In Memory of Natalie Wood
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Natalie Wood was born on July 20, 1938, in San Francisco,California, as Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko. Her parents were Russianémigrés who spoke barely comprehensible English, but they changed thefamily name to Gurdin after becoming US citizens. When she was justfour years old, Natalie appeared in her first film,
Happy Land(1943). A production company had come to Santa Rosa, California, wherethe Gurdins were living and Natalie won a bit part of a crying littlegirl who had just dropped her ice cream cone. With stars in her eyesfor her daughter, Mrs. Gurdin packed the family and moved south to LosAngeles in the hopes that more films would come her daughter's way.Unfortunately, they did not, at least not at first, and the familycontinued to scrape by much as they had done in Santa Rosa. In 1946,Natalie tested for a role in
Tomorrow Is Forever(1946). She was only seven at the time, and flunked the screen test.Natalie's mother convinced the studio heads to give her another test,and this time she was convincing enough that they gave Natalie therole. In 1947's
Miracle on 34th Street(1947), she won the hearts of movie patrons around the country as SusanWalker in a film that is considered a Christmas classic to this day.
Nataliestayed very busy as a child actress, appearing in no less than 18 filmsin the late 1940s and early 1950s. Not all the films she appeared inwere successful -- in fact, two of them were the more notorious duds ofthe period. In 1948, Natalie appeared in
Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay! (1948), a film best left undeveloped and in the can. The other was
The Silver Chalice (1954), a film so awful that years later co-star
Paul Newman, who
debuted in the film, took out an ad and apologized for the movie when it came to television. When she was 16, Natalie appeared in
Rebel Without a Cause (1955) with
James Dean,
Sal Mineo, and
Dennis Hopper.She played Judy, a rebellious high school student who was moreconcerned with hanging out with the wrong crowd than being a sweetteenager like her contemporaries. The result was her first Academy
Award nomination and a defining moment in her development as an adult actress. Her next role was in the classic western film
The Searchers (1956) starring
John Wayne. The film also featured Natalie's younger sister,
Lana Wood.
As Natalie became an adult, her career quickly skyrocketed with roles in classic hits like
Gypsy (1962) and
West Side Story (1961), which won the Academy
Award for Best Picture. Although she wasn't nominated for Oscars for these films, she did receive nominations for her roles in
Splendor in the Grass (1961) and
Love with the Proper Stranger (1963). Unfortunately, she didn't win for either of them. After
This Property Is Condemned (1966) with
Robert Redford,Natalie stayed away from Hollywood for three years to have time forherself and to consider where she was going. When she did return, herstar quality had not diminished a bit, as evidenced by her playingCarol Sanders in the hit
Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice(1969). After this, Natalie didn't work as much. She only appeared inthree films during the next nine years. She devoted most of her time toher two young daughters. As the 1970s came to an end, Natalie beganacting more frequently and appeared in a string of films, including thedisaster movie
Meteor (1979) opposite
Sean Connery and the miniseries film
"From Here to Eternity" (1979) with
Kim Basinger and
William Devane. Natalie's compelling performance in the latter won her a Golden Globe
Award for Best Actress in 1980.
After making
The Last Married Couple in America (1980), Natalie began work on
Brainstorm (1983) in 1981 with
Christopher Walken.She did not live to see it released. On the night of November 29, 1981,she was sailing on the yacht she shared with her husband,
Robert Wagner, and their friend Walken, when Natalie fell in the ocean and drowned. She was 43 years old.
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本帖最後由 dw194711 於 2009-11-2 13:38 編輯 ]
