Nothing captures peoples attention like a mystery especially when it concerns the rich and famous, today we look at the strange case of the death of Natalie Wood.
Natalie Wood was born Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko on 20 July 1938 in San Francisco, California to Russian immigrant parents, Nikolai Stepanovich Zakharenko (1912 - 1980) and Maria Stepanovna Zakharenko (1908 - 1998). Natalie's father was born into the poor family of a chocolate factory worker who joined the anti-Bolshevik civilians forces during the Russian Civil War (November 7 1917 - June 16 1923); her grandfather was killed in 1918 in a street fight between the Red and White Russian soldiers, it was after this that his wife and three sons then fled to relatives in Montreal, Canada and then later to San Francisco. Meanwhile, Maria's family also fled Russia at the start of the Civil War, fleeing to the Chinese city of Harbin before eventually making their way to the US.
It was Maria's unfulfilled dreams of being an actress or ballet dancer that inspired (and pushed) her take her daughter to the cinema, filling the young Natalie with visions of becoming a star. After her family moved to Santa Rosa Natalie was noticed by members of a film crew during a shoot in the downtown area. Maria soon moved the family to Los Angeles in order for her daughter to pursue her budding film career. After Natalie started acting studio executives decided to change her name from Natalia to Natalie Wood in reference to director Sam Wood. Maria had an encounter with a fortune teller when she was a child who told her that her second child would be a great beauty and famous but that she should beware of dark water.
Natalie would make her film debut a few weeks before her fifth birthday and her fame only grew from there but sadly she saw her career hitting a decline, being seen as a washed up actress until 1961 when she was cast in the film Splendor in the Grass. Her previous roles had cemented an innocent girl but this new role painted Natalie as a woman with depth and appeal. People took notice of her talent as an actress even though she had never received formal training in acting and Natalie was nominated for an Academy Award, Golden Globe and BAFTA.
Natalie is perhaps best known for her role as Maria in West Side Story (1961) but also starred in Gypsy (1962) and in 1964, at the age of 25, she received another Academy Award nomination for her role in Love with the Proper Stranger making her the youngest person to receive three Oscar nominations (this was later broken by Jennifer Lawrence in 2013 and Saoirse Roman in 2017 who both did this at the age of 23). With her star and fame only rising it took a toil on Natalie, who sought out therapy after struggling emotionally. She paid Warner Bros. $175,000 to cancel her contract and fired her entire team.
In the 1960's Natalie was one of the biggest stars in Hollywood along with Elizabeth Taylor and Audrey Hepburn. Although she starred in many successful films she did receive criticism and in 1966 she was given the Worst Actress of Last Year, This Year and Next, she actually turned up to receive the award and seemed to take it in good humour. Following the disappointing reception to Penelope in 1966, Natalie took a three year hiatus from acting, she would return to acting in 1969's Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice and after her first pregnancy in 1970 would only be in four more theatrical releases until her death.
Natalie met and fell in love with fellow actor Robert Wagner, they first married on December 28 1957 in Scottsdale, Arizona but on June 20 1961 the couple announced their separation and divorced ten months later on April 27 1962. Natalie moved on to British producer Richard Gregson, whom she married on May 30 1969, the couple welcomed a daughter, Natasha, in 1970. Sadly, this marriage also didn't last with Natalie filing for divorce with it being finalised on April 12 1972. It was then that Natalie and Wagner got back together in January 1972 and married on July 16 the same year. Their daughter, Courtney, was born in 1974. In 2013, a retired FBI agent claimed to have had a four year affair with Natalie while she was married to Wagner from 1973 to 1977.
In a 2001 biography of Natalie there came the bombshell revelation that she had been raped by a powerful actor who was twice her age when she was only 16. Five of her closest friends revealed details that Natalie had apparently been lured or tricked by the married film star where he assaulted her so brutally she was physically injured. She emerged from the hotel hysterical to the car where her mother and sister were waiting telling them that she had been raped but her mother instructed her to keep it a secret. Natalie kept this devastating secret and acted as if nothing happened to her if she and this film star ever crossed paths, being too schooled by her mothers advice in the politics of Hollywood. In 2018, Lana Wood (Natalie's sister) confirmed the attack had taken place at Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles during an audition and had gone on for hours, Professor Cynthia Lucia, who studied the attack, said Natalie's rape was brutal and violent.
This actor is believed to be Kirk Douglas, when he died at 103 it started a discussion about the rumour of him being the actor while people were talking about his work and reputation. The allegation came from a commenter who many believed to be Robert Downey Jr, (it's not clear how, if it is Downey, knew about this) who alleges that upon hearing a rumour of Natalie having an affair with an older director to be offered better roles and would be easier to sleep with, Douglas took it upon himself to invite Natalie to an "audition" he apparently beat Natalie and raped her repeatedly while shouting obscenities and laughed at her afterward. Because of the amount of details in the story, it being confirmed to have happened (while not with Douglas' identity) and with Douglas' reputation many find this to be true.
Now we come to November 28 1981, Natalie was filming Brainstorm with her good friend Christopher Walken. Natalie, Wagner and Walken decided to take a weekend trip on the boat Splendour to Catalina Island, California, the trio had spent the evening having dinner at Doug's Harbour Reef Restaurant where they shared cocktails, wine and champagne. Employees couldn't remember which of the men it was but either Wagner or Walken threw a glass at the wall at some point and left for their boat at 10pm, the trio were supposedly that drunk that staff called the coastguard to make sure they got safely back to their boat.
The captain, Dennis Davern, later stated that the argument continued on the boat with Wagner breaking a wine bottle over the table screaming at Walken "Are you trying to f*ck my wife?" to which Walken just walked into his cabin (Davern says this is the last he sees of him that night) and then the couple going back to their room but the argument continued, Davern then said he later heard the fight continue on the deck before everything going silent, he says Wagner appeared tousled and sweating profusely after Davern had heard the dinghy being untied. Natalie's body was found a mile south of the couple's yacht, off an isolated cove known as Blue Cavern Point at 8am the next day, the dingy beached nearby after having apparently drowned. She was 43. Lana Wood confirmed that Natalie did appear to have a thing for Walken but said Natalie didn't have an affair with him.
Her death raised many questions as to how had she ended up in the water, why did Natalie get into the dinghy? Where was she going? Why did it take so long for the men on the boat to realise she was gone? Her autopsy revealed she had bruises on her body and arms as well as a cut to her left cheek but there was no indication on when these injuries occurred. It wasn't even clear if she was even conscious when she went into the water. With Dennis Davern claiming that Natalie and Wagner had argued that evening, something Wagner initially denied but he later admitted to it in his autobiography years later is strange. Natalie's blood alcohol level was 0.14% and there was motion sickness pills and a painkiller in her system, both of these things would have caused the alcohol to hit her more. The Los Angeles County coroner determined her death had been caused by accidental drowning with hypothermia, it was thought that Natalie had been drinking and may have slipped into the water while trying to get in the dinghy, perhaps to get away from her husband after their fight.
Her sister, Lana, expressed her doubts about it being an accident as Natalie had a well known fear of water, being terrified of any deep water and not being able to swim, she didn't think Natalie would ever have left the yacht on her own by dinghy especially. Wagner even said himself Natalie was that scared of water she wouldn't even go near her own swimming pool. In an eerie twist, Natalie's fear of water, dark water in particular, came from not only being told of the fortune tellers warning but from several odd water related accidents on set, one being when Natalie was meant to walk across a bridge during a thunderstorm but a technician flipped the switch too early and threw Natalie into the water, breaking her wrist another was during filming for Splendor in the Grass where her character attempts suicide at a reservoir, Natalie told the director she was too scared to jump into the water but the director made her do it anyway refusing to get a stunt double, she said "they threw me in, and had to get me out fast before I drowned". Her honeymoon cruise was also cancelled when a violent storm happened.
Two witnesses who were on a nearby boat stated they heard a woman screaming for help and that she was drowning at around 11pm, they reported it but with a party going on nearby it wasn't looked into, Wagner only reported Natalie being missing at 1.30am. The witness claimed that three days after she made her statement about the woman pleading for help she received a threatening letter saying if she valued her life she should keep quiet about what she knew. Natalie was finally laid to rest in Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles in a star studded funeral which saw her husband kiss her casket.
Natalie was found in a flannel nightgown, a heavy down jacket and wool socks, these would have been terrible for Natalie in the water as the clothes would have weighed her down badly, the jacket was reported to be that wet, that during examinations the next day the jacket was still soaked, it weighed abut 30-40 pounds.
Walken has remained tight lipped about the night, taking two years to even say anything about it, he has only made small comments about it being a tragic accident. When asked about his feelings on the case being reopened he simply replied "I don't know". Wagner has a history of refusing to speak to the police but has said he thinks she was unable to sleep with the dinghy banging against the yacht and fell and hit her head while trying to tighten the line. This is one of many changes in his story over the years. He also admitted an argument with Walken did take place about Natalie but that it was over career advice that Walken had given her.
The case was reopened in November 2011 after Davern publicly stated he had lied to police during the initial investigation and that Wagner and Natalie had indeed been arguing. He alleged that the two had been arguing over Natalie flirting with Walken and that Wagner had been jealous and enraged, Wagner had reportedly left the set of his own film to visit Natalie on hers amid rumours surrounding his wife and friend. He also claimed it was in fact Wagner that had stopped him from turning on the search lights and notifying authorities about Natalie's disappearance. Davern says it is Wagner who is responsible for her death, Lana Wood claimed that Davern had drunkenly called her claiming that Wagner had ordered him to leave Natalie in the water telling him to "leave her there, teach her a lesson". Walken hired a lawyer, co-operated with police and was not considered a suspect.
In 2012, the Los Angeles coroner changed Natalie's death certificates cause of death to drowning and other undetermined factors, a new document states it isn't clear how Natalie ended up in the water and the coroners office was instructed by police not to comment on the case. On January 14 2013, the coroners office released a ten page update to Natalie's autopsy report that stated the injuries Natalie sustained may have been from before she went into the water. Her previous medication made her susceptible to bruising and in 2020 a doctor who was an intern of the original autopsy doctor, claimed that the bruises Natalie suffered are fitting to someone who had been thrown from a boat rather than someone who fell and injured themselves trying to get back on board the boat/dinghy and that when he had told his former mentor of his findings, had reacted strangely almost as if he was involved in a cover up and was told that some things are better left unsaid.
In February 2018, Wagner was officially named a person of interest but has continued to deny any involvement. The police have confirmed that Wagner was the last person who was with Natalie before she died. The coroners report from 2013 describes Natalie's injuries as unexplained bruising on her right forearm, left wrist and right knee, a scratch on her neck and a scrape on her forehead, officials have stated that it is possible she was assaulted before she drowned.
We at Apollo's Raven find it hard to believe that someone so frightened of water would have gone anywhere near it even when drunk or just trying to tie the dinghy up again, it also seems unlikely that none of the three men on the boat heard anything, especially Wagner who would have noticed before anyone the absence of his wife, Natalie would have been screaming and the splashing would be loud at that time of night, the witnesses heard this a distance away and at 11pm, Wagner didn't raise the alarm until 1.30am, there is also the fact that the yacht isn't very big at all, we find it hard to believe that no one could hear as they all would have been in close proximity to each other. We think something is missing in this puzzle as even police have been confused as to how Natalie ended up in the water. If Wagner was indeed responsible it would be easy with someone of his fame and fortune to be able to keep things quiet, his actions of not reporting Natalie missing is baffling as any potential embarrassment or attention from the press would surely pale in comparison with the safety of your wife. Davern may be telling the truth but with him changing his story so many times and selling his story to multiple press sources and even writing a book about it, he has sadly made himself unreliable and classed as many as someone who is trying to make money from finding himself involved in a famous case.
Lana Wood believes her sister was murdered, she finds it hard to believe that Natalie would go anywhere near that water and that she would go anywhere not made up as Natalie was always one to be seen at her best. She was close to her sister describing her as a protective older sister and herself as just as protective of her, the two were always seen walking arm in arm smiling and both being dressed fashionably, Natalie left her entire wardrobe to her younger sister, something that Wagner mentions in his autobiography that paints Lana in a negative light, he mentions that Lana gave away most of the clothes to a second hand shop, something Lana said the will instructed her to do with the items she didn't want. You can see the love between the two sisters whenever you read about what Lana has said. Lana has been described as invaluable to the police as she is the only family member who will co-operate with them and that they will keep Natalie's case open until they find out the truth. Lana has said this about her sisters death in the New York Times:
“She certainly would not get into a dinghy in her nightgown by herself. She would get dressed, put on full makeup and have Dennis Davern take her ashore to stay in a motel on Catalina, which is exactly what she did the night before, when she wanted to leave.”
The only people who can give us an answer to the mystery of what happened to Natalie is Dennis Davern, Christopher Walken and Robert Wagner but with all three giving different stories and refusing to speak to police it looks like sadly we will never know what truly happened to Natalie. To die from something you feared so much must have truly been terrifying for her and if someone did do this to her it was an incredibly cruel thing to do. Natalie was a rare beauty and an amazing talent and Hollywood lost a true star when she died, we can hope that the truth will come out one day and Lana can finally get some peace from knowing what really happened to her beloved sister.
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