, a younger man born in 1943, with whom she was co-starring in a film, Brainstorm, completed after her death with a stand-in playing her role, and the young captain of the yacht, a man named Dennis Davern. The ongoing mystery is whether her death was an accident or a murder.

Wood had a short but vibrant life, successful professionally but personally disordered, with allegations of affairs including with Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra. If that life was not as messy as that of Judy Garland, who died at roughly the same age in her 40s, it included apparent suicide attempts, heavy drinking, and her eventual relegation to B movies. Besides her glamorous lifestyle, Wood was also admired off-screen, regarded as being ahead of her time, fighting for equal pay for women and rights for the LGBT community. She supported and helped finance the play The Boys in the Band by Mart Crowley, the groundbreaking portrayal of gay life, and helped Robert Redford start his film career.

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: nataliewood
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-40 last
To: Elsie
Murder? what would be the motive?
The oldest in the world...jealousy.

There were rumors of intimacy between her and Walken on the set of their movie. Supposedly, Wagner didn't like playing the role of cuckold.

21 posted on 05/10/2020 6:27:10 AM PDT by Bratch (“If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin
The L.A. County medical examiner concluded she had died of a incident accident while slightly intoxicated. Her body had a blood alcohol content of 0.14% and contained medication.

BAC 0.14% plus drugs = slightly intoxicated?

22 posted on 05/10/2020 6:30:55 AM PDT by KevinB ("Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge." - Charles Darwin)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

There is no “mystery death” of Natalie Wood. The woman was roaring drunk. She, Wagner and Walken were all roaring drunk and, like drunks do, they were arguing fiercely much of the evening. Eventually they went back aboard the Splendor where the argument continued until they all were so drunk they were near passing out. The two men and the yacht’s pilot went to bed. Natalie dressed for bed but decided in her angry drunk state to go ashore. She tried to get into the dinghy tied up alongside, slipped and fell into the water. Weighed down by her clothes and jacket, and unable to swim, she drowned. End of story.


23 posted on 05/10/2020 6:35:17 AM PDT by Avalon Memories (Fight the Left - the communists - not our own.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

She was gorgeous.


24 posted on 05/10/2020 6:35:45 AM PDT by ought-six (Multiculturalism is national suicide, and political correctness is the cyanide capsule.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

This whole event is water under the bridge now.


25 posted on 05/10/2020 6:43:47 AM PDT by Old Yeller (The answer to 1984 is 1776.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

I’ve always felt Wagner was jealous of Wood and that maybe he pushed her into the water after Walkin went to sleep, probably drunk. Wagner was also probably drunk and in his anger pushed her and she fell into the sea, and as afraid as she was in water, quickly lost her battle to the sea.


26 posted on 05/10/2020 6:46:40 AM PDT by RetiredArmy (The Bible predicted these type of days. Pray to the LORD GOD for mercy on this Republic.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ought-six

Absolutely.


27 posted on 05/10/2020 6:47:22 AM PDT by RetiredArmy (The Bible predicted these type of days. Pray to the LORD GOD for mercy on this Republic.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

“...fighting for equal pay for women and rights for the LGBT community.”

Dropped a notch or two in my book.


28 posted on 05/10/2020 6:47:57 AM PDT by BobL
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: KevinB

“BAC 0.14% plus drugs = slightly intoxicated?”

Back then 0.14 wasn’t considered roaring drunk. That only happened after they lowered the BAC for driving to 0.08.

Drugs...I agree, that will do it with any BAC!


29 posted on 05/10/2020 6:56:46 AM PDT by BobL
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin
She was a drunk. She got drunk on a boat. She fell off. She drowned.

You want mystery? Where's Jimmy Hoffa? Who did him? Is he really underneath the pavement at the 600 mile marker in Jersey?

30 posted on 05/10/2020 7:49:30 AM PDT by LouAvul (Put them in fear, O Lord: that the nations may know themselves to be but men. Psalms 9:20)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

The Searchers trivia:

Natalie Wood was still a student in high school when this film was being made, and on several occasions both John Wayne and Jeffrey Hunter had to pick her up at school on days when she was required on the set. This caused a good deal of excitement among Wood’s female classmates.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049730/trivia


31 posted on 05/10/2020 8:17:06 AM PDT by Jeff Chandler (BLACK LIVES MAGA)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Chauncey Gardiner

I don’t think he threw her in but I’m pretty certain he refused to pull her out.


32 posted on 05/10/2020 8:21:56 AM PDT by Behind Liberal Lines (Their side circles the wagons. Our side revs up the bus)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: laconic

James Dean didn’t wrap his Porsche around a tree, he crashed into a shoebox Ford.


33 posted on 05/10/2020 10:52:33 AM PDT by dinodino
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Bratch

So he gets rid of wife instead of Chris?

Nah...


34 posted on 05/10/2020 1:42:20 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: LouAvul

I didn’t realize Jersey was big enough for a 600 mile marker


35 posted on 05/10/2020 1:44:33 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: dinodino; laconic

https://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/photos-from-the-vault/ru4xxn/picture155407844/alternates/FREE_1140/b1%20dean%20scene


36 posted on 05/10/2020 1:55:42 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies]

To: Elsie

The Porsche isn’t wrapped around the tree. Dean crashed into a ‘50 Ford:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_James_Dean

“At approximately 5:45 p.m., a black-and-white 1950 Ford Tudor driven at high speed was headed east on Route 466 just west of the junction near Shandon.[12] Its driver, 23-year-old US Navy veteran and Cal Poly student Donald Turnupseed,[13][14][15] made a left turn onto Route 41 headed north, toward Fresno. As Turnupseed’s Ford crossed over the center line, Dean (clearly seeing an imminent crash) apparently tried to steer the Spyder in a “side stepping” racing maneuver, but with insufficient time and space, the two cars collided almost head-on. A witness, John Robert White, reportedly saw the Spyder smash into the ground two or three times in cartwheels,[16] and landing in a gully beside the shoulder of the road, northwest of the junction.”


37 posted on 05/10/2020 2:08:11 PM PDT by dinodino
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 36 | View Replies]

To: Avalon Memories

Huffington Post quotes the coroner’s book:
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/what-really-happened-the_b_8594972

Here is the book if anyone can’t bear huffpo:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00L5M8U68


38 posted on 05/10/2020 2:46:11 PM PDT by BDParrish ( Please correct me! I never learned anything from anybody who already agreed with me.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: Elsie

Well, I guess in that case, Hoffa isn’t under the 600 mile marker.


39 posted on 05/10/2020 3:30:25 PM PDT by LouAvul (Put them in fear, O Lord: that the nations may know themselves to be but men. Psalms 9:20)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]

To: LouAvul

https://www.history.com/news/9-places-investigators-have-searched-for-jimmy-hoffa


40 posted on 05/10/2020 7:14:58 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 39 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-40 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson