Though Nothing Can Bring Back The Hour Of Splendour In The Grass, Of Glory In The Flower, We Will Grieve

Natalie Wood in “Love With the Proper Stranger,” 1963.

Love with the Proper Stranger (1963) dir. Robert Mulligan

Natalie Wood pinning up photos of her late co-star James Dean on her vanity mirror, 1955.

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 at a party thrown by songwriter Jimmy McHughes, 1958.

Natalie Wood rehearses “the Sweetheart Tree,” on set of “the Great Race,” 1965.

Natalie Wood photographed attending the 1968 Robert F. Kennedy Campaign Benefit Luncheon.

Natalie Wood photographed by Bill Ray, 1963.

Natalie Wood in SEX AND THE SINGLE GIRL (1964)  ↳ costume design by Edith Head

“Elia Kazan assured me a double would do the scene where I was under an eight-foot waterfall. But then it turned out the double couldn’t swim at all, and I had to do it. I told Kazan: “I’ll do it only if you take me out to the waterfall and throw me in. I know I can’t swim that far, and I’m scared besides.” And that’s what they did. They threw me in, and had to get out fast before I drowned. ”

Natalie Wood by Suzanne Finstad; Natalie Wood photographed in between takes of “Splendor in the Grass,” 1960.