Editing Natalie Wood (section)

==Adult career==
[[File:Natalie Wood 1958 cropped.jpg|left|thumb|Wood in 1958]]
Tibbetts observed that Wood's characters in ''Rebel'', ''Searchers'', and ''Morningstar'' began to show her widening range of acting styles.<ref name=Tibbetts /> Her former "childlike sweetness" was now being combined with a noticeable "restlessness that was characteristic of the youth of the 1950s."

She was leading lady to [[Frank Sinatra]] in ''[[Kings Go Forth]]'' (1958) then refused roles and was put on suspension by Warners. This lasted for a year until February 1959.<ref>{{Citation | title = Studio Lifts Suspension of Natalie Wood | work = Los Angeles Times | date = February 25, 1959 | page = B1}}.</ref> She returned to be leading lady to James Garner in ''[[Cash McCall]]'' (1960). After Wood appeared in the box office flop ''[[All the Fine Young Cannibals]]'' (1960), she lost momentum. Wood's career was in a transition period, having until then consisted of roles as a child or as a teenager.<ref name=Tibbetts />

===''Splendor in the Grass''===
Biographer [[Suzanne Finstad]] wrote that a "turning point" in Wood's life as an actress took place when she saw the film ''[[A Streetcar Named Desire (1951 film)|A Streetcar Named Desire]]'' (1951): "She was transformed, in awe of director [[Elia Kazan]] and of [[Vivien Leigh]]'s performance… [who] became a role model for Natalie."{{sfn |Finstad|2001|p=107}} "Her roles raised the possibility that one's sensitivity could mark a person as a kind of victim," noted Tibbetts.<ref name=Tibbetts />

After a "series of bad films, her career was already in decline", according to author Douglas Rathgeb.<ref>{{cite book | title = The Making of Rebel Without a Cause | last = Rathgeb | first = Douglas L. | year = 2004 | publisher = [[McFarland & Company]] | location = Jefferson, North Carolina | isbn = 0-7864-6115-2 | page = 199 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=C_9aRwAACAAJ | access-date = March 12, 2014 | archive-date = May 17, 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210517194326/https://books.google.com/books?id=C_9aRwAACAAJ | url-status = live }}</ref> She was then cast in Kazan's ''[[Splendor in the Grass]]'' (1961) with [[Warren Beatty]]. Kazan wrote in his 1997 memoir that the "sages" of the film community declared her "washed up" as an actress, but he still wanted to interview her for his next film:

{{blockquote|When I saw her, I detected behind the well-mannered 'young wife' front a desperate twinkle in her eyes… I talked with her more quietly then and more personally. I wanted to find out what human material was there, what her inner life was… Then she told me she was being psychoanalyzed. That did it. Poor R.J. [Wagner], I said to myself. I liked Bob Wagner, I still do.{{Sfn|Kazan|1997|p=602}}}}

Kazan cast Wood as the female lead in ''Splendor'', and her career rebounded. He felt that despite her earlier innocent roles, she had the talent and maturity to go beyond them. In the film, Beatty's character was deprived of sexual love with Wood's character, and as a result turns to another, "looser" girl. Wood's character could not handle the betrayal and after a breakdown was committed to a mental institution. Kazan writes that he cast her in the role partly because he saw in Wood's personality a "true-blue quality with a wanton side that is held down by social pressure," adding that "she clings to things with her eyes," a quality he found especially "appealing."<ref name=Tibbetts />
[[File:Natalie Wood Ruth Gordon 23rd Golden Globes.jpg|thumb|upright|With [[Ruth Gordon]] at the [[23rd Golden Globe Awards]], 1966]]
Finstad felt that although Wood had never trained in [[method acting]] techniques, "working with Kazan brought her to the greatest emotional heights of her career. The experience was exhilarating, but wrenching for Natalie, who faced her demons on ''Splendor.''"{{sfn|Finstad|2001|p=259}} She adds that a scene in the film, as a result of "Kazan's wizardry… produced a hysteria in Natalie that may be her most powerful moment as an actress."{{sfn |Finstad|2001|p=260}} Actor [[Gary Lockwood]], who also performed in the film, felt that "Kazan and Natalie were a terrific marriage, because you had this beautiful girl, and you had somebody that could get things out of her." Kazan's favorite scene in the film was the last one, when Wood goes back to see her lost first love, Bud (Beatty). "It's terribly touching to me. I still like it when I see it," wrote Kazan.{{sfn|Finstad|2001|p=263}} He added, "I didn't have to give her any direction for that final scene; she knew exactly how to play it."

For her performance in ''Splendor'', Wood received nominations for the [[Academy Award for Best Actress|Academy Award]], [[Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama|Golden Globe Award]], and [[BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role]].

===''West Side Story''===
[[File:West Side Story (1961) still 4.jpg|thumb|Wood as Maria in ''[[West Side Story (1961 film)|West Side Story]]'']]
Wood played Maria, a restless Puerto Rican girl on the West Side of Manhattan, in ''[[West Side Story (1961 film)|West Side Story]]'', [[Jerome Robbins]] and [[Robert Wise]]'s 1961 film of the stage musical, which was a critical and box-office success. Tibbetts wrote of similarities in her role in this film and the earlier ''Rebel.'' She was to represent the "restlessness of American youth in the 1950s", expressed by youth gangs and juvenile delinquency, along with early [[rock and roll]]. Both films, he observes, were "modern allegories based on the '[[Romeo and Juliet]]' theme, including private restlessness and public alienation. Where in ''Rebel'' she falls in love with the character played by James Dean, whose gang-like peers and violent temper alienated him from his family, in ''West Side Story'' she enters into a romance with a white former gang member whose threatening world of outcasts also alienated him from lawful behavior."<ref name=Tibbetts />

Although Wood's singing in the film was voiced by [[Marni Nixon]],{{sfn|Lambert|2004|p=171}} ''West Side Story'' is still regarded as one of Wood's best films.

===Peak years of stardom===
Wood sang when she starred in the film ''[[Gypsy (1962 film)|Gypsy]]'' (1962) alongside [[Rosalind Russell]].{{sfn|Lambert|2004|p=185}}<ref>{{Citation | title = Natalie Wood in 'Gypsy' | work = The Christian Science Monitor | place = Boston, MA | date = Nov 7, 1961 | page= 6}}.</ref> Her appearance in that film led critic [[Pauline Kael]] to comment "clever little Natalie Wood… [the] most machine-tooled of Hollywood ingénues."<ref>{{cite book | chapter = Review of "Gypsy" | orig-date = 1962 | title = [[I Lost It at the Movies]]|first=Pauline|last=Kael|authorlink=Pauline Kael | year = 1965 | page = 131|isbn= 978-0316481656|publisher= [[Little Brown & Co]]}}</ref><ref name=Tibbetts />

At the age of 25, Wood received her third Academy Award nomination for ''[[Love with the Proper Stranger]]'' (1963), making Wood (along with [[Teresa Wright]]) the youngest person to score three Oscar nominations. This record was later broken by [[Jennifer Lawrence]] in 2013 and [[Saoirse Ronan]] in 2017, both of whom scored their third nominations at the age of 23.

Wood made two comedies with [[Tony Curtis]]: ''[[Sex and the Single Girl (film)|Sex and the Single Girl]]'' (1964) and ''[[The Great Race]]'' (1965), the latter with [[Jack Lemmon]], and [[Peter Falk]]. In ''The Great Race'', her ability to speak Russian was an asset given to her character Maggie DuBois, justifying the character's recording the progress of the race across [[Siberia]] and entering the race at the beginning as a contestant.

Director [[Sydney Pollack]] was quoted as saying about Wood, "When she was right for the part, there was no one better. She was a damn good actress." For ''[[Inside Daisy Clover]]'' (1965) and ''[[This Property Is Condemned]]'' (1966), both of which co-starred [[Robert Redford]], Wood received Golden Globe nominations for Best Actress. In the mid 1960s she was one of the biggest stars in Hollywood along with Elizabeth Taylor and Audrey Hepburn.<ref>{{Citation | title = Natalie Wood: Splendid Splinter | last = Haber | first = Joyce | newspaper =[[Los Angeles Times]] | date = December 3, 1967 | page = d10}}.</ref>

[[File:Peter Falk and Natalie Wood - 1966.jpg|thumb|left|With [[Peter Falk]] in [[Penelope (1966 film)|''Penelope'']] (1966)]]
Although many of Wood's films were commercially successful, at times her acting was criticized. In 1966, Wood was given ''[[the Harvard Lampoon]]'' award for being the "Worst Actress of Last Year, This Year, and Next".<ref>{{cite web | title = A pair of Natalie Wood awards from The Harvard Lampoon and The Harvard Crimson |url= https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/22486/lot/34/ | website = Bonhams | access-date = May 3, 2019 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190503075920/https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/22486/lot/34/ | archive-date = May 3, 2019 | url-status = live}}</ref> She was the first person to attend and accept the award in person. ''[[The Harvard Crimson]]'' wrote she was "quite a good sport".<ref>{{cite journal | last = Alexander | first = Jeffrey C. | date = April 18, 1966 | title = Lampoon Fixes Date With Natalie; Wood Will Win 'Worst' on Saturday | journal = [[The Harvard Crimson]] |url= http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=493919 | access-date = September 30, 2007 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071126084632/http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=493919 | archive-date = November 26, 2007 | url-status = live }}</ref>

===Personal struggles and career break===
Following a disappointing reception of ''[[Penelope (1966 film)|Penelope]]'' (1966), Wood took a three-year hiatus from acting.<ref>{{cite web | title = Penelope (1966) |url= https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/2380/penelope#articles-reviews | website = Turner Classic Movies | access-date = May 3, 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190503164747/http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/2380/Penelope/articles.html | archive-date = May 3, 2019 | url-status = live}}</ref> She was announced for ''[[I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (film)|I Never Promised You a Rose Garden]]'' but she did not appear in it.<ref>{{Citation | title =Natalie Wood in 'Garden' | last = Martin | first = Betty | newspaper=Los Angeles Times | date = June 15, 1967 | page = e14}}.</ref> Wood later said making ''Penelope'' was difficult for her. "I broke out in hives and suffered anguish that was very real pain every day we shot", she recalled. "Arthur Hiller, the director, kept saying, 'Natalie, I think you're resisting this film', while I rolled around the floor in agony."<ref name="TCM">{{cite web |url= https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/69568/brainstorm#articles-reviews|title= Brainstorm (TCM article)|first= Andrea |last= Passafiume|work=TCM|publisher= Turner Classic Movies|access-date=24 October 2022}}</ref>

By 1966, Wood suffered emotionally and in an attempt to overcome her emotional problems, she sought professional therapy.{{sfn|Finstad|2001|p=}} She paid Warner Bros. $175,000 to cancel her contract and fired her entire support team: agents, managers, publicist, accountant, and attorneys.{{sfn|Finstad|2001}} In the following years, Wood focused on her mental health, and began a relationship with [[Richard Gregson]], whom she married in 1969.

===''Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice''===
After a three-year break from movies, Wood co-starred with [[Dyan Cannon]], [[Robert Culp]] and [[Elliott Gould]] in ''[[Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice]]'' (1969), a comedy about [[Sexual revolution|sexual liberation]]. According to Tibbetts, this was the first film in which "the saving leavening of humor was brought to bear upon the many painful dilemmas portrayed in her adult films."<ref name=Tibbetts /> 

''Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice'' became the signature film of [[Paul Mazursky]] and was a critical and commercial success. It was the [[1969 in film|sixth highest-grossing film of 1969]]. It grossed $50,000 in its first week, setting a house record.{{cn|date=February 2024}} 

Wood did not capitalize on the success of ''Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice''. After becoming pregnant in 1970 with her first child, [[Natasha Gregson Wagner|Natasha Gregson]], she went into semi-retirement and would act in only four more theatrical films during the remainder of her life. She made a brief cameo appearance as herself in ''[[The Candidate (1972 film)|The Candidate]]'' (1972), working once more with Robert Redford.

===Semi-retirement and later career===
[[File:Natalie Wood by Jack Mitchell.jpg|thumb|1979 photograph by [[Jack Mitchell (photographer)|Jack Mitchell]]]]
Wood reunited on the screen with Robert Wagner in the television [[Television film|film of the week]] ''[[The Affair (1973 film)|The Affair]]'' (1973), and with [[Laurence Olivier]] and Wagner in an adaptation of ''[[Cat on a Hot Tin Roof]]'' (1976) for the British series ''[[Laurence Olivier Presents]]'' broadcast as a special by [[NBC]].<ref name="affair">Working Vacation for Natalie Wood Smith, Cecil. ''Los Angeles Times'' September 26, 1973: e17.</ref><ref>Natalie Wood escapes from Typecast Prison Leech, Michael. Chicago Tribune August 30, 1976: b7.</ref>

In between these she made ''[[Peeper (film)|Peeper]]'' (1975) with [[Michael Caine]].

She made cameo appearances on Wagner's prime-time detective series ''[[Switch (American TV series)|Switch]]'' in 1978 as Bubble Bath Girl, and his series ''[[Hart to Hart]]'' in 1979 as Movie Star.

After another lengthy break, she appeared in the ensemble disaster film ''[[Meteor (film)|Meteor]]'' (1979) with [[Sean Connery]] and the sex comedy ''[[The Last Married Couple in America]]'' (1980) with [[George Segal]] and [[Valerie Harper]]. Her performance in the latter was praised and considered reminiscent of her performance in ''Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice''. In ''Last Married Couple'', Wood broke ground: although an actress with a clean, middle-class image, she used the word ''[[fuck]]'' in a frank marital discussion with her husband (Segal).

At the time of her death, Wood was filming the $15 million [[science fiction film]] ''[[Brainstorm (1983 film)|Brainstorm]]'' (1983), co-starring Christopher Walken and directed by [[Douglas Trumbull]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/01/27/movies/news-of-hollywood-m-g-m-to-finish-natalie-wood-film.html|title=News of Hollywood; M-G-M to Finish Natalie Wood Film|first=Aljean|last=Harmetz|work=The New York Times|date=January 27, 1982|accessdate=March 29, 2021|archive-date=May 21, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210521190601/https://www.nytimes.com/1982/01/27/movies/news-of-hollywood-m-g-m-to-finish-natalie-wood-film.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The ending of ''Brainstorm'' had to be re-written and Wood's character written out of at least three scenes, while a [[stand-in]] and sound-alikes were used to replace Wood for some of her crucial shots. By this time, Wood had already completed all of her major scenes,<ref>{{cite news|last=Thackrey| first= Ted Jr. |title=Actress Natalie Wood Dies| work=Los Angeles Times| date=November 30, 1981}}</ref> and Trumbull proceeded to complete the film by rewriting the script and using Natalie Wood's younger sister, Lana Wood, for Natalie Wood's few remaining scenes.<ref name="Yahoo">{{cite web|url=https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/news/movie-memorials-hollywood-honors-fallen-171700659.html|title=Movie Memorials: How Hollywood Honors Its Fallen|first=Steven|last=Bryan|date=May 25, 2012|work=Yahoo Movies|publisher=Yahoo!|access-date=24 September 2012}}{{Dead link|date=February 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> The film was released posthumously on September 30, 1983, and was dedicated to Wood in the closing credits.

===Television===
In this period, Wood had more success in television, receiving high ratings and critical acclaim in 1979 for ''[[The Cracker Factory]]'' and especially the miniseries remake of ''[[From Here to Eternity (miniseries)|From Here to Eternity]]'' (1979), with [[Kim Basinger]] and [[William Devane]]. Wood's performance in the latter won her a [[Golden Globe Award]] for Best Actress in 1980. She starred in ''[[The Memory of Eva Ryker]]'', released in May 1980, which proved to be her last completed production.<ref>Natalie Wood in 'The Cracker Factory'
Los Angeles Times December 5, 1978: f17.</ref>

She was scheduled to make her stage debut on February 12, 1982, in ''Anastasia'' at Ahmanson Theatre with [[Wendy Hiller]].{{sfn|Lambert|2004|p=301}} Wood had also purchased film rights to the [[Barbara Wersba]] book, ''Country of the Heart'', and was planning to star with [[Timothy Hutton]] in the drama about the professional-romantic relationship between a tough-minded poet and her much younger student.<ref name="Reed">{{cite news|title=A star that left the firmament too soon|author=Rex Reed|newspaper=[[New York Daily News]]|date=December 2, 1981|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/486064814/|access-date=May 25, 2020|archive-date=September 9, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210909141741/https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/486064814/|url-status=live}}</ref> (The material was eventually adapted into a 1990 television film starring [[Jane Seymour (actress)|Jane Seymour]].) She expected to follow her performance as Anastasia on the stage with a starring stint in a film adaptation of the work.<ref name="Reed"/> 

Wood appeared in 56 films for cinema and television. In one of her last interviews before her death, she was defined as "our sexual conscience on the silver screen".<ref>{{Cite news | title = Natalie Wood: Our Sexual Conscience on the Silver Screen. | date = August 1980 | work = L'Officiel/USA| pages = 87–88}}</ref> Following her death, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine noted that although critical praise for Wood had been sparse throughout her career, "she always had work".<ref name="Time-1981-12-14">{{cite magazine | title = The Last Hours of Natalie Wood |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,925095,00.html | magazine = [[Time (magazine)|Time]] | date = December 14, 1981 | access-date = January 13, 2008 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071222052438/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,925095,00.html | archive-date = December 22, 2007 | url-status = dead }}{{Subscription required}}</ref>