Hollywood is known for the glitz and glamor of its residents and the lifestyle people live. However, it is full of more darkness than most would think. One of the cases that have plagued Hollywood is the drowning of Natalie Wood.
Natalie Wood, formerly known as Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko, was a Hollywood actress in the 1960s. Wood started acting at the age of four and continued her rise to stardom in her adolescence and adult life. She starred in movies like Miracle on 34th Street, Gypsy, Rebel Without A Cause, and West Side Story, among others (Biography.com, 2021).
Now that we have some background, let’s understand what happened on the night of her death.
On November 28th, 1981, Wood, her husband Robert Wagner, friend and co-star Christopher Walken, and boat captain and family friend, Dennis Davern, went on a trip to Catalina Island on their boat named the Splendour (Roberts, 2021).
The group drank and ate at a local restaurant, Doug’s Harbor Reef, before returning to the yacht. It is said that the group was very drunk, and Wagner specifically became violent towards Wood. He claimed that Wood and Walken were having an affair, and smashed a bottle in the process (however, Walken claims that the bottle smashing was in good fun, being a part of a joke). Wood was angered by the conversation and went back to the boat to go to bed. The group returned to the boat at 10:30 pm (Roberts, 2021).
By 11:05, the other group members realized Wood’s disappearance and began the search for her. The boat’s dinghy was also gone (Roberts, 2021).
At 1:30 am, the group reached out for help via a ship-to-shore call. At 3:30 am, the Coast Guard was finally called (Roberts, 2021).
At 8 am on November 29th, Wood’s body was found nearly a mile south of the yacht (Roberts, 2021).
On November 30th, 1981, Wood’s autopsy was conducted. Bruising on her face, legs, and arms were found to be consistent with a fall into the water. Wood’s toxicology showed that her blood alcohol content was about 0.14. Her death was ruled an accident and was closed (Roberts, 2021).
November 17, 2011
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department reopened the case due to additional information from an unidentified source who contacted the authorities (Roberts, 2021).
November 18, 2011
Dennis Davern (the captain) told NBC’s Today that he had lied during his initial interaction with the police. He also detailed that Wagner was responsible for Natalie’s death (Roberts, 2021).
January 14, 2013
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department officially changed Wood’s cause of death to drowning and other undetermined factors, due to a reexamination of bruising on her body. The bruising could not be conclusively linked to being caused before her death (Roberts, 2021).
February 1, 2018
Wagner was labeled as a person of interest for the first time (Roberts, 2021).
This was the last update made to the public. There are two main theories that have been presented. The first theory is that Wood’s death was truly an accident. Some of the bruising on her body could prove that she fell off the boat and was unable to climb into the dinghy.
The other theory states that Wagner was responsible for her death. If we are using Davern’s account, then the case is closed. However, it is bizarre that it took Davern thirty years to speak up.
Personally, I’m not sure what really happened. Wagner is known for having a jealous streak, but being jealous doesn’t prove someone as guilty. I’d love to hear what you all think.
Works Cited
Biography.com Editors. (2021, March 29). Natalie Wood. Biography.com. Retrieved April 5, 2022, from https://www.biography.com/actor/natalie-wood#:~:text=trip%20in%201981.-,Who%20Was%20Natalie%20Wood%3F,in%20Splendor%20in%20the%20Grass.
Roberts, K. (2021, November 2). Natalie Wood’s daughter and husband speak out about her death in new doc. Harper’s BAZAAR. Retrieved April 5, 2022, from https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/film-tv/a32420871/natalie-wood-death-true-story-timeline/
I personally am a conspiracy theorist so I do believe that it’s possible that Wagner had something to do with this. I love reading your passion posts, they’re always so interesting. I also never heard the story of Natalie Wood, I heard about her through a joke on Family Guy but I never understood the reference until now
This was a very interesting read. I had no idea that Christopher Walken had anything to do with something like this. The contrast from the glitz and glamour in Hollywood to the actual content which was the drowning story was very well written.
While I do think it is possible that this was a murder at the hands of Wagner, it is not possible to come to a clear conclusion. This timeline is more unclear than most of your other posts, including Wagner admitting to lying to the police. Either way, great post!