Natalie Wood became a popular figure in Hollywood, becoming a hit with fans and appearing in numerous movies. Her performances in West Side Story and Gypsy led to Oscar nominations. She also earned praise for roles in modern films, including Splendor in the Grass and Sex and the Single Girl.
Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
Two years after the war ended and people were still shaken, George Seaton wrote this irresistible fable that lifts everyone’s spirits. With Edmund Gwenn as a cultured gentleman who claims to be Macy’s department store Santa Claus, the movie is about faith, goodwill and Christmas spirit.
The film shows how good, kind and devoted people can be when they have faith in one another. The lawyer (Fred Gailey) who takes on Kris Kringle’s case is one such person. His determination to defend a man who has been accused of madness is unquestionable.
Natalie’s performance is also outstanding. She reaches a maturity level that was beyond her years. Her eyes and the subdued way she carries herself in her final scene makes it a very powerful moment for me. She won a Golden Globe for it but lost an Oscar. Her next film, a Universal melodrama called Tomorrow is Forever (1946) was equally as good and it showcases her dramatic skills.
Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
Rebel Without a Cause is a serious-minded film that illuminates the hot topic of juvenile delinquency that huffy authorities at the time blamed on everything from Bill Haley to comic books. The movie focuses on a group of emotionally confused teenagers whose rebellion is rooted in their sense of disillusionment.
The film’s opening scene of live-wire actor James Dean drunk in the gutter is a powerful statement that conveys the message that the film means business. Director Nicholas Ray was able to capture the essence of young rebellion with his script and his choice of actors (including Wood, Mineo, and Dean).
The film is a testament to the power of a good performance, and it also illustrates the need for compassion and understanding. It’s a call for us to make a change, to create communities where teens feel safe to express themselves and be supported and loved. The movie’s end is a tragedy, but the change that it inspires is a triumph.
Splendor in the Grass (1961)
Unlike the usual youth exploitation pictures of the period, Splendor in the Grass deals with love, loss and hypocrisy in small town America. The film is also a frank look at repressed sexuality and family morals. It features Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty, who made his screen debut in this drama, at their very best.
Written by playwright William Inge and directed by Elia Kazan, the film is set in 1928 Kansas. Young Deanie Loomis (Wood) falls head over heels for Bud Stamper, the son of a local politician. Their blossoming romance is hampered by family, morals and money worries.
The movie was the breakthrough of both stars and marked a new direction in Wood’s career. She would later name her boat the Splendour in honor of this film. The film also featured the acting debut of Sandy Dennis and a cameo by Phyllis Diller. It was the first time that Inge had written a screenplay directly for film.
West Side Story (1961)
The sexy musical West Side Story put Wood back on the map and won her another Oscar nomination. The film, which was co-directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins (who also choreographed), was a breakthrough in the way it combined standard dramatic elements with music and dance. The production’s dazzling set and choreography was so successful that it led to the creation of a new genre of movie musicals.
Critics hailed it as one of the greatest films of all time and credited Wood’s performance as Maria, a restless Puerto Rican girl torn between her love for the Jets and the Sharks, with giving one of her best performances. She followed with Splendor in the Grass (1961), which portrayed a small-town young woman distraught over a romantic relationship, for which she received a second Oscar nomination. In modern dramas such as Love with the Proper Stranger (1963) and Sex and the Single Girl (1964), she continued to demonstrate her range as an actress.
Love with the Proper Stranger (1963)
In 1954 Wood signed with Warner Brothers, the studio that would dominate her career. Her first film under their aegis was the downbeat romance Love with the Proper Stranger, in which she played an Italian-American girl torn between desire and family conventions.
Featuring fine performances by a strong cast, this is a well-crafted movie that manages to convey its themes in a subtle manner. The film also marks the beginning of a long-lasting collaboration between Wood and Oscar-nominated costume designer Edith Head.
The film ably combines humour with more serious subjects, including abortion (not yet legal in New York at the time of shooting). And despite the fact that it stars two enormously charismatic leading men, it is not overly sentimental.
It’s easy to see why this is one of Natalie Wood’s most beloved movies. It shows her transition from an innocent sexually repressed young girl to a woman capable of loving and having sex.
Sex and the Single Girl (1964)
Like it’s literary namesake, Sex and the Single Girl is a campy relic from the dawn of the sexual revolution. But the film is a lot of fun with Natalie Wood, Tony Curtis and Henry Fonda delivering some droll humor.
Director Richard Quine (Bell Book and Candle) has a knack for this kind of sophisticated screwball comedy and all three leads are a joy to watch. In particular, Wood is hilarious as the shrewd editor of tabloid magazine Stop. Her colleague Bob Weston has just published a scalding article about psychologist Helen Gurley Brown’s best-selling book Sex and the Single Girl. The piece questions the 23-year-old’s experience with sex and relationships, but Brown refuses to be interviewed.
Joseph Hoffman’s bouncy script may get a little lost in its own verbiage, but it still manages to deliver some good-natured farce. The movie is also highlighted by a riotous car chase sequence featuring multiple mix-ups and Edith Head’s marvelous wardrobe.
The Great Race (1965)
In this comedy super-production, the daredevil duo of Leslie (Tony Curtis) and Fate (Jack Lemmon) decide to prove which one is the best man by racing across America and Europe in their unique, custom-built cars. Headstrong suffragette Maggie DuBois forces her way into the race as the first female reporter to track their progress, and she decides to drive a car herself in order to be there at every turn of the race.
The movie is dedicated to Laurel and Hardy, and it certainly pays tribute to them in the form of good-natured slapstick, wonderful antique automobiles, and a spectacular pie fight. The film also reveals the changing world in which Wood lived, with motorized cars threatening horse-drawn carriages and the suffragette movement challenging social hierarchies.
After this, Wood settled down to domestic life with husband Wagner, appearing in the comedy Peeper (1975), the disaster film Meteor (1979) and the sex comedy The Last Married Couple in America (1980). She was already battling serious health problems by this time.
Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969)
After a string of flops, director Elia Kazan gave Natalie Wood the role that would help her to reclaim her career in Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice. The film lampoones the trendy aspect of the era’s sexual liberation and raises questions about status quo hypocrisy.
After returning from a freethinking group encounter session, Bob (Robert Culp) and Carol (Natalie Wood) begin sexually experimenting. They share their new philosophy with their more inhibited friends, Ted and Alice (Elliott Gould and Dyan Cannon).
Wood is brilliant as Carol, a woman who believes she’s entitled to whatever her heart desires. She brings a naturalness to the role that makes her an appealing and sympathetic character. After the movie, she settled into motherhood and made only four more theatrical films before her death.
From Here to Eternity (1979)
In 1961, Natalie Wood cemented her status as a top movie star with the Oscar-nominated Splendor in the Grass and West Side Story. In modern romances Love with the Proper Stranger (1963) and Sex and the Single Girl (1964), she displayed her versatility as an actress.
But it was her frank use of the word “fuck” in her role as a wife discussing adultery with George Segal in Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice that broke new ground for an actress who had maintained a clean, middle-class image. In a final run of four films, she appeared in the thriller Peeper (1975), the science fiction film Meteor (1979) and the comedy The Last Married Couple in America (1980).
Finstad’s exhaustive research and interviews with those close to Wood resulted in a biography that is both entertaining and informative. It is a comprehensive portrait of a talented, complex artist who died in 1981 at age 43.