WEST SIDE STORY (1961) — Dir. Robert Wise & Jerome Robbins

We have to be straight about this. Now, I’m beginning to feel something. I am beginning to feel excited. And do you want me to deny that? Natalie Wood as Carol Sanders in Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969)  dir. Paul Mazursky

Natalie Wood in LOVE WITH THE PROPER STRANGER (1963) Costume Design by Edith Head

During my Ophelia stage, I began to watch films starring Natalie Wood that were shot in the 1960s. There was something about her wide eyes and fragility that reminded me of these drowning women, the fair Ophelia. In Splendor in the Grass, Natalie’s character Deanie loses her mind and self-destructs in more and more glamorous ways, eventually wading into a pond decked out in a gorgeous flapper dress for her suicide attempt. Deanie is saved, goes to therapy, and gets set to marry a nice doctor. But I didn’t care about that. I cared about the frantic way she slid into the water, the way she picked her footing as she climbed down. In her beauty and self-destruction, she wielded an ugly power. Why were these fictional beautiful women always losing their minds so extravagantly? Why are they so compelling? I’ve always found wilting orchids more compelling [than girl bosses] - women who burn bright and burn out, undermined by their own desire for love or wholeness or whatever it is that pushes them under water. Some of us choose the self-destructive model and discover power in the tatters. - Patricia Grisafi; Why Are We So intrigued by Beautiful Drowning Women? A Look at Natalie Wood’s Hysterical Glamour

Natalie Wood photographed on set of “the Burning Hills,” 1956.

Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty at the 34th Academy Awards, 1962.

Natalie Wood and Robert Vaughn photographed at a Halloween party, 1956.

“The next day, she ... went to see Dean in “East of Eden,” which had opened at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. “She walked out and said, ‘I’m gonna marry him.’ Natalie later admitted she had ‘a big crush’ on Dean. “I remember going with my school girlfriends to see East of Eden like fifteen times, sitting there sobbing when he tried to give the money to his father. We knew every word by heart.”

Natalie Wood photographed by Henri Bureau at Orly Airport, 1964.

NATALIE WOOD in PENELOPE (1966)

Natalie Wood photographed in 1966.