What was Natalie Wood's appeal??!

okay... where to start ? she was impossibly charming, she had enormous charisma, was child prodgy, grew up in front of us, had enormous star power, became one of the most beautiful and beloved actresses of all time, acted in the most significant and unforgettable masterpieces of american cinema, had a tragic death, is mourned by millions decades after her death...next question ?

She had the exact right look to bring the 1950s into the 1960s.

she was one of the greatest talents of the golden age of movies

Her simplicity was her strength

I agree with OP that she wasn't especially talented or interesting. Her huge brown eyes were the most striking thing about her.

Exceptionally pretty, with beautiful doe eyes, and a charming vulnerability.

She genuinely had some acting talent, although she never took time off to hone her craft the way Jodie Foster did after college (and which all child actors should do if they want to continue acting as adults, because otherwise they rely on tricks they learned as kids as Natalie did and Winona Ryder does).

She made producers happy!

she acted with her heart. she was a highly intelligent woman but understood that art comes from the heart, not the brain, she was not perfect, and she might have lacked the big guns, but the one she fired were expertly aimed, and perfectly timed

No one could play tortured as well as Natalie could. Her performance in Splendor in the Grass never fails to move me. Sophia Loren was great in Two Lovers but I think Natalie deserved that Oscar.

she had something in those magnificent eyes, that made children respond to her in a way that no one else did, hence her enduring popularity, generation after generation

I also think she was so beautiful. Her beauty is kind of underrated.

whenever I went, in every situation and, I had an adventurous life, I always kept a picture of Natalie by my side. Like, all my life. She had that kind of power. I need to watch splendour in the grass every other year or so. need.

Jodie Foster had "It" from the very beginning. She never gave "trained dog" as many child performers do, which is why she could play the vamp in Bugsy Malone with such ease. She was an old soul. Martha Plimpton is the same.

she grew up in the public eye and was able to effectively transition from a child to a teen to a young woman to an adult. Her best adult role was B&C&T&A. She was lovely.

R7 She was raped by Kirk Douglas and had sexual relationships with Nicolas Ray and Frank Sinatra when she was a teenager.

What also stands out to me about Natalie are her eyes. She had the saddest eyes.

R15 It's a joke at Harvey Weinstein's expense. Calm down.

She was lovely indeed. if you don't love Natalie Wood, you don't love anyone, you don't have a heart.

for all abused children , one look in those chocolate eyes, and you knew. you were not alone. If Natalie could make it, so could you

R17 I know but the poor lady never got Justice. Raped and exploited by older men in the industry then dies tragically most likely at the hands of her husband. Everyone talks about how tragic Marilyn’s life was but Natalie went through hell too.

Natalie was also a gay ally.

She could pass as a Puerto Rican woman.

R22 I loved her in West Side Story despite the wonky accent.

R18 WTF?

You're wrong the picture you chose, OP.

R25 Why?

R25 Christopher Walken is taking what he knows to the grave.

[Quote] Why?

It's hideously unflattering.

[quote]Two Lovers

The movie was released in the US as "Two Women." The actual title is "La Ciociara."

Loren gave one of most iconic performances on film ever. Very few performance even come close.

R29 =Carlo Ponti's ghost . Hi Carlo, was the oscar very expensive ?

Did you ever see the movie, R30? Did you watch it with subtitles or dubbed.

Sorry you can't appreciate how good Loren was. Natalie Wood was fine as Deanie but didn't deserve an Oscar for it.

R31 you're post is so stupid I shouldn't even answer, but Natalie deserved the fuck out of this oscar, and Loren is a terrific actress, but I quit watching after 2 minutes. Bitch, when your bombed by an aerial raid, you don't look up the sky to see what's happening, you crawl under anything that looks solid. It was such a bad start, I knew the whole damn thing would be a tearshow

Yeah sorry I meant Two Women.

Her dramatic acting style was horrible. Can’t believe that she was nominated for Best Actress for SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS. The crying jags were worse than Doris Day’s in MIDNIGHT LACE.

Ruta Lee should've had Natalie's career. She had the same kind of dark-eyed beauty...except she could act.

I've always found Natalie quite screechy, needy and overly dramatic. And despite her beauty, she wasn't sexy (imo).

YMMV

For me, there was always something so eager and pathetic and sad about her--about HER, not the roles she was playing....for me, anyway, it makes it painful to watch her on the screen.

she was divine, exremely effective and ranks among the best.

She had suckable toes

I was surprised to read what a dirty girl she was when James Cann tried to go down on her and she stopped him bc her cooze was already full of some other guy's jizz.

R39 link please (or that never happened)

OP the only thing to discuss is how you became such a troll.

I like her big bracelets

So was the quintessential pretty ingenue, assisted greatly by those big, sad eyes. And though her voice was weak, she was able to put forth a vulnerability through its thin-ness that added to her appeal as a very pretty, very vulnerable young woman. Add to that, she gave a terrific performance as a child in an iconic holiday film so generation after generation saw her as the little girl won over by Santa Claus in Miracle on 34th Street, thus the public felt 'invested' in her because they had 'known' her as a child and wanted to see her mature and grow-up before the camera (it also helped that she was a beautiful young woman, not many people were interested in seeing Margaret O'Brien grow up). With that said, she is like Winona Ryder in that she is a terrific ingenue but her lack of tecnique betrayed her as she entered her 30s and she was not cast in mature, leading lady parts (this also had to do with Hollywood completely changing from the mid-60s onward, and she was seen as a bit of a relic of the studio ear despite being the same age as Jane Fonda).

She was a fine actress when she deliberately reigned it in. I watched "Lovers and Other Strangers" recently, and the plot could have had her braying up a storm, but she held it all in so when she had to emote, it wasn't a screeching mess. Her TV version of "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" is difficult to watch because she brays non-stop.

I watched the Ann-Margret TV version of "A Streetcar named Desire", and imagined what Natalie would have done as Blanche. It could have been wonderful, or a noisy mess. Her inconsistency is a real puzzlement.

Inconsistency is not surprising if a performer lacks a solid technique and... their own point of view.

Natalie wood was very weak actress. She tried hard though. I will give her that.

[quote] "What was Natalie Wood's appeal??!"

You tell me, OP! -Marni Nixon

Jokes aside...

[quote] "Natalie was also a gay ally."

I was going to mention this, R21.

R39: It was James Dean, not James Caan, and the guy's jizz was Nick Ray

[quote]She was a fine actress when she deliberately reigned it in. I watched "Lovers and Other Strangers"

R44 - The movie is "Love With The Proper Stranger.." She was at her most beautiful and gave a great performance.

R32 - .You watch two minutes of Two Women but didn't think Loren didn't deserve her Oscar? What a moron.

I’d have wished she’d been a bit younger and cast as the mom in the original “Poltergeist” film.

Are you people on drugs to start the holiday weekend? She was a terrible actress.

She was the kind of wood that doesn’t float, OP.

That was the reason.

She was cute and charismatic and vulnerable. Guys thought they could get her. She was a lesbian.

She was barely adequate as an actress. She was almost incapable of showing emotion, but when she tries, it's very forced and over the top as R44 mentioned.

A good actress can cry on cue, or even after a few takes. Natalie Wood could not cry when the script called for it.

But she did, or so a dozen or more DL-ers claim, have big brown doe-eyes.

OP = Rita Moreno

R54 So you think Wood was wooden?

Natalie would, but Tab wouldn't

She was terrific in FROM HERE TO ETERNITY

They remade that in the 1980s?

yep R59, late 70s or early 80's, for TV. I was a little boy, but I remember her with Kim Basinger. She was great and she won a Best Actress GG. And that was the lowest point of her career. She was amazing.

If Elizabeth Taylor wouldn't, Natalie Wood

She was great

Did they check the cabins ?

Natalie was the life of the party , a great friend and actress . Charisma in spades

She was very beautiful, yet had girl-next-door appeal, unlike Taylor and some of the other goddesses.

Natalie was totally straight from what I read, but more into men obviously.

☝🏼Wasn’t

Who did she lez off?

Not me

teenage Natalie has one of the most active and most liberated sexuality of Hollywood 's golden age. According to witnesses, every night on the dance floor at Ciro's she was "Ava Gardner in a little girl's body". She was notoriously "promiscuous" and loved to have fun. During an orgie at the chateau with the cast of Rebel, she decided to have a champagne bath, but the champagne burnt her vagina and she had to be taken to a hospital.

Natalie loved closeted gay men

Did she fire the butler after walking in on him and RJ?

Perry Lopez was so hot, love him in battle cry

here's perry lopez

[quote] Did she fire the butler after walking in on him and RJ

Poor Natalie, her gay husband fucked her butler, her straight husband fucked her secretary, Why is It So Hard To Find Good Service Staff?

I don’t think RJ is gay rather bisexual

I don’t believe for one minute that RJ had sex with Barbara Stanwyck.

What about Yvonne DeCarlo?

There was something about her face that made you absolutely adore her. That’s ultra rare in even the most beautiful women.

She had a sparkle in her eyes . A warmth

Her promiscuity as a teen was not because she was “liberated”, Jesus.

R62, but what about her acting?

R70 can’t even feign English

OP- Much more than her I never understood Elizabeth Taylor’s appeal physically or as an actress.

R84 Elizabeth was very well marketed, and finally quite competent in a couple of movies in her old age, in her own way, like secret ceremony.

R83 is physically challenged (think Salvatore in the name of the rose), friendless, and hasn't been fucked in 30 years. Oh, and poor.

[quote] but what about her acting?

She was alive, totally alive onscreen, she was human, simple, relatable, sometimes totally great, sometimes really bad. Her screen presence was peerless, her appeal is timeless. Natalie Wood will still be loved and celebrated long after a Meryl Streep is forgotten.

I thought she was gorgeous. Was she a great actress. No. Excellent in certain roles with the right director but there were a lot of misfires. BUT she was never boring. Her performance as Alva in This Property is Condemned is wildly over the top but I loved it.

W&W -- well, not wisdom -- for R87.

Her brown eyes were soooo dark. I love warm brown eyes like (ahem) Julia Roberts but she just had this giant black saucers.

She was pretty, not beautiful, and her selling point was her big brown doe eyes. Godawful actress. Winona Ryder has been very effective in most of the roles she's been given - I have never found Natalie effective in anything beyond age 10.

OMG. The "Natalie Wood Eyes" troll is on a tear.

Gene Nelson also had the biggest, softest, dark brown doe eyes.

And Winona started professionally acting at around age 15, which is a far cry from Jodie and Natalie, who started at around age 5. I don't think Jodie studied acting or "honed at her craft" at Yale either, she just wanted to keep a low profile after the Hinckley hoopla.

R91 Winona may be limited in the role she can play but she’s a far better actress.

Winona has no soul

Jodie actually didn't even take that much time off during college. Her biggest amount of time between films was between 1977 and 1980, which is when she was finishing up high school. She had done 8 films in just two years prior to that. During her time at Yale, she made about a movie a year during summer breaks.

Natalie was a real person , a radiant person .

"Love With The Proper Stranger" is one of my favorite movies and she was wonderful in it. Even Steve McQueen, who I have never liked, was perfection in his part.

At the risk of starting a DL fire, does anyone else think Natalie could have played Mrs. Robinson in 'The Graduate"? (I'm not in any way questioning Anne Bancroft's brilliant performance. Just wondering.)

R99 no bc she had no sex appeal

She could have played it on stage, like Jerry Hall et al. did. But no, Natalie could not have played Katharine Ross' mother or anyone in the same age range.

R99 no way, she was too young, actually she was offered the Katharine Ross part and turned it down.

I know quite a few women who would kill for Wood's "ordinary" looks, not least her beautiful figure. She was photogenic, the camera loved her, and she had a distinctive voice and persona.

I would never call her a truly great actress, or the most beautiful ever to hit the big screen, but her stardom was far less mysterious than a few other actresses I could name, e.g., Gwyneth Paltrow's.

She was very, very pretty, OP.

And she didn’t act like typical, Hollywood trash.

She seemed very sweet and appeared to be a good wife and mother.

I love this photo.

Her appeal? Why she was the only kind of wood that don't float.

R106 - Oh, dear - that was pretty vile, even for DL.

R105 they sure were a good looking couple.

[quote] I don't think Jodie studied acting or "honed at her craft" at Yale either,

She didn't do AT Yale, she did it after Yale.

What? Shortly after she graduated Yale she still was filming movies. Her biggest career breaks came after she won her Oscars, and she wanted to focus on directing/production. She’s never done any seriously stage work. In fact, most child actors haven’t with the exception of the likes of Diane Lane, who actually got her start in theatre.

Trini Alverado?

Natalie Wood was one of the studio manufactured stars. She wasn't much of an actress but she was very pretty.

R112 She was a child film actress, and everyone was "studio manufactured" then - it didn't necessarily follow that the manufacture resulted in stardom. There were plenty of actors that studios tried to push but who just didn't make the cut with the public. She evolved into a beautiful young girl and so made it across the child actor-mature actress chasm that people like Shirley Temple failed to do. And Temple was an icon until she hit puberty.

R113 Shirley Temple wasn't particularly attractive when she grew up. Natalie was.

R114 Temple was moderately pretty as a teen, but very much Girl Next Door but boringly so. She really lacked star quality once out of her short fluffy skirts.

Wood was beautiful as a young girl - and she had star power onscreen. She may not have made the best choices along the way, but Temple couldn't have pulled off those roles in Rebel Without A Cause, Splendor in the Grass, Love with the Proper Stranger, Gypsy, or West Side Story if her life depended on it. And, Wood was a trouper. She was totally miscast in Gypsy, but she gave it the best she could.

As I said, Wood wasn't exactly Mary Astor but she was pretty enough, charismatic enough, and decent enough of an actress to make it.

So, I rather disagree with OP.

While people may make much of Wood's less than stellar acting technique, she usually read as vulnerable and that went a long way. Shirley Temple, by contrast was so constricted by all of the horrifying 'tricks' she learned as a child actor that were reinforced by the fact that she was the 'biggest movie star' in the world that she really had no chance from an acting perspective to succeed as an adult. At least she realized that and went on her merry way.

Robert Redford on Natalie. They were in high school with Redford

-they were in high school together

I cant believe all of these responses and This Property Condemned only got one mention ??? Shame! Natalie was perfection in that film. She played innocent tramp perfectly and her hysterics were very appropriate when she launched them. Fantastic movie. I loved Willie too.

R107, 106's joke has a beard a mile long.

I was a little gay boy, and I still thought she was the prettiest girl I'd ever seen. She had Bambi's big eyes.

R119, that's because the movie SUCKED. A huge bomb at the box office.

She was perfect in Splendor In The Grass as the bipolar or borderline teenager who was sexually obsessed with pretty Warren Beatty. What a great movie about American sexual repression and how it drives people insane.

She had suckable toes

I've seen several Broadway productions of "Gypsy," and no one has ever been better in the dressing room confrontation with her overbearing mother than Natalie Wood in the movie version.

I re watched THIS PROPERTY IS CONDEMNED yesterday. She sould have won an oscar for that

I've never been impressed by her.

Natalie is not good in the dressing room scene, though I've never been impressed with any Louise I've seen perform in the dressing room scene, even Laura Benanti.

She was extraordinary in SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS, LOVE WITH THE PROPER STRANGER, WEST SIDE STORY and a few others. She was very inconsistent, but generally very good. she's the link between the stiff, conventional Hollywood acting of the 40s/50s and the freedom of the new cinema . So many classics in her resume. Charming always, and one of the movies greatest beauties. She would have been a star in any era. She shouldn't have come back though. Nothing she did after her cameo in THE CANDIDATE added anything to her career.

She had a ruby red, hard ball clit that forced your tongue to automatically ride over it in a circle.

R130 Ewww, shut up Kazan

[quote]Natalie is not good in the dressing room scene, though I've never been impressed with any Louise I've seen perform in the dressing room scene, even Laura Benanti.

In your opinion, R128

Inconsistent describes her film performances perfectly.

Like Judy G. and Elizabeth T., she has the child star that we all loved factor, but quite unlike these two ladies, she grew up to be devastatingly beautiful, as opposed to fat and decrepit, so we could go on loving her as teenagers and young adults.

Elizabeth Taylor didn't start to put on weight until the 1960s, R134.

Natalie was pure cane sugar

Elvis said that Natalie had a BO

Big Orifice?

R137, is a troll liar loser

that she didn't look like this OP

R139 WTF?? You're a sour sensitive loser.

Elvis compalined to his friends that Natalie had a body odor he didn't like.

R141 was it the scent of lilac perfume?

She was very consistent, actually. She did the same bad hysterical acting in every movie.

R137 Wasthat Elvis's defense for not fucking her ? pathetic

I love her too in MARJORIE MORNINGSTAR, KINGS GO FORTH, THE GIRL HE LEFT BEHIND, even ALL THE FINE YOUNG CANNIBALS. She always has something to offer.

What is your appeal, OP ?

R145, ALL completely forgotten movies.

I feel like due to the iconic status of at least two films Wood starred in (whatever you think of her performances), West Side Story and Miracle on 34th Street and questioably iconic status of two others, Gypsy and Rebel without a Cause, along with her mysterious death has allowed Wood's legacy a longevity that surpasses many of her peers.

I saw a new photoshoot with Vanessa Hudgens today and it occured to me that she's basically the Natalie Wood of the 21st century, right down to the gay bf(s).

I love her for MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET and SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS.

Guys, doesn’t she seem too old for Walken, playing his wife in her last film (Brainstorm?) They seemed to be from different generations.

Of course I could look up their birthdays. But I don’t feel like it.

Yes, she did read as older than him.

Dreadful film. I saw it in a theater and the special effects will not knock your socks off. Both Robertson and Wood have nothing to do, and Louise Fletcher's nonstop smoking is awkward and unconvincing. She's not Bette Davis. The plot is scattered and makes little sense.

Natalie Wood was there for her friend Norma Crane.

Love With The Proper Stranger came after WSS and oddly was done in black and white. She had a weird chemistry with Steve McQueen in it but also showed she could do comedy. After that she was loaded with comedy roles probably to her detriment since she was a much better dramatic actress. In her last few years she returned exclusively to drama and would have had a new and lasting career in major or supporting roles if she hadn't fell off that boat. P.S. The final scene in LWTPS was unforgettable.

Nah. She would have been a TV movie queen, nothing more.

I can see her as the mom in Poltergeist. She resembles JoBeth Wiliams.

[quote]I feel like due to the iconic status of at least two films Wood starred in (whatever you think of her performances), West Side Story and Miracle on 34th Street and questioably iconic status of two others, Gypsy and Rebel without a Cause, along with her mysterious death has allowed Wood's legacy a longevity that surpasses many of her peers.

She was in another classic film whose iconic status is unquestioned: John Ford's "The Searchers" (1956), now considered a masterpiece and possibly Ford's finest western.

Excellent point R148. She was in some classic films, but they really aren't classic specifically because of her "performances".

R157 I was about to say THE SEARCHERS is considered a masterpiece. I mean, look at Vivien Leigh. even though she was primarily a stage actress, and has only two bona fide classic movies (or three if you add WATERLOO BRIDGE) to her name she'll always be considered a major legend, because of these two movies. Natalie's performance glues WWS together, wether you like it or not. She's been criticized for decades , but when they did it without her, it flopped massively. and SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS is her movie. when she's not on screen, the film collapses.

Pre-1970 (thru Bob & Ted & Carol & Alice), she was better than fine. Endearing, charming, vulnerable, talented and quite sexy..

After that, she stank up the joint. Her performance in The Last Married Couple in America in 1980 may be one of the worst performances by a movie star. Whether it’s a coincidence that was after Robert Wagner reappeared, or it was just the parts she was getting, or being a mother was more important, who knows. But the fact is that none of her later performances compares to her earlier ones.

She was not very good in SEX AND THE SINGLE GIRL, and THE GREAT RACE and down right atrocious in PENELOPE. But points for her for trying comedy. What R160 say. I think she was okay and had terrific moments in THE CRACKER FACTORY, I quite like her in THE AFFAIR, and she was very good in FROM HERE TO ETERNITY. CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF was a trainwreck, but she's not the worst in it. Larry Olivier's big daddy is comically bad. You can hear him thinking "take that Vivien, take my southern drawl right in your cunt bone, dead bitch ";and Wagner is...well, he isn't.

Natalie had volunteered to take over Peter Ustinov as a Unicef children embassador when she died. Fake bitch Audrey H. stepped in and made it all about HER. (look how skinny and flat stomached I am, in the middle of all these belly swollen african babies)

Inside Daisy Clover (1965)

R153, Norma and Ellen( Lenny) Dunne were the 3 musketeers. Norma , Natalie and Lenny’s daughter , Dominique Dunne are buried in same cemetery in Los Angeles

Yes, she is quite odd in that she has iconic movies but none of them are iconic because of her characters or her performances besides Miracle on 34th Street. Rebel Without a Cause is all about James Dean and to a lesser extent, Sal Mineo. The Searchers is a John Ford directing opus. West Side Story's stars aren't actors, it's the dance numbers. I would not consider any of her other films classic.

Are there any other actors from the Golden Age like this? A lot of the well remembered ones have their performances remembered alongside the quality of the movie.

Of all the versions of West Side Story I've seen, on Broadway and off including the recent movie remake, nobody has equaled Natalie Woods performance in the final scene when Tony is shot.

She was luminous

R166 thank you, that needs to be said again. WWS is Iconic because of her performance in it. I don't know why DL is in denial about that. She's unforgettable in SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS, which is widely considered a classic too.. apart from those already cited, and there are so many, THE GHOST AND MRS MUIR is considered a minor classic, especially in Europe. her part is small, but there aren't many characters, so there's that.

Rex Harrison really wasn't much to look at, was he.

R169 no, but he was considered IT back in the day. " Sexy Rexy"; QUITE the lady killer too. Literally. Go figure. Then again, Leslie howard was the hunk of all time for the 30's. ..

What 's difficult to understand about her appeal ?

She was last star created by the golden age studios , and one of the brightest. She died young, so she's eternally young for her generation, and she's still beloved

R165 Ava Gardner is/was a well-known star who doesn't seem to be remembered for a single film though I saw her in The Night of the Iguana (1964) and Earthquake (1974).

I am paraphrasing Maureen O'Hara from her autobiography: "I had many actors and actresses over the years who played my children, but I felt especially close to Natalie. I cried and cried when I heard of her death."

Ava Gardner couldn't act her way to a bottle of scotch. She's remembered for her beauty and her glamour. And the lezzies love her because she's rumoured to haved licked the pussy. She was a massive cunt. I can't see her in any Natalie Wood part , not even the cracker factory. She literally couldn't act .

R174 touching. I'm paraphrasing Orson Welles. " I loved Natalie, I always have, and I'll always will."

Miss Davis came to the rescue

lovely tribute to Orson "I've grown bigger, but then again, so has your lap"

Natalie was one of the rare stars who were legendary in their own lifetime. Not only because she was part of the James Dean legend, but also because of her extraordinady longevity in the business, and WWS.

R163, that scene is PROOF of her limited acting ability. All quick and clever camera cuts, then -- insert fake tears between cutaways -- and cut back to a screaming, "crying" character.

Hard pass.

R165 in more contemporary terms George Clooney and Brad Pitt are well-known stats and I don't associate them with a particular film or performance. I saw Clooney in Out of Sight with JLo and like their performances and the film and I saw Pitt in Seven, Interview with the Vampire, Thelma and Louise, Fight Club and Once Upon a Time . . .but don't think of them in terms of his role or performance.

(^.^) well-known stars

R180 the editing in daisy Clover was so bad it destroyed her performance. It was not her fault.

I accidentally deleted my comment at 166. How do I restore it?

[quote] Of all the versions of West Side Story I've seen, on Broadway and off including the recent movie remake, nobody has equaled Natalie Woods performance in the final scene when Tony is shot.

you can't restore ot R166

Brad Pitt's performance in Fight Club is well remembered.

R186 especially by the stinking hobo sitting 2 seats away from me, whose jizz squirt flied accross the theater 2 inches away from my face when Brad took off his t-shirt

and he's only been in 70 films R186

Except for Pretty Woman and Erin Brockovich what is Julia Roberts going to be remembered for. Notting Hill, Stepmom, The Mexican, Runaway Bride, Mona Lisa Smile, Charlie Wilson's War, Lary Crowne, Ben is Back, Wonder, Mary Reilly. Michael Collins. Eat Pray and other Shit!!!

My Best Friend's Wedding.

Thanks to this thread, I started watching "Splendor in the Grass" yesterday. I've never thought that much of her acting and haven't made it through a lot of her movies, but I do think she was very good in this. However, she never seems to have mastered a role. It doesn't seem like acting but her playing out her vulnerable, somewhat unstable qualities. She was extremely pretty (and possibly the most adorable child actress ever, IMO), and I can see why she became a movie star, but I still don't think I can finish "Splendor." I stopped when she started going cuckoo and took up with Toots; it was just too much despair and hysteria for me. Her fragility is kind of frightening.

Move It Along Toots?

[QUOTE] Her fragility is kind of frightening.

she's playing a BPD case, so I would call that great acting. The ending of this movie is one of the most beautifully shot in the history of filmmaking. It's silly to miss it

My Best Friend's Wedding.

'Characters burst gaily into song when, as often happens, they don't have anything better to do.'

NY Times

[quote] she never seems to have mastered a role.

That's precisely her best feature; unlike cold technicians like click-click-click Streep or Huppert, she didn't try to master apart, she tried to infuse it with her heart. She was a child actress, and an extremely prolific one, she knew what she was doing, like chinese circus children. She was going for life, natural, and spontaneity, rather than technique and in-your-face mastery

Kid actors aren't spontaneous. It's drilled into them.

I'm not ashamed to say that Natalie is my most favourite actress, always has been, always will be. I'm an old, I was almost a teenager when she died and I loved her. However much I love Vivien, she's weird. There is something so icy about her. Natalie was warm and charming. My favourite actor is Michael Craig. I have simple, unsophisticated taste. Hate away, DL

R193, I meant in every role, not just as Deanie.

R175, what a dick you are ! Rita was raped by her father from adolescence and most like exploited by Hollywood power perverts . She lost her mind due to extreme, unimaginable abuse

Rita, R199? R175 was talk.ing about Ava Gardner

R175 Gardner was a star famous for her beauty, but she was good in The Night of the Iguana and held her own with Kerr and Burton

(^.^) BTW Gardner's part was played on Broadway by Bette Davis, but Gardner would seem to be a better fit. I can't imagine Davis consorting with the Mexican boys.

Although Lena Horne should have been cast as Julie in the MGM version of "Show Boat," rather than having Lena's Light Egyptian makeup "slapped all over Ava Gardner," I think Ava is really quite touching in the role. She even recorded the songs, although the decision was later made to have her singing dubbed.

She definitely had charm and was lively and unpretentious

R199 are you drunk ? what time is it where you live ?

[quote] held her own with Kerr

fuck no; She was less terrible than usual, that's all. As for Dick Burt-ham, he loves himself so much he leaves little room for external appreciation. Natalie had more charm and screen power than Gardner and Burton put together. In the 60's, only Elizabeth Taylor could outshine Natalie. The 60's were hers.

Her face. Her eyes made her seem always either angry or determined. While grinning, her "angry" eyes made quite an impression.

perfect reply R207. The combination of her eyes and smile was striking. There was such a contradiction there. That really is her distinctive mark

that marriage to Michael Craig's brother was doomed from the start. (Redford's face when the audience claps just because he can remember how long he's been married, though)

r209 Why did Gregson look so old? He was only 8 years older than Natalie.

Natalie should have married Michael instead

She pulled off a perfect British accent in The Ghost And Mrs. Muir. In Miracle on 34th Street she wasn't just the "classic adorable child" but drove the whole plot. In both cases she was just like, what? Seven? As an adult she had a teardrop in her voice which is why she always came across as so vulnerable. The reason she fell off the boat was because she was an insomniac and tried to tie the dingy down which was banging against the side of the boat. Plus she was wasted at the time.

Wood doesn't float

1) The dinghy was tied at the prow of the boat, not the stern, precisely to avoid that kind of hazard. To tie or untie the dinghy, she would have had to go to the prow, thus cross the goddam boat, every body would have seen her. 2) It's not like it was the Onassis' yacht, it was a small boat, everybody hears everything and knows where every one else is. 3) her body was covered in bruises and cuts consistent with an assault 4) she had foam in her lungs, not water, meaning she was not conscious when she hit the water. = I don't think that Wagner killed her intentionally, but I completely believe that he pulled her out of the water, put her in her down jacket, untied the dinghy himself, and put her in the water again, in a hangover panic, to make it seem like he wasn't involved. which is the story of the skipper.

Gadge must have had a field day with her box! Of candy

Natalie’s pussy probably tasted delicious and an elixir

And Robert Wagner lives on. He must be pushing ninety at least?

[quote]And Robert Wagner lives on. He must be pushing ninety at least?

Wagner is 92. Meanwhile, Natalie's "West Side Story" co-star George Chakiris turned 90 today.

R169

Rex Harrison was handsome as a young man. As he aged, he had a commanding, sexy presence. On stage, he played Henry Higgins for too long. In the last revival, he may not literally have been 80, but it felt like he was.

R199

Hayworth had a horrible childhood, but she lost her mind because she developed Alzheimer's in her 40s.

R219 cathleen Nesbitt must have been a hundred in that one

Natalie's official Instagram is hilarious. I had previously thought of starting a thread tracking its daily captions.

"Happy National Reading Day! Did you know Natalie loved to read? Her ability to read books showed what a trailblazer she is and inspired people all over the world. And they're all still inspired today."

Surely you jest?

r223 Oh, I'm parodying it because it's really not that far off.

Natasha might not be the brightest bulb in the lamp, you know. " daddy Wagner, this, and Daddy Wagner that" Daddy Wagner killed your mother, and he's not even you daddy, you twat !

Are you kidding? It's much better for Natasha's health to believe the father she knows had nothing to do with her mother's death.

*the only father she knows

She knew her daddy very well, it's "Daddy Gregson" and he lived nto old age. I don't see how it'shealthier to live a fantasy like of Stockholm syndrome

fantasy life

[Quote] She knew her daddy very well, it's "Daddy Gregson" and he lived nto old age. I don't see how it'shealthier to live a fantasy like of Stockholm syndrome

It's much less distressing to think of your mother's death as an accident rather than as murder or manslaughter.

Denial is not healthy. She lives in complete denial, all the while cashing in on her mother's fame. The perfume thing. Please. She must be on pills 24/7

Denial of something that hasn't been established as fact?

That woman is a picture of mental health

[quote] that hasn't been established as fact

"drowning and other undetermined factors" + "daddy Wagner " is a person of interest

that's factual enough for me

At least Courtney doesn't even pretend. She just stumbles from OD to OD

Why don't we ever talk about Marion Marshall?

Courtney has defended her father in the press. Troll better, r235.

R237 in the press, yes. I can't picture her saying " Daddy kiled Mommy you know" in an HBO tribute, but a girl who 's constantly in an emergency ward having her stomach pumped also communicates something

Grasping at straws, r238.

Oh , please are the only person in the universe who believe the dinghy story ? what's your beef anyway, are you Natasha ?

Lovely on Dick Cavett

Natalie Wood was very good friends with Roddy mcdowall. But then again who wasn't?

But McDowall was friendly with Kirk Douglas too...

Maybe Natalie didn't tell about her rape.

She enjoyed the perks that came with being a big star.

Funny how heavy eye make up can age a woman. See also: Britney's raccoon eyes.

I don't like her pointy nose of the 70's, she should have stayed on nose #2, the one she had in WWS/splendour

Dig the spider lashes.

Doesn't Lana look like Martha Raye here?

Worst Natalie hairstyle?

On set

R250 the perm

I'm curious about Natalie and Lana's relationship. I've read that she was closer to her half-sister Olga.

Lana was a leech

she looked weirdly out of it and insecure in R252, maybe it's true that she was loosing her mind

She doesn't look out of it at r252.

Just for you!

It must've been difficult for Natalie to watch Jane Fonda, who was older than her, win 2 Oscars in the '70s while she was relegated to doing TV movies/miniseries.

It was difficult for Jane to see Natalie score Kazan, Mulligan et all, and gather 3 oscar nominations, when she was stuck,in soft porn european movies. Jane was Jealous of Natalie, not the other way round. She always bashes Natalie in her books

Can you please provide an example of that?

She desperatly tried to win the part of Deanie, when the movie was released she and her girlfriend , leland hayward's daughter, spent hours trying to imitate natalie's expression at the end of the movie, she always insist that Natalie was "small" , "very ambitious "(= she put out ), that her mannequin at the studio wardrobe department was that of a tiny little girl with no breats, etc. In tie Roddy mc dowall movies, she always avoids Natalie, and holds court in a different section of the house.

Thanks.

Natalie and Jane on the set of Inside Daisy Clover.

Natalie and Barbra. Dyan cannon remembers that Barbra used to come visit natalie a lot on the set of B&C&T&A, to discuss psychoanalysis (to make sure nothing was happening between her and Elliott)

Natalie and Vivien

Natalie and Judy

Natalie never had those ugly 1950s eyebrows that Judy sported, did she?

did they know back then that a jar of make-up could be kept and used in several occasions?

Natalie and Sharon Tate. According to Joan Didion, Natalie always got the Hollywood gossip before anyone and was one of the first Hollywood figures to hear about the murders.

I called natalie ASAP to tell her all about it

sixites gals Natalie, Ruth and Mia

r271 Everyone loves Mia!

accepting an award from Grace

thanks for your contribution , Mia, go back to sleep now

She was “promiscuous” for the exact same reason Faye Dunaway was “promiscuous.” Because she’d been sexually assaulted as a child.

15 is not a child

R275 she was promiscuous because she liked the dick, and was the new kid in Hollywood

Natalie and Tuesday.

Natalie had Frank Sinatra at 15. Tuesday had John Ireland at 16. Both had abusive stage moms. A lot in common.

Does anyone know if Natalie could speak Russian? Both her parents were Russian natives, so I would assume it was spoken around the house.

Niet.

Here you go.

Put a troll tag on r235 it’s a monster

R277, has a middle school Brain of a flaming homosexual.

She had a clit the size of a Louisville slugger

....

I never thought of her as the greatest actress in the world, but compare her performance in Tony's death in WSS versus the current actress. That makes you realize how talented she was (or how talentless the current actress is)

R282 I am not a monster. I'm loud and I'm vulgar, and I wear the pants in the house because somebody's got to, but I am not a monster. I'm not.

R278 I love Tu-tu and natalie. Same kind of vibe, same kind of beauty.

[quote][R282] I am not a monster. I'm loud and I'm vulgar, and I wear the pants in the house because somebody's got to, but I am not a monster. I'm not.

You know, considering this is DL, it's a wonder Martha doesn't post here regularly...

Natalie with Marilyn ( in the middle)

James Dean would be canceled today for having a kissing scene with Natalie in this television episode when he was 23 and she was 16.

She was a Soviet agent. Her death was not an accident.

....

This is kind of cringe-worthy.

Natasha looks part Asian, no?

R293 Daisy Clover was a perfect script for her, it was even based on her life, the finish product was so heavy and badly edited it destroyed her wonderful performance. Also, that wig = What even was that ? pity

Why isn't Natalie's accent at all influenced by Ruth's?

R294 Sooo creepy. He always has something sinister about him, lurking beneath the suave, and she has a ghost of her mother's great beauty on her, but not really, which is a shame, and the beady eyes of Gregson, instead of the marvellous brown lakes of tenderness Natalie had. Gregson was not much to look at. his brother Michael had all the looks in the family.

[quote] She was a Soviet agent. Her death was not an accident.

Not at all. The Illuminati done her in. She was wearing a RED down jacket when they found her

R295 Some Ting Wong ?

R295 Natalie' s parents where from Vladivostock, very near the chinese border, so they WERE asian. I woudn't be surprised if Natasha had yellow blood in her

Natalie was from Santa Rosa California but she sounds like she could have been from New York sometimes in her pronunciation.

She moved to LA aged four, so she spoke "movies", almost transatlantic, but all american

She was wonderful at european accents, here she's fooling fellow russian Ustinov

[Quote] she could have been from New York sometimes in her pronunciation.

It happens.

Her sister has a strange pronunciation sometimes too. Sometimes she sounds faintly British

R306 she certainly had her share of british cock on her tongue.

Natalie and Lana were hoars, darlin'

Natalie sported Daisy Clover hair in real life.

Wow, was she a lousy singer!

It's THE AFFAIR. I love THE AFFAIR. Quintessential 70s TV movie. She was terrific in it. And that song now I can't see you any...........mOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORE

R310 JINX

It was her sister, Lana Wood's Playboy spread in the mid-sixies that gave every red-blooded straight American male, wood. WOWZA

Robert Wagner was so mean to her in that movie.

R314 she slashed her wrist in her 8 months pregnant sister in law's bathroom

What movie roles would you like to have seen Natalie play? Should she have piloted the plane in Airport?

MTM in Ordinary people

La Faye's in TOWERING INFERNO

E.T.'s in BUTTERFIELD 8

I love Natalie's voice, it's wobbling but it's very appealing

ABSOLUTELY LOVELY

Jackie Ward was a good choice to dub Natalie's singing voice. Ward is probably better known as Robin Ward of "Wonderful Summer" fame.

Marni nixon was awful

Natalie would still be a star today. Monroe and Taylor are wayyyyyyy too fat and short to be considered beautiful by today's standards

I keep telling myself I'm not a kid anymore.

no, you're not a kid anyMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

her actual voice was good enough for Maria

Her voice wasn't good enough for Mrs Miller.

people change rearrange all of the reasons that they come together for but I can't see you anymore.

She was the sister of Lana Wood with the most luscious pair jugs this side of the Sands Hotel. Take it Sammy....

....

Natasha’s crossed arms indicate defensiveness and self protection

Bump

Lana was so gifted. Her two major qualities as an actress were ...you know what they were. Talent and dedication to her craft

RJ is officially cleared as of 2022

Her cunt was as wide as Orson Welles's girth

Here they are, Miss Lana Wood!

Natalie more beautiful than Taylor

Lana is bouncing back and not on a dick this time

Lana has actually aged quite well. A lighter touch would the eyeliner would help, though. Her daughter had such dead eyes in those pics.

*A lighter touch with the eyeliner

She allowed Orson Welles to slide her up his ass between set ups on Tomorrow Is Forever

I agree that Natalie is more attractive than Liz . She’s more natural and soulful

Robert Wagner cleared as Natalie Wood's case goes cold

If she caught RJ with another guy why in hell did she remarry him? It’s not like she couldn’t have her pick of men.

She apparently told Lana (who was asking the same question) : " Better evil you know."

[quote]Robert Wagner cleared as Natalie Wood's case goes cold

Now he can enjoy the many years he has left!

Oh, wait . . .

Having that old looking Richard Gregson cheat on her must've been the biggest blow to her ego. Looking like that, she must've been certain that he wouldn't cheat.

She knew men well enough by then not to have such naive thoughts, r348.

[Quote] If she caught RJ with another guy why in hell did she remarry him? It’s not like she couldn’t have her pick of men.

Better the devil you know...

what made things worse is that he cheated on her with her best friend/secretary

Did Natalie continue to be close with Mart Crowley once RJ re-entered the picture?

Natalie and Michael Craig/gregson could never have been a couple,. They were too beautiful. there's no balance

Mart is an ardent defensor of RJ, he trashed Natalie recently in his memoir, before his timely death

Craig and Wagner were on a similar level of looks.

[Quote] he trashed Natalie recently in his memoir

What did he say?

that she was a bipolar lush who didn't really know herself anymore

[quote] Craig and Wagner were on a similar level of looks

I think Michael ahead of Wagner

Two words: She swallowed.

R344 Yeah, that sucks.

R360 according to a blind item, Wagner told the girls exactly what happened, and his and Natalie's protector Sinatra made sure there was a nice cover-up. The family has decided to leave it at that. Lana is the Markle of that story. They know she would sellher own excrement, so she's kept at bay

r357 She came off as depressed and unhappy in her last diary entries.

There is a fascinating theory, that I've always liked. Apparently, Natalie had someone, wether the liaison was physical or not, and that someone was not Chris Walken, but her hot, blond , tennis coach. The theory goes like this, the hot stud was on a nearby boat that fateful night, and Natalie was always going to meet him. She indeed took the dinghy, and what happened between them is known to them only.

I liked how she plays against type in "Love with the Proper Stranger," co-starring Steve McQueen. It's a gritty little B&W film shot on location in New York's Little Italy that deals frankly with the subject of unwanted pregnancy. Except for the obligatory hysterical meltdown, she's almost naturalistic with McQueen. Here they are anxiously waiting for her appointment with the back-alley abortionist...

She was fabulous in the silent sequence at the abortionist. That was oscar worthy. I don't know why the movie becomes rom com sitcom comedy in the end. weird

R365 They tackled a serious subject for the early 60's and it was courageous of her take the part. Yeah, they shouldn't have tried to lighten it. But even so, her character's grit and self-determination balances it and there were quite a few poignant moments. The script was ahead of it's time.

**its

R366 I love the movie, it was american neo realismo. They should have kept it at that, it would be a classic, and she would have won. She couldn't do comedy very well

R368 No, and even as a kid she had gravitas. As a child of immigrants, the part of Angie Rossini was made for her. I don't get the comparisons with other actresses. When the discussion devolves into Wood vs. Taylor or Wood vs. Fonda, what's that about? They all have their appeal. It's not a zero-sum game.

both her daughters look like their mother is Anne Heche, not Natalie. Sad

Natasha looks a lot like her mother, certainly not as striking, though now she's older than her mother ever was, so...

Physical gorgeousness was and is plentiful in would be stars, but with Natalie, as with Marilyn, the tension between the radiant surface and the inner messier truth that comes across onscreen....resonates on the unconscious level as authentic and hard to look away magnetic. Troubled beauties were and are plentiful, but that doesn't mean that their inner life and it's intelligence and sensitivity comes across with such impact, right there at the surface. Also timing..a look and a persona being of their time. Doubt this would be ever be possible again in our splintered media era.

R372 they were products of the studio system. They couldn't exist without it. At the end of the day , an actor is somebody who can deliver on stage

I disafree. Natalie's "messy truth" was always pure melodrama. Mostly embarrassing.

*disagree

Ludicrous ☝🏼

R362, what diary ?

Ludicrous? She wasn't nominated for a Razzie in the same year as an Oscar nomination for nothing, dear...

R377 the woman penned a diary. Natasha, who would cash in on her dead mother with preserved excrement if she could, has released some excerpts in her overpriced book, especially the one when RJ fished a drowning Natalie off the water.

Natalie was a true star and very approachable to her fans . A great lady. Does anyone believe RJ may have abused her physically ?

Do you hope he did?

R380 I have a tower in Paris to sell. It's exceptionally located. Call me ASAP

Orson Welles mistakenly took her for a chicken leg and bit into her

Oh Akim, your career would be nothing without Orson.

Dirty Laundry is about Natalie's death

The French love Natalie

And Brando on the ice Now it's Dean in the doorway With one more way he can't play this scene twice So you drug her down every drag of this forbidden fit of love And you told her to stand tall when you kissed her But that's not where you were thinking... How could a Natalie Wood not get sucked Into a scene so custom tucked?

Daisy Clover was on TCM today. Nat had a lovely moment after Plummer, at a party, screens Daisy singing for the guests and, afterwards she’s introduced. The camera lingers on her face for a good minute while taking in the applause and you can see she’s frightened, shocked, thrilled and apprehensive. She was really a wonderful actress and a movie star.

[quote] Does anyone believe RJ may have abused her physically ?

I do.

Oh, how I watched ‘Gypsy’ this afternoon on TCM. Natalie truly “rose” to the occasion in this one.

NATALIE IS ALIVE. or was as of 2019. Listen closely until the end ! I KNEW IT (tax evasion scheme masterpiece, now, let's find Jimmy, Elvis and marilyn, they might all be hiding in the same place)

THAT MAKES TOTAL SENSE! OF COURSE! the four of them, they were friends! WHERE ARE THEY ????

....

.....

Orson Welles covered her in chocolate and ate her like an egg chair

Oh. my lord. She's getting past my prime. It's EGG CLAIR. or is it EGG Clare? I'm past my prime

R394 Well that was painful.

R395/R396 Oh, dear.

Did she ever pose for Blackgama?

Of course she did

>>>>

Not among the best of the Blackgama ads at R400. Natalie looks a bit startled.

the last nose was not good at all R402

☝🏼 I think she looks very gaunt . That can change face structure. She’s usually striking

She never had a nose job. You guys think they did these kind of subtle ScarJo type nose jobs in the 60s and 70s but they most definitely did not. (And even today that’s a rare successful feat)

That said, she wasn’t aging well at all either.

Yeah, she didn't have a nose job.

Orson Welles used her as a footstool

R405 you probably claim the same for taylor; She did, and Lana did too , to look more like her

Orson Welles blew used her to blow his nose on the set of Tomorrow

R400 That ghostly looking Blackglama ad came out in 1981, the year she died.

[quote] ghostly

Floodlit to obliterate the eyebags and crowsfeet.

Great shot for Raintree body lotion.

This shot is rather reminscent of the Blackglama ad.

Here's the commercial.

Another commercial for Lux.

Frasier crane would have loved this gig

Nose job visible from Mars in all these ads. That gave her the pinched look

Nope. It's the same nose.

I don't know why this make up look was ever popular.

Might Natalie have saved Charlie's Angels in its later years?

the 80's were horrid. Everybody looked ghastly, even Deneuve

Angel Laraine?

Natalie looked like a cheap gas station hooker in her last photoshoots, She was so desperate. I remember being shocked at the time,and feeling ashamed for her.

She would have been a good Beth Jarrett if the part were available.

No she wouldn't have been.

She really wanted that part.

////

I can’t see that at all. Lee Remick would have been perfect, though.

Lee would have been excellent as well.

Basically ordinary looking- I’ll stop there. OP is a dunce.

🎋🚀🍣👯

Orson Welles used her as a toothpick on Forever.......

Natalie was a perfect star and a great person

She was kinda tacky. And had that nervous breathy screechy voice like fellow lifelong fucked up tacky Liz Taylor. Another one of those girls who grow old but never become women.

Natalie was quite good being a dirty girl in the bathtub who was defiled by Warren Beatty. She had good neurotic energy and terrible line readings unless she was in hysterics. (see Liz Taylor) Natalie is built like a brick dollhouse in Gypsy. She's supposed to be an invisible talent who transforms into a sexy girl and she does both well.

She's not an actress worth remembering and no great beauty. Pretty and dark eyed. Seems nice.

Orson Welles used her as a stepping board on the set of Forever Is Tomorrow

Their sexual chemistry melted the camera lens

Did Natalie tell Tab not to eat her out because Nick Ray's jizz was stuck to her labia lips?

Natalie provided Tab with protection from Hollywood gossip and vice versa while she was fucking Dennis Hopper...

[quote]Louella, who popularized the phrase “rumor has it,” was mostly nice and I liked her; Hedda, on the other hand, scared me a little bit — she was less predictable and had more of an agenda and an edge to her. Neither would openly discuss my sexuality — they couldn’t in those days — but both periodically made subtle references to it in their columns, wondering when I was going to settle down with a nice girl and then, after the studio began pairing me with my dear friend Natalie Wood on faux-dates, asking if I was “the sort of guy” she wanted to end up with.

Natalie Wood but Tab wouldn't

Tab wouldn't have any wood for Wood, would he

No, that's right R440. Tab did have wood for Woody's Woodpecker

Was Natalie Wood ever considered to be a great beauty?

I like her dark looks. Is she white-adjacent? Maybe that's her appeal.

Natalie was a beauty in the seventies. Long hair and kind of free spirited looking. Sophia Loren was at her most beautiful in the 1970s too - for the same reasons.

Not capitalizing on B&C&T&A was such a big mistake. I know she had a kid which she always wanted but she took too much time off. Then she came back with The Affair, a TV movie? Unfortunately by then, she was over.

Well, Ali Macgraw arrived.

Madonna I think resembles Natalie Wood

R442 she was, and is, considered one of the most beautiful women in the world, and Hollywood's last great beauty

Don't be ridiculous R448. Natalie was short and tiny with a pug nose and wide spaced eyes. She wouldn't place top ten in a state beauty pageant. She was pretty, cute and that uncomfortable Lolita type of sexy. Not a great beauty.

Many other great beauties have arrived in Hollywood since. And new ideals of beauty were formed.

Natalie was a pretty girl.

Pauline Kael said it was "her hyperactive rear end."

And fuckable R449.....I mean, uh, I didn't. Just heard it through the grapevine

I could see her playing in Agnes of god.

R449 = Rita Moreno

Ok people, the brunette ( right of the video) , is ,according to R449

[quote] short and tiny with a pug nose and wide spaced eyes

...wow. R449 's wife must be STUNNING

Her hard, protruding clit was a joy to roll your tongue over

Wood absolutely was a sexually abused and molested from a very young age. Her mother pushed her to sit on powerful older men's laps in a non-fatherly way. I'm sure more than one touched her extremely inappropriately before she even hit puberty.

That’s so sad . Poor kid 😭

Orson Welles did not, I repeat did not lay a hand on her on the set of Tomorrow Is Forever. He might have sat her by mistake, but never a hand.

She’s terrific here.

“He’s gone. He went awaaayyy.””

Orson Welles used her to clean his fingernails

Natalie was a ⭐️

Natalie Wood was jealous of Elizabeth Taylor.

Every time this thread pops up it reminds me of this toy we had in our house called Montgomery the monkey and was just sort of like the whole family's toy that we got on Christmas and one of the things that would say cuz you put your hand in its mouth and it pressed the button and it would talk it would say this monkey has appeal.

Natalie had wild neurotic appeal. Her laugh is recognizable in every film and it always sounds kind of knowing and hysterical - even when it's a "funny" laugh. That clip at R459 is fascinating. On one hand Natalie is a really bad actress and over the top, on the other hands she is not bad at all - she's kind of verite in all her weird sexual conflicts roles with mom and male predators - sexual beasts and effete men. Her emotional outbursts seem genuine - if not always in character. She has real presence. AND she is often a really bad actress.

How does she compare to Miss Lana Turner?

They both changed their names.

[quote]She’s terrific here.

R459 She should be; she's basically reprising her role in Splendor in the Grass...

Orson Welles wanted to cast her in Touch of Evil as Hank Quinlan's chocolate candy bar

[quote] Natalie Wood was jealous of Elizabeth Taylor.

she wasn't, she was in awe of her, and she had no reason to be jealous. Taylor doesn't have half the career Natalie had, in terms of quality. and this

R469, Natalie Wood was never considered to be The Most Beautiful Woman In The World like Elizabeth Taylor was in her prime.

R470 the fuck she was, and still is. if you have 5 min to spare, read the comments on her tribute vids on youtube. you'd be surprised.

R465 they both knew how to serve glamour, but Natalie was 1,000,000,000 times the actress Lana was. some of you would say that the bar is so low it's literally underground, but I think Lana was a good actress, in the right role.

Natalie was one of the most talented actresses ever. She also had a lot of pain and struggle throughout her life. Despite that, she had a good heart, which is hard to encounter in Hollywood. At a time when gay people were oppressed beyond belief, they identified with her struggles and she theirs.

Wood would pee on Orson Welles's legs during a take on "Tomorrow." She knew even then how to upstage another actor.

"Except for the obligatory hysterical meltdown, she's almost naturalistic with McQueen."

And THAT was why she wasn't a very good actress. She had no middle ground, and almost no subtlety. Couldn't shed a tear, it had to be this forced, melodramatic meltdown, or nothing at all.

r475 that's what you watch a Natalie Wood movie for. She knew her audience

Nah. She was no Susan Hayward, who was no Bette Davis.

She was a much bigger star than Susan Hayward

I'll never get why her career fell apart so much in the 70s. I get that she was considered old school, but B&C&T&A was a big hit. She took some time off to have a kid then comes back with a TV movie? Surely she could've found some film work.

she wanted to take time off to raise her children. That happens to women.

TV meant not leaving LA and being back home every night, it's not rocket science. she had been working since she was 4. She was over it

Ali Macgraw stole her place in the early 1970s.

If she was over it, she wouldn't have gone back to acting at all.

she turned down the graduate, butch cassidy and the sundance kid, gatsby and love story.

I doubt that. She could have done some big screen work - not every movie is a big location fest. But she evidently wasn't wanted.

R483 after a few years, when the kids are older, you know, the bug bites back. don't you have children ? when they're young, you're completely absorbed in them, but when they become more independant, you kind of yearn for work

after B&C&T&A she was again the hottest ticket in town. she was wanted. what she wanted was a family

Michelle Pfeiffer didn't suddently become a TV movie queen whe she had children. She still got movies, even with the stipulation that she wasn't away from home for more than two weeks.

ok R488, you're a hopeless cunt, and you've decided that you know better. Michelle fucking Pfeiffer is from a complete different generation, you cunt. She could be a mom and a working actress because it was a different time. You don't know anything, you're just a stupd ignorant brainless cunt, fucking die. Seriously. my patience has a limit

Dyan Cannon was a mother in the 1970s, was she not? She still mostly did movies.

seriously ? are you a woman or what? , Natalie wanted to be a hands on mom, she wanted to BE with her daughters, Dyan Cannon hadn't worked since she was a toddler. can't you just choke on your ham sandwich and die already , you fat fuck ? FFS!

let the cunt fill the thread...

There are big screen movies that shoot in L.A. though. Didn't Natalie have a production company? The truth is likely that she could no longer get funding for movies in which she was the lead, so she went the TV route.

sure R493, go on, I want this thread to fill up

so R493, why don't you tell us again that Natalie was not wanted after 1970

She was wanted. In TV. And commercials. (And club dates. And ta-a-a-lk shows.)

but was she wanted in movie roles ? do you think she was restricted to TV parts ? or could she have worked for the big screen at this point ? Michelle pfeiffer and dyan cannon could, couldn't they ?

Hell, Jean Seberg was still doing movies, wasn't she?

but how did it happen exactly that michelle Pfeiffer, dyan cannon and jean seberg were doing movies after they became mothers, and Natalie wasn't so much ? what's your view on that topic ? could you elaborate a bit more ?

Natalie no longer put out. That was it.

I beg to differ R500

everything is in that face, what you read is incredible and she's doing it with the minimum effort. and they say she couldn't act ?

Watch Jill st john in TENDER IS THE NIGHT or THE ROMAN SPRING OF MRS STONE; and as me again what natalie Wood's appeal was. She was simply great

[quote]What was Natalie Wood's appeal??!

She was so tight we both bled.

OP, you can't understand that many people's tastes and opinions are different from yours?

R504 so tasteless

R506 Natalie was lucky, he only raped her

Michael Douglas must feel so conflicted about his father. My heart goes out to him.

Would you say this is a fair assessment of her career?

[quote]"Wood’s vivid personality and turbulent life compel a certain amount of attention, but the career is punctuated by dreary failure. She helps render West Side Story unwatchable on those too-frequent occasions when Jerome Robbins’ dancers aren’t snapping their fingers. And if you’re looking for proof that Jack Warner was way over the hill, there’s the otherwise inexplicable fact that he didn’t shut down Gypsy after the first week of shooting, recast every part and fire Mervyn LeRoy. "

Well, those are some pretty strong statements....

I love watching Natalie Wood and West Side Story. She gave it star quality.

WWS is nothing without Natalie

Lovely

[quote] shut down Gypsy after the first week of shooting,

the only problem with gypsy is Rosalind Russell. Horrible mannish hammy actress who can only appeal to the wrong sort of gays.

Natalie was lucky. She grew up sitting on John Payne's lap

[quote]Would you say this is a fair assessment of her career?

It's a hatchet job from someone who clearly had a grudge against her, dismissing her work in films such as "West Side Story" to focus on her crappy films. He writes off her work as a child actress in a few words without mentioning that she helped make "Miracle on 34th Street" the classic it became. He doesn't even mention that movie, in fact, No, I would not say it's a fair assessment of her career.

R516 yes. She had a stellar career and more classics to her name than any other Star of her generation. A true Icon, and a legend. Not to mention a remarkable actress

R509 seriously, was that article written by Rita Moreno ?

She was a terrible actress. How is a hatchet job to say that?

R518 no she wasn't . she was superb, when she was not eternally micast as mexican/african american/puerto rican (even though I think her maria makes WWS work.)

R519 thinks his opinion is the Word of God and that no differing opinions are allowed.

I love her particularly in the girl he left behind, Kings go forth, Marjorie Morningstar, The searchers, splendor in the grass, love with the proper stranger, bob and carol and ted and alice, I don't know how could anyone say she wasn't good in these.

The Cracker Factory was one of her best performances.

thank you R523, love the cracker factory

You're welcome. If you look in the comments section of the video Courtney Wagner says it's her favorite movie of her mother's.

R525 = Courtney

I even love THE AFFAIR; I think she was very believable as the polio stricken songwriter who tries to sing her songs and to date a hot guy

The way that Marcus treated Courtney at the end of the movie really shocked me. How very dare he?

well, she was "problematic". She slit her wrists in her 8 months prego sister-in-law FFS

in her prego sister-in-law 's BATHROOM

she wouldn't have put her wrist if Marcus didn't dump her when she wouldn't hang out with her stupid friends! After stalking her for the first half of the movie.

Slit her wrist I mean.

IIRC, she dumped him first, and was very harsh

LOL are we the only two people in this world today who give a damn about this 50 year old movie?

Natalie was pregnant with Courtney during the course of that movie.

R534 unless you are not also R535, I think that we are

😄😄😄😄

is it 50 yo already ? really ? it seems like yesterday that little me was reading that me beloved Natalie had died in suh a horrible manner

So strong is Natalie's appeal, that she is one of the very few stars of the golden age who can still fill a thread on her sole name.

R514, I love Roz Russell. “His Girl Friday” was classic great and she was captivating.

R514, Janis Paige said that RR was a mentor to her and other actresses. A gracious, kind woman

I know a lot of people say they dislike the movie version of "Gypsy," but I've always found it very faithful to the original (yeah, there's some narration; so what?), and I think Roz is wonderful as Rose, even if she is largely dubbed by Lisa Kirk. With Roz, everything is from the heart.

Roz may have been gracious and kind to other actresses whom she considered to be absolutely no competition for her at all, but from everything I've read about her, she was a foolish, selfish diva who didn't know her limitations and whose instincts were frequently way, way off. For example, when AUNTIE MAME was first being adapted for the stage by Lawrence and Lee, she insisted that the action should be updated to the then present, i.e. the 1950s, which of course would have wrought havoc on many elements of the plot. Fortunately, Lawrence and Lee ignored her on that.

I kind of doubt that either Ethel Merman or Edie Adams considered Roz "gracious" and "kind."

Natalie was so beautiful around GYPSY, lOVE WITH THE PROPER STRANGER, THE GREAT RACE; Just a perfect doll

Who would be Natalie Wood's modern day counterparts?

Portman obviously, french actresses Tautou and Ledoyen. Child stars who became ravishingly beautiful brunettes

R545 Naya Rivera

The only time you can change a man is when he's a baby.

r548 that's an actual quote. Natalie was very witty. you're a connoisseur

Thanks, yes!

Alan was very good friends with Gregson and Natalie, and he loved Natalie. When they had a dinner party, or an evening at a restaurant, she would wait for him at the stage door, like any other fan, and he remembered how sweet she was, as a person.

Sydney Pollack said she was a good actress but only in drama and with a good script and director.

^ The actual quote was "she was a damn good actress. When well cast, no-one was better "

The only movie of hers that I didn't like, (as an adult actress) is PENELOPE. it's really bad. Not her fault tho. I tried to watch the last couple in America, but couldn't.

^married couple

Will somebody start a part two thread? We're getting close.

Natalie is big enough a star to fill up a thread, which is a remakable star power these days, but she might not be big enough to sustain a sequel. I don't know of any star of any era, much less the golden age, who could carry 2 threads back to back.

Technically, not from the golden age, but Linda Lavin can fill two threads simultanously...

I've worked with a costume designer who worked with Nat. She said that Nat was lovely, always polite and sweet with everyone, never minded being accosted by fans, always answered sweetly, "yes , I'm natalie wood, nice to meet you" (looking at you Betty Bacall )and was physically the most insecure actress she ever worked with. She would check up her make up every 5 minutes, even in her knives blades if she was eating.

This thread made me watch LOVE WITH THE PROPER STRANGER again. She should have won an academy award for that. and she was breathtakingly beautiful. I don't think she was ever more so than in this film

R559, or she loved to look at her lovely face?

R561 no, it was insecurity about her looks. Lana said she didn't want to be seen without make up, and would go to the beauty parlour for a facial in full star make up. She would pick her mail in full make up.

r562 Was Lana any different?

Lana wasn't a movie star, she was in movies, she didn't feel the same pressure, even though she had a couple of nose jobs to look more like Natalie (freakish)

Lana Wood is a heck of a writer. I enjoyed both of her books.

Natalie had delicate features. Lana looked like someone who many years ago would have been called a "hard ticket."

It's been widely rumored that Natalie and Lana didn't have the same father.

Natalie was sublime

A rare beauty, a warm personality. There hasn't been anyone like her

If she had lived would she have been cast in that Tom Brady movie today?

She would have been cast as the chief police officer in Spielberg triumphant woke remake of WSS

41 years ago this weekend she left us.

R572 How are y'all celebrating the commemoration ? I think we'll watch a lesser known movie, perhaps THE GIRL HE LEFT BEHIND, have a special meal with something that she liked, like huevos rancheros. I've made a butternut pie. Light a few candles. I have a little sink stopper that I called NatalieWood for the occasion, a handreaching out of water. What are your plans ?

I'm going to avoid inebriated yachting with Robert Wagner for damn sure.

The best film directors of Natalie Wood would always get a close-up of her face as often as possible.

she was ravinshingly beautiful and the camera loved her. Debbie Reynolds said she was made for the camera, tiny nose, huge eyes.

Madonna slightly resembles her

I just watched Marjorie Morningstar on YouTube. She was stunningly beautiful in that movie. Her acting was excellent, in the emotional scenes with Gene Kelly. She had a lot of appeal....you can't take your eyes off her. She had a soft face with huge, expressive brown eyes.

steve mcqueen makes me MOIST!

banana peel on the deck.

And by "banana peel on deck", RJ, you mean "Chris Walken's cock in your mouth"

Everyone seemed to love Natalie, even Bacall, and she hardly liked anyone.

🐒 If we have to explain it to you, OP, just move along .........

41 years ago today.

That’s right ☝🏼. Sad

[quote] Madonna slightly resembles her

R577 = ...Madonna.

She was wonderful in MARJORIE MORNINGSTAR. Watched REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE, recently. My god, at 16, what a beauty! she wipes the floor with Taylor, too.

R582, They were both of Russian heritage.

[quote] Everyone seemed to love Natalie, even Bacall,

did B. ever talk about Nat ? I read "by myself" a 100 years ago, can't remember

Bacall's mother first name was also Natalie

Natalie Wood and Cary Grant both died on November 29th, five years apart.

1981 - 1986

R589, Bacall wrote that “Sex and the Single Girl” was a bad movie with a good cast.

Both oscarless. hollywood = ridiculous

[quote] Bacall wrote that “Sex and the Single Girl” was a bad movie with a good cast.

Is that the most positive thing Bacall said in her entire life ?

I remember that Bacall wrote that she went to see Vivien Leigh in "duels of angels" in LA, and that Vivien looked incredibly beautiful.... Overweight or not.

What was wrong with that chick ?

a rare photo of Natalie where she doesn' t look achingly vulnerable

sorry wrong link

She was easily more beautiful than Monroe and Taylor

Natalie's dad was very handsome. Wonder if Lana's dad was hot too.

That beautiful face