Natalie Wood: Photos of a Life Cut Mysteriously Short
As police reopen the investigation into the tragic end of one of America's most beloved actors, LIFE takes a look back at Natalie Wood's life.
Foreshadowing Future Romance
Wood charms Steve McQueen in their 1963 sit-down. Years later, when both were between marriages, they'd spark up a brief romance -- just another of many adventures Natalie Wood would experience over a life that burned fast and bright. The Academy Award winner, who began acting at the age of 4, died in a mysterious boating accident in 1981 at age 43.
John Dominis/TIME & LIFE Pictures.
Song and Dance
In 1945, LIFE's Martha Holmes paid a visit to 6-year-old studio newcomer Natalie Wood. Here, young Natalie Wood practices her movement as her 16-year-old sister Olga plays a Chopin waltz. From the LIFE reporter's notes: "Natasha [Wood's given name] loves to get in ballet costume when she dances because she says she feels more like dancing then. The picture of Orson Welles on the piano was given to Natasha by Welles and says, 'For my darling daughter Natasha with love from Orson Welles,' Orson being her first father in a picture."
Martha Holmes/TIME & LIFE Pictures.
Almost 12 Years Later: A Movie Star
Natalie Wood, age 18, sits poolside at her brand-new Laurel Canyon home. By 1956, the actress had transitioned to more challenging fare -- like Rebel Without a Cause, a movie that greatly affected her approach to acting and earned Wood her first Oscar nomination. Here, photographer Crane aimed to capture Wood's new maturity by riffing on one of the few Martha Holmes frames from 1945 that ended up in LIFE's pages.
Ralph Crane/TIME & LIFE Pictures.
They Even Did Their Own Stunts
Nick Adams and Dennis Hooper swing Natalie Wood in a 1956 spoof of movie Trapeze, at the time a popular musical starring Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, and Gina Lollobrigida.
Ralph Crane/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images.
Story Time
Hopper (lying on sofa) and Adams listen intently as Wood reads aloud from Thomas Wolfe's The Hills Beyond. "Natalie does the majority of the reading at these soirees, but they take turns," LIFE's reporter wrote in notes discovered in the magazine's archives. "Natalie says she has read every word Wolfe has ever written. They also read plays, by such authors as Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, Sidney Kingsley, Carson McCullers. Natalie's favorite book is The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery."
Ralph Crane/TIME & LIFE Pictures.
Is That Elvis Calling?
Wood takes a call while sitting on her bed at home in 1956. "As popular a gal as one might expect, Natalie gets calls from all over, places like Memphis when Elvis is there," LIFE's reporter observed, referring to the actress's flirtation with rocker Presley. At the time, Wood was seeing Nicky Hilton, Elizabeth Taylor's first ex-husband.
Ralph Crane/TIME & LIFE Pictures.
New House, New Natalie
In 1960, LIFE's Allan Grant photographed the 22-year-old actress and wife of actor Robert Wagner stretched out by the pool of their huge Beverly Hills home, which the couple planned to transform from a clapboard Colonial to a columned Grecian. Grant's shoot was meant to go in the magazine's year-end issue -- the actress had two huge movies, Splendor in the Grassand West Side Story, queued up -- but for reasons lost to history, none of the photos ever appeared.
Allan Grant/TIME & LIFE Pictures.
Inside the Show
Wood smiles beside her date for the Oscars, Warren Beatty, inside the ceremony at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in 1962. Although she didn't win best actress -- Sophia Loren would take the statuette that night, for Two Women -- Wood's West Side Story cleaned up, taking 10 Academy Awards including best picture, best supporting actress (Rita Moreno), best supporting actor (George Chakiris), and best director (Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise).
Allan Grant/TIME & LIFE Pictures.
Calm at Cannes
In 1962, 23-year-old Wood remained her charming self even as the paparazzi "pursued her like jackals" according to LIFE. "At a party given by the Russian delegation, Natalie, the daughter of Russian emigrants, delighted her hosts by conversing fluently in their language and even joining in folk songs."