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By the time movie star Natalie Wood turned 25, she had already been nominated for three Academy Awards. Think of her as the Saoirse Ronan or Jennifer Lawrence of Hollywood’s Golden Age, a rare talent who started acting when she was just 4 years old, her career spanning four decades and nearly 50 films. She was a woman in charge of huge box office power at a time when they were few and far between, wielding her success as a way to forge her own path forward.
And yet, any mention of her today is haunted by the mystery and speculation that still surrounds her tragic death at the age of 43. In 1981, Wood drowned off the coast of Catalina Island, having gone missing from the yacht she was sharing with husband Robert Wagner and their weekend guest, Christopher Walken. Though her death was initially ruled an accident, the case was reopened in 2011 after a witness changed his testimony. In 2018, Wagner was named a person of interest in Wood’s death.
Both of those facets of Wood — the movie star and the victim — are on display in a new HBO documentary, Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind. Premiering May 5, the movie is largely narrated by Wood’s daughter Natasha Gregson, who takes us through some of her mother’s most memorable films, culminating in an interview with her stepfather, Wagner, in which she asks him about that fateful night.
But the most interesting parts hone in on Wood’s life — her successes as an actress, and her setbacks as a person struggling with the weight of a demanding career and public persona. First cast as a toddler as “Little Girl Who Drops an Ice Cream Cone” in 1943’s Happy Land, Wood navigated a harsh industry first as a child actress, then as a young woman who had to fight for the respect of her peers, and finally as a woman secure in her talent and ready for a new challenge. And while her personal journey wasn’t without its hardships, her on-screen presence was always magnetic, her performances modern and unexpected.
Since Wood’s filmography is so extensive — where to start?
“It is hard for me to pick a favorite of my mom’s films, but I would say West Side Story would be a great one to start with, as we all anxiously await Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story this Christmas,” Gregson Wagner told Refinery29.
She also recommends Rebel Without A Cause “because who doesn’t want to see James Dean, Sal Mineo, and Natalie Wood all in the same scene?” and Splendor in the Grass “because that depiction of first love breaks your heart in a hundred different ways — she is just so beautiful and vulnerable and deeply human in that movie.”
Whether you’re a Natalie Wood newbie or a longtime fan, here’s a list of some of her best movies for you to discover or revisit.
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