# What Happened To Natalie Wood? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 19, 2011, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-natalie-wood/603478 "2011-11-19T19:35:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2011, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-natalie-wood/603478/41 "2011-11-21T22:44:41Z")
Why are all the news article pictures of Natalie and Robert Wagner in black & white? This may be a shock to some, but we did have color magazines in the 1970’s. Heck we even had People Magazine back then. Yes it was in color too. She died in 1981. Whats up with the black & white photos? 😕 She didn’t die in 1961 for gosh sakes. > **[Archive blogs](https://www.latimes.com/archives/blogs/)** > > Los Angeles Times blogs that were published between 2006 and 2013. ---
**Author:** ![jk1245](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/49beb7/32.png) [@jk1245](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jk1245)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2011, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-natalie-wood/603478/42 "2011-11-21T23:08:54Z")
I’ve always found the Walken connection odd. What was he doing there? I know he had just finished (or was still filming) a movie with Natalie, but still it seems oddly intimate to take a private cruise with your costar and her husband on Thanksgiving weekend, especially since Walken was (and still is) married. I know “things are different” in Hollywood, but it always seemed strange. And, yeah, this whole scene has always had the drunken fight that led to an accidental drowning vibe to me. At any rate, there’s no way they can come up with any new evidence at this point. Lastly, I am officially freaked out that something that occurred in the 80’s can be said to have happened **30** years ago. I realize that’s been the case for the last 2 years or so, but somehow this is the first things that’s driven it home. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2011, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-natalie-wood/603478/43 "2011-11-21T23:16:31Z")
> [@papergirl](#): > > FTR, I think Chris Walken is still hot. > He’s just so freaking _weird._ I think that’s pretty much the whole of his attractiveness for those of us who still find him…oddly hot. He was incredibly hot in _Dead Zone_, and even in _At Close Range_, where he was evil. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2011, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-natalie-wood/603478/44 "2011-11-21T23:23:38Z")
> [@jk1245](#): > > Lastly, I am officially freaked out that something that occurred in the 80’s can be said to have happened **30** years ago. I realize that’s been the case for the last 2 years or so, but somehow this is the first things that’s driven it home. You really want to be freaked-out? If Natalie Wood were still alive, she’d be _73_. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2011, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-natalie-wood/603478/45 "2011-11-21T23:52:47Z")
I recall when Robert and Natalie remarried in 1972. I was in elementary school. They were constantly on various talk hows and seemed so happy being back together. It was such a shock to learn they had bitter arguments prior to her death. That had not been the picture painted in the fan magazines. They were Hollywoods glamor couple. Robert had a hit tv show and Natalie had her movie career. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-natalie-wood/603478/46 "2011-11-22T01:10:35Z")
Still, I’m sorry she drowned. And I’m sorry Kirk Douglass raped her when she was a teenager. Because she was a pretty girl. And pretty girls don’t deserve that shit. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-natalie-wood/603478/47 "2011-11-22T01:30:40Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > He was incredibly hot in _Dead Zone_, and even in _At Close Range_ Wasn’t the whole point of his breakout performance in _Annie Hall_ that he looks like he could be Diane Keaton’s tall and good-looking brother the all-American WASP – right up until he opens his mouth and starts in with the unsettling creepy weirdness, somehow making Woody Allen the most cheerful and well-adjusted guy in the room? ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-natalie-wood/603478/48 "2011-11-22T01:44:07Z")
> [@Washoe](#): > > Q. Who was the last person to fuck Natalie Wood? > > A. Thomas Noguchi. I was old enough in 1981 (15) that I remember the news of her death (though not old enough to know anything about her other than "that’s her on Mom’s _West Side Story_ soundtrack LP), and I remember the dark jokes, but I don’t remember this one and … I honestly don’t get it. Probably because I have no idea who Thomas Noguchi is/was. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-natalie-wood/603478/49 "2011-11-22T01:57:46Z")
Plus, _Brainstorm_ was a crappy movie. ETA [Noguchi](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Noguchi) was the coroner to the stars ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-natalie-wood/603478/50 "2011-11-22T02:15:24Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > I was old enough in 1981 (15) that I remember the news of her death (though not old enough to know anything about her other than "that’s her on Mom’s _West Side Story_ soundtrack LP), and I remember the dark jokes, but I don’t remember this one and … I honestly don’t get it. Probably because I have no idea who Thomas Noguchi is/was. I didn’t get it either until I spent ten seconds on Google. ---
**Author:** ![mac\_bolan00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b3f665/32.png) [@mac\_bolan00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mac_bolan00)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-natalie-wood/603478/51 "2011-11-22T07:27:57Z")
i remember the time mag feature say someone heard (wood?) shouting for help. who was that? ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-natalie-wood/603478/52 "2011-11-22T07:39:40Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > You really want to be freaked-out? If Natalie Wood were still alive, she’d be _73_. And I don’t even want to think of what being buried for more than 30 years would have done to her skin. ---
**Author:** ![Imasquare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Imasquare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Imasquare)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-natalie-wood/603478/53 "2011-11-22T12:07:04Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Why are all the news article pictures of Natalie and Robert Wagner in black & white? > > This may be a shock to some, but we did have color magazines in the 1970’s. Heck we even had People Magazine back then. Yes it was in color too. > > She died in 1981. Whats up with the black & white photos? 😕 She didn’t die in 1961 for gosh sakes. > [Archive blogs](http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/11/natalie-wood-death-christopher-walken.html) Even in 1961 there was color photography, but I guess most publications didn’t use it. I think many people don’t realize that color TV first hit the market all the way back in 1953. Color photography would be well before that. ---
**Author:** ![What\_the](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f4b2a3/32.png) [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-natalie-wood/603478/54 "2011-11-22T13:13:03Z")
> [@BeaMyra](#): > > It’s a good think they reopened this case, as I’m sure that everyone has much better memories in 2011 of what happened 30 years ago, then they did when it first happened. :rolleyes: Is this the book that was published two years ago in September 2009? ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-natalie-wood/603478/55 "2011-11-22T14:15:57Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > I was old enough in 1981 (15) that I remember the news of her death (though not old enough to know anything about her other than "that’s her on Mom’s _West Side Story_ soundtrack LP). Oh, no, Marni Nixon drowned, too? ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-natalie-wood/603478/56 "2011-11-22T17:31:09Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Oh, no, Marni Nixon drowned, too? Natalie Wood _in the jacket pictures_ on my Mom’s _West Side Story_ soundtrack LP! _In the pictures!_. Seriously though, back then I don’t think I realized that wasn’t really her singing — again because I didn’t know anything about her beyond WSS. I’m not sure if even my mom knew - according to [Ms. Nixon’s Wikipedia page](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marni_Nixon#Career_highlights): > [@](#): > > Her film contributions were not credited, with the exception of _Dementia_, in which she received on-screen credit as “Featured Voice”. Nixon did not begin to be fully credited until the movies’ subsequent release on VHS decades later. > > Because she performed the voices for actresses in musicals, she has been called “The Ghostess with the Mostess”, and “The Voice of Hollywood”. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-natalie-wood/603478/57 "2011-11-22T17:59:08Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > I don’t think I realized that wasn’t really her singing — again because I didn’t know anything about her beyond WSS. Rita Moreno is still seriously pissed-off about Natalie Wood getting that “Hispanic” role–where was \*Rita \*in November 1981? “You feel pretty? You feel pretty _now_, bitch?” ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-natalie-wood/603478/58 "2011-11-22T19:26:54Z")
> [@mac\_bolan00](#): > > i remember the time mag feature say someone heard (wood?) shouting for help. who was that? It was a woman in another yacht near Wood’s boat. She was interviewed by some news magazine a few days and claimed the shouting went on for hours. And then said they tried to call the Coast Guard , but got no answer. Then she acted all horrified that Wagner waited to call the Coast Guard. :rolleyes: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-natalie-wood/603478.md?page=2)