More than four decades have passed since actress Natalie Wood died mysteriously and untimely in 1981.
Natalie Wood was 43 years old and at that time, she was already one of the most beautiful faces in classic Hollywood. She is remembered for mythical films: Rebel Without a Cause (1955), Centaurs of the Desert (1956), West Side Story (1961), and Splendor in the Grass (1961). Her personal life was also closely linked to the cinema, due to her curious love story with Robert Wagner, whom she married twice.
Natalie Wood's death: accident or murder?
Natalie Wood drowned on the night of November 29, 1981. Her body was found floating near the island of San Catalina in southern California. Those days, she was on a yacht trip with her husband Wagner, and also with the actor Christopher Walken, with whom she had just shot the movie Project Brainstorm (1983).
The first hypothesis reached by forensics was that she probably slipped and fell into the water. It happened one night when everyone had dinner and drank, and the first official report indicated that the actress, in a drunken state, tried to get away from the ship in an inflatable boat. But she tripped, fell into the sea, and was found the next day floating near some rocks. Two weeks later, authorities certified her death as an accident.
2011, reopening of Natalie Wood's case
Several decades later, in 2011, the Los Angeles police reopened the case due to a change of testimony from Dennis Daver, the ship's captain. He confirmed that that night he witnessed an argument between Natalie and her husband, and all doubts were cast because the official report indicated bruises on her body and arms.
The following year, they changed her death certificate to "drowning and undetermined factors" and the record now indicates that "the circumstances are not established."
Robert Wagner confirms an argument that night
In his memoir Pieces of My Heart: A life, published in 2008, Robert Wagner recalls an argument that night, although he completely distances himself from the death of his wife.
Recently in 2020, Robert Wagner (currently 92 years old) remembers more details of that fateful night in the documentary Natalie Wood behind the scenes. He acknowledges that he had a discussion with Christopher Walken about his wife's professional career, in which they broke a bottle.
He also remembers that he stayed to collect the glass remains along with the ship's captain Dennis Davern. Later, he realized that his wife was not in the room, and they quickly notified the authorities.
Despite these latest explanations in the documentary, the death of Natalie Wood has always been a mystery, and to this day, more than 40 years later, it is not known what happened, on that night in November 1981.
