Natashawood - The Sweetheart Tree

“In July, [Frank] Sinatra cohosted with R.J. an extravagant surprise twenty-first birthday party for Natalie at Romanoff’s, serenading her in song with Dean Martin.”

Excerpt from Natalie Wood by Suzanne Finstad; Natalie Wood photographed at her 21st birthday party, 1959.

Natalie Wood photographed with a guinea pig behind the scenes of “Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice,” 1969.

During my Ophelia stage, I began to watch films starring Natalie Wood that were shot in the 1960s. There was something about her wide eyes and fragility that reminded me of these drowning women, the fair Ophelia. In Splendor in the Grass, Natalie’s character Deanie loses her mind and self-destructs in more and more glamorous ways, eventually wading into a pond decked out in a gorgeous flapper dress for her suicide attempt. Deanie is saved, goes to therapy, and gets set to marry a nice doctor. But I didn’t care about that. I cared about the frantic way she slid into the water, the way she picked her footing as she climbed down. In her beauty and self-destruction, she wielded an ugly power. Why were these fictional beautiful women always losing their minds so extravagantly? Why are they so compelling? I’ve always found wilting orchids more compelling [than girl bosses] - women who burn bright and burn out, undermined by their own desire for love or wholeness or whatever it is that pushes them under water. Some of us choose the self-destructive model and discover power in the tatters. - Patricia Grisafi; Why Are We So intrigued by Beautiful Drowning Women? A Look at Natalie Wood’s Hysterical Glamour

James Dean & Natalie Wood in Rebel Without a Cause (1955) Dir. Nicholas Ray

Miracle on 34th Street (1947) dir. George Seaton

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

“Elia Kazan assured me a double would do the scene where I was under an eight-foot waterfall. But then it turned out the double couldn’t swim at all, and I had to do it. I told Kazan: “I’ll do it only if you take me out to the waterfall and throw me in. I know I can’t swim that far, and I’m scared besides.” And that’s what they did. They threw me in, and had to get out fast before I drowned. ”

Natalie Wood by Suzanne Finstad; Natalie Wood photographed in between takes of “Splendor in the Grass,” 1960.

Natalie Wood rehearses “the Sweetheart Tree,” on set of “the Great Race,” 1965.

Natalie Wood, James Dean, and Nick Adams review their notes behind the scenes of “Rebel Without a Cause,” 1955.

Natalie Wood for Vogue Magazine, Bert Stern, 1964.