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Natalie Wood
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Natalie Wood, the daughter of Russian Immigrants, was born Natalia Zakharenko on July 20, 1938. Natalie got her first role at the age of 4 in a movie called Happy Land (1943). She continued playing the roles of young girls until the age of 17, where she landed the role of 'Judy' in the legendary film Rebel Without a Cause (1955). This role showed Hollywood and the world that she had grown up into a beautiful and very talented young woman. For this role she was nominated for her first Academy Award. Natalie dated many big names in the entertainment business: James Dean Elvis, Raymond Burr and Dennis Hopper.
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Natalie Wood was born Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko on July 20, 1938 in San Francisco, California. She was the child of Russian immigrants Nicholas and Maria Zaharenko (later changed to Gurdin, and Natalia changed to Natasha), the middle daughter between older sister Olga and younger sister Lana. Natalie made her film debut at the tender age of four. Unable to read yet, her sister Olga would read the lines to her and Natalie would memorize them. Her incredible career spanned almost 40 years.
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Natalie Wood had a number of affairs after this, including one with Warren Beatty, and ended up marrying again in 1969 to Richard Gregson, a British movie producer. The two had a child, Natasha, in 1970. They divorced less than a year later, when Wood discovered that Gregson was having an affair with his secretary. Robert Wagner reappeared in her life around this time, and the two remarried in 1972 aboard his yacht.
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Although she began her career as a child actress, Natalie Wood was never what you could call a "child star". There was no hint of the cutesy mannerisms of some of her contemporaries, but instead a sense of seriousness and intelligence beyond her years in her performances. She radiated warmth and grace in every scene. This was particularly evident when she played a war orphan refugee complete with a German accent opposite Orson Welles and Claudette Colbert in Tomorrow Is Forever at the age of six. Her soft brown eyes reflected every emotion she conveyed on screen. Natalie was one of the few child stars that was able to make a successful transition into adult roles with no awkward period in between.
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Natalie Wood became a child movie star when she played Susan Walker, the little girl who doubts Santa Claus in 1947's Miracle on 34th Street. In her teens she remained a star thanks to movies such as Rebel Without a Cause (1955, with James Dean) and The Searchers (1956, with John Wayne). As an adult she was adept at comedy as well as serious drama, and critically acclaimed in Splendor in the Grass (1961, with Warren Beatty), as Maria in West Side Story (1961) and in Inside Daisy Clover (1965). She drowned mysteriously in 1981 off California's Catalina Island while vacationing with her husband Robert Wagner and actor Christopher Walken.
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In 1981 Natalie Wood was on a yacht with Robert Wagner & Christopher Walkens. Some say Wagner & Walkens had a argument about Walken's behavior towards Natalie. Wood tried to leave or secure a dinghy and slipped & fell overboard.
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Natalie Wood