Natalie Wood And Jack Lemmon Depicted By Caricaturist Al Hirschfeld, For “the Great Race,” 1965.

Natalie Wood in a dance rehearsal for “West Side Story,” circa 1961. photos by Ernst Haas.

“Dean barely spoke to Natalie that morning, but trailed her out the door during the lunch break, inviting her on his motorcycle. “I was thrilled. We went speeding off to some greasy spoon.”... Dean chatted with Natalie about the script at lunch, relaxing her. Suddenly he put down his sandwich. “I know you,” he said challengingly. “You’re a child actor.” Natalie, who sensed he was testing her, responded, “That’s true. But it’s better than acting like a child.” Dean “didn’t get it for a moment,” she later recalled. “Then he started to laugh. Then I started to laugh.” Natalie Wood by Suzanne Finstad.

Natalie Wood and Richard Beymer photographed by Ronald Grant for West Side Story, 1961.

Natalie Wood in LOVE WITH THE PROPER STRANGER (1963) Costume Design by Edith Head

When I saw The Umbrellas of Cherbourg again a few years ago, it struck me: it’s exactly the same ending as in Splendor in the Grass. I adore that film. It’s one of the most beautiful love stories I’ve ever seen in the cinema. And the end scene is exactly the same as in Umbrellas. He is on the farm, with his dungarees, his wife, the child and she comes back…it was so moving to see that resemblance. I think it is one of the maddest, most audacious films on the subject of love. Particularly for a man to bring a young woman to life in such a way! Splendor in the Grass is so much about unbridled love. The idea that loving can make you insane. That is what happens: you become insane! Going as far as to see her leave for the hospital, because she is dying of love, she wants to die! That film knocked me over. - Catherine Deneuve

Natalie Wood in Love With the Proper Stranger, 1963

Natalie Wood photographed by Bill Ray for Life Magazine, 1963.

Natalie Wood in SEX AND THE SINGLE GIRL (1964)  ↳ costume design by Edith Head

Natalie Wood photographed at the opening of “the Boys in the Band,” 1969.

“While Natalie hero-worshipped [Nick] Ray, she was in awe of Dean... “He was all she could talk about. Every night for weeks in a row, she went to see “East of Eden”— she must have seen it over fifty times. She even taught me to play the theme song from the picture on the piano.” According to Natalie’s tutor, “She would hang around him as much as possible... she was very flirtatious with him.” ’

Excerpt from Natalie Wood by Suzanne Finstad; Natalie Wood gets James Dean’s autograph on set of “Rebel Without a Cause,” 1955.

Dean, with blood on his shirt, signs Natalie Wood’s suede autograph jacket. He was her 100th co-star to sign. Wood’s mother later burned the signatures with a hot needle for posterity.