Natalie Wood Rehearsing A Striptease Number For Her 1962 Film, “Gypsy.”

Natalie Wood, James Dean, and Sal Mineo in a screen test for “Rebel Without a Cause,” 1955.

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

Natalie Wood photographed for “the Great Race,” 1965.

Natalie Wood in Griffith Park, Los Angeles, 1957, photo by Charlotte Brooks

“I tested three times for the part. The director, Nicholas Ray, was besieged by dozens of girls wanting to play Judy. After weeks of waiting, I heard the part was mine. But I had to keep quiet because the studio wanted to announce it at the right moment. I felt like running through the halls of Warner’s!”

Natalie Wood on her casting as Judy in “Rebel Without a Cause;” Natalie Wood and James Dean in a screen test for “Rebel Without a Cause,” 1955.

Natalie Wood and James Dean on the set of Rebel Without A Cause

NATALIE WOOD’S pink party dress in SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS (1961)

Natalie Wood photographed in 1966.

Natalie Wood photographed by Ernst Haas at singing rehearsals for “West Side Story,” circa 1961.

Natalie Wood photographed by Bill Ray, 1963.

“While Natalie hero-worshipped [Nick] Ray, she was in awe of Dean... “He was all she could talk about. Every night for weeks in a row, she went to see “East of Eden”— she must have seen it over fifty times. She even taught me to play the theme song from the picture on the piano.” According to Natalie’s tutor, “She would hang around him as much as possible... she was very flirtatious with him.” ’

Excerpt from Natalie Wood by Suzanne Finstad; Natalie Wood gets James Dean’s autograph on set of “Rebel Without a Cause,” 1955.

Dean, with blood on his shirt, signs Natalie Wood’s suede autograph jacket. He was her 100th co-star to sign. Wood’s mother later burned the signatures with a hot needle for posterity.