Natalie Wood Biography Essay Example

Thrashing around cold and salty ocean water, unable to stay afloat. Yelling and screaming with no one to hear her, no one to save her. One last kick, one last breath. It was all over for Natalie Wood, an American actress and model. 

Natalie was born in San Francisco California, July 20th 1938 to Russian immigrant parents Maria and Nicholas Zakharenko. Her parents later had a second child Lana Zakharenko in 1946, they also changed their last name to Gurdin after obtaining American citizenship. Natalie's father was a janitor and her mother was a housewife who had big dreams of becoming a ballerina growing up. Maria decided to pass this pasion onto Natalie and later to Lana as well. Maria would take Natalie with her to the cinema where she could watch and learn from child Hollywood stars. 

After the family moved to California Natalie started getting noticed by film crews during a movie production. This led her to audition for acting roles, her family loved this and they soon moved to Los Angeles to find more acting roles for young Natalie. She was given the stage name Woods by executives William Goetz and David Lewis, which was soon passed on to her younger Lana when she got into show biz too. 

Natalie got her first acting gig when she was just five years old. She starred in the 1943 movie “Happy Land”, she played a little girl who dropped her Ice cream cone. Even though the scene only lasted 15 seconds, it was a big break for her. She had gotten plenty of job offers for about two years before she got her first substantial role in a movie called “Tomorrow is Forever ''. After her amazing performance in this film she started appearing in more and more shows and movies. It wasn't long before she was able to sign a contract with 20th Century Fox. This led her to play in a very popular Christmas movie in 1953 titled,“Miracle on 34th Street''. This was her first official taste of fame.

Being in the spotlight once again got her more job offers, and Natalie mainly went for more family friendly movies. She was in high demand and eventually starred in over twenty films as a child. Despite all of the filming and the crazy lifestyle, Natalie was still required to go to school. She ended up only spending about three hours in a classroom a day and was actually a very good student. 

At 16 years old Natalie was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress after starring in the very popular 1955 movie “Rebel without a cause”. This film helped her transition to more advanced roles. However it took awhile to get casted for those roles, after she graduated from Van Nuys High School she signed a contract with Warner Brothers. She also had gotten married to childhood friend Robert Wagner during this time of waiting for job offers. They mainly casted her as the girlfriend of the main character, roles that put her talent on the sideline. In this time period she only got in a few good movies, with one being 1961 film “Splendor in the Grass”, the movie portrayed her skills beautifully and she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress. Even with all the amazing things happening in her work life, she ended up getting a divorce with Wagner at age 24.

Natalie went on to star in movies such as “West Side Story” of 1961 (highest-grossing film of 1961), “Gypsy” of 1962 (eighth highest-grossing film of 1962), and “Love with the Proper Stranger” of 1963 (which she received yet another nomination for an Academy Award). She was now tied for the youngest person to receive three Oscar nominations at only age 25. She continued acting until 1966 where she decided to take a three year break to focus on her mental health. She canceled her contract with Warner Brothers and fired all of her support team. In 1969 she finally took another acting job for the comedy “Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice”. Sadly Natalie decided to take yet another long term break from acting. 

1970 rolled around and Natalie married the screenwriter Riachard Greyson and was pregnant with her first child. She was starting a different chapter of her life, a more relaxed chapter. She decided to be a stay at home mother and enter semi-retirement. Natalie then got a divorce from Greyson in 1972 and was quick to remarry her first husband Robert Wagner. The two had their first child together in 1974. The next 7 years of her life she would only appear in 4 more movies.

On November 28, 1981 Natalie was drinking and having a nice weekend on Wagner’s yacht "Splendour" for the weekend near Catalina Island. She was accompanied by her husband Robert Wagner, fellow actor Christopher Walken, and the boat's captain Dennis Davern. Out of nowhere Natalie went missing. Her body was found one mile away face down in the water. A small inflatable boat was beached on a nearby shore and her blood alcohol level was .14. The next day LACSD closed the case and labeled it as an accidental drowning.