Natasha
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MARRIAGE RUMORS: 8/9/57 Daily Variety; 9/8/57 New York Daily News
CALLS HER BUG; SAME HOTEL: 12/57 Motion Picture; Lana Wood to SF (same hotel)
KISSING FOREHEAD; LOVE SEARCH ENDED: 12/57 Motion Picture; “Be Careful, Nat… It’s Your Heart,” Natalie Wood, Screen Stars, November 1957
“MR. WOOD”: Louella Parsons column, Los Angeles Herald- Examiner, 9/21/57
SPEND LIFE IN CRAPPER; SINATRA GAVE HOBOKEN GUIDE: Faye Nuell Mayo to SF
RUTA LEE COMMENTS: Ruta Lee to SF
THE NATALIE; MY OTHER LADY: Louella Parsons column, Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, 10/1/57; 10/9/57 Hollywood Reporter
NO DAY OFF: 11/57 Seventeen
SINATRA FROM GREATSVILLE: “Natalie Wood on Love and Marriage,” Ruth Schandorff, Bride & Home, spring 1958
PROPOSAL: 5/18/58 American Weekly; Sugar Bates to SF, 8/4/99; 8/57 Cosmopolitan; Lana Wood to SF
FIRST CALL TO LOUELLA: Louella Parsons column, Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, 12/7/57
SHOUP GOWN: 12/18/57 Daily Variety
MARY ANN WAS CONCERNED: Maryann Marinkovich Brooks to SF
TOPIC OF SAME STORIES: Jim Westmoreland/Rad Fulton to SF
MARRIED TO GET AWAY: Olga Viripaeff to SF
MEAL TICKET: Jeanne Hyatt to SF
NO GOOD WILL COME: Robert Hyatt to SF
PHOTOGRAPHER ALONG: “Photoplay Was There,” Photoplay, March 1958 [Note: Bill Avery was the photographer]
CHAPTER 18
HONEYMOON: “Natalie and Bob’s Hectic Honeymoon,” Louella Parsons, Modern Screen, April 1958; Louella Parsons column, Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, 1/1/58; “Natalie and Bob, Our Wedding,” Photoplay, April 1958; “Rice and Rings and Wedding Things,” Marcia Borie, Motion Picture, April 1958
ADAMS ON HONEYMOON: James Bacon, Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, 12/3/70; “Their Biggest Problem Is,” Walter Crowley, Photoplay, June 1962
ENTERTAINING GUY: Robert Conrad to SF, 9/7/99
CORVETTE, RADIO STATIONS: “Wagner and Wood,” Barbara Wilkins, People, 12/13/76; “The Way They Were: Natalie Wood,” Rochelle Williams, Rona Barrett’s Hollywood, summer 1979
BEST PART CATALINA: “A Famous Author Recalls His Friend Natalie Wood,” Thomas Thompson, People, 12/14/81; Louella Parsons column, Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, 2/14/58; 2/17/58 Sheilah Graham column
WROTE 1000 THANK-YOUS: 2/60 Coronet; Jack Warner Collection, USC (NWW stationery)
TOOK WIFE SERIOUSLY: Lana Wood to SF
NATALIE FELT TORMENT: 8/75 Cosmopolitan
MARIA IN CONTRACTS: contracts and correspondence, Steve Trilling Special Warner Brothers Collection, USC
MOVED INTO RJ’S APARTMENT ON DURANT: Thank-you notes, Jack Warner Collection, USC; 1/14/58 Sheilah Graham column; 3/58 Hedda Hopper column; 2/19/58 Sheilah Graham column (no room for clothes)
R.J.’S BUTLER: Robert Hyatt to SF; Jeanne Hyatt to SF
NO ROOM FOR BUTLER: “Some Girls Will Do Anything For Publicity,” Jason Finchley, Motion Picture, August 1962; 8/58 Modern Screen (mentions butler); 10/26/58 Chicago Sunday Tribune Magazine (names butler, who once worked for Sinatra); Louella Parsons article, Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, 5/24/59 (Wagners have “manservant”); 10/60 Cosmopolitan (have butler)
ECSTATIC OVER R.J.: Ann Doran to SF
BALKED AT TOUR: 3/31/58, 7/15/58, 7/21/58 Daily Variety; “Which Kind of Marriage Do You Want?” Peer Oppenheimer, Modern Screen, July 1958
VIRAL INFECTION: 2/60 Coronet
TUG-OF-WAR WITH WARNERS, TURNED DOWN SUMMER PLACE AND MIRACLE: Steve Trilling Special Warners Collection, Natalie Wood contracts and correspondence, USC; reports in Daily Variety and Hollywood Reporter
AT HOME ON SOUNDSTAGE: 3/15/59 Hollywood Citizen-News
LOVEBIRDS IN MONTEREY; GAVE HER PRODUCER’S CHAIR: Jerry Wald memo to Philip Dunne, Twentieth Century Fox archives; “Natalie & Bob: A Return to Paradise,” Screen Album, November 1958; Louella Parsons column, Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, 7/21/58
QUEEN OF LOT: 7/14/56 Los Angeles Herald-Examiner
TURNED DOWN FILM: Faye Nuell Mayo to SF; Scott Marlowe to SF; Steve Trilling Special Warners Collection, USC; trade reports spring/summer 1959
DIDN’T SHOW UP FOR PHILADELPHIAN MEETING AND SUSPENDED: Steve Trilling Special Warners Collection, USC (memos from Trilling to Warner, telegram sent to Natalie, letter from Warners to Natalie 7/15/59); Mike Zimring to SF; 7/15/59 Daily Variety cover
REASONS NATALIE GAVE LATER: Natalie Wood interviews, 12/28/69 London Times; 6/67 Pageant; 5/70 Premiere
GURDINS OFFERED LAUREL HOUSE: Shirley Mann to SF
LEARNED TO LIKE BOATS, WIVES STAYED ABOARD: Prudence Maree to SF, 1/10/00; Andrew Maree III to SF, 1/11/00
WAGNERS DISCUSSED THEIR BOAT: “Can They Stay Happy? They Say YES!” Hedda Hopper, Chicago Sunday Tribune Magazine, 10/26/58
NOT AFRAID BECAUSE HE’D SAVE HER: “The Very Private Lives of Natalie and Bob Wagner,” Leonard Lewis, Movie World, March 1959
FRINGE CLAN MEMBERS, PLAYED CARDS: 10/6/58 Hollywood Reporter; “What Marriage to Natalie Wood Has Taught Robert Wagner,” Young People’s Digest, September 1958
SOCIALIZED WITH SINATRA: Louella Parsons column, Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, 10/6/58; Sidney Skolsky column, Hollywood Citizen-News, 12/31/59
SKOLSKY INTERVIEWED WAGNERS: Steffi Skolsky Splaver to SF [see also “Mr. and Mrs. R.J.,” Steffi Sidney, Datebook, May 1959]
NATALIE FIRST CHOICE FOR SPLENDOR; PROBLEMS EASING WITH WARNERS LATE ’58: see contracts and correspondence, Steve Trilling Special Warners Collection, USC; 12/12/58 Hollywood Reporter; 1/26/59 letter from Kazan to Trilling mentions Natalie as first Deanie; Richard Sylbert to SF, 6/17/99; 1/28/59 Hollywood Reporter (Natalie for Splendor); 5/70 Premiere (she went back to Warners for Splendor); Billy Rose Theater Collection, Lincoln Center, William Inge Collection (Kazan’s notes); 3/79 Saturday Evening Post (Kazan kept in mind since Rebel)
7-MONTH SUSPENSION; NEW TERMS WITH WARNERS: 2/16/59 Hollywood Reporter; Trilling Special Warners Collection, Natalie Wood 2/17/59 contract; 2/25/59 Hollywood Citizen-News
LIVED LIKE STARS, RECKLESS WITH MONEY: 6/59 Modern Screen; 11/68 Cosmopolitan (ran through her savings in a few months); “Natalie Wood & Bob Wagner to Marry Again!” Alice Random, Modern Screen; Warner Brothers press for Cash McCall, Warners Special Collections, USC (matching Jaguars; hired Art Director); Judi Meredith Nelson to SF; Sidney Skolsky column, Citizen-News, 12/31/59
NEVER THOUGHT ABOUT FURNITURE: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
PSYCHOANALYST: Lana Wood to SF; “Intimate Portrait: Natalie Wood” (“just be”: Natalie 1980 TV excerpt); 10/79 After Dark (“didn’t know who the hell”)
RJ AGAINST THERAPY: 8/75 Cosmopolitan; Robert Wagner, “Intimate Portrait: Natalie Wood”
NATALIE AFRAID OF PREGNANCY: Robert Hyatt to SF; Scott Marlowe to SF
LANA CALLED NATALIE TO MOVE IN, SAME BED: Lana Wood to SF
NATALIE PROTECTED LANA: Mike Zimring to SF
OBSESSED WITH KEANE; POSED FOR HOURS: Dennis Hopper to SF; Margaret Keane to SF
PRESCRIPTION PILLS: Faye Nuell Mayo to SF; Robert Hyatt to SF; (used pills as poker chips) Pat Newcomb, interviewed by Donald Spoto, Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences special collection
POCKET FRIENDS: Robert Conrad to SF
NAT UPSTAIRS WITH SINATRA; WORRIED WHETHER R.J. COULD HANDLE DRAMATIC ROLE: Robert Hyatt to SF
21ST BIRTHDAY WITH SINATRA: Judi Meredith Nelson to SF; 7/20/59 Daily Variety
CRUSH ON SINATRA: Judi Meredith Nelson to SF
PLAYING HOUSE WITH PLAY MONEY: 6/69 Screen Parade
$150K FOR CANNIBALS; KAZAN DIDN’T THINK SHE VIRGINAL: Leonard Hirshan to SF, 5/4/99
MOVED DIALECT COACH: Natalie Wood, Donahue, December 1976
NOSE-PICKING: “Presenting a Happy ‘Act’: Wagner and Wood,” Thomas McDonald, New York Times, 6/14/59
WANTED ENTERTAINER: Judi Meredith Nelson to SF (“desperately”); Warner Brothers Special Collection, Cash McCall (couldn’t do it b
ecause of Cash schedule)
RESISTED DEANIE BECAUSE IT WOULD OPEN DOORS: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
CAREER IN DANGER; LIKE A DOLL: 10/23/61 Newsweek
DRESSED UP TO MEET KAZAN; NAKED AND GASPING: 2/26/62 Newsweek
HAS-BEEN; TWINKLE, UNSATISFIED HUNGER; DO ANYTHING BUT WATER SCENE; BEATTY AFFAIR: Elia Kazan: A Life, Elia Kazan, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1988
DISGUSTED WITH HER IMAGE: “What Hollywood Does to Women,” Elizabeth Pope, Good Housekeeping, June 1962
KRANZE COMMENTS: Don Kranze to SF, 9/8/99
SUPER CHIEF WITH TAYLOR: “The Fantastic Truth About Those Liz-Bob-Natalie Rumors!” Nell Blythe, Movie Life, September 1960; “Heart to Heart With Liz & R.J.,” David Wallace, People, 10/6/86
SUTTON PLACE, R.J. PLAYED PIANO, GOING DOWNHILL: Louella Parsons column, Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, 4/23/60; 6/62 Photoplay; 11/85 Parade
RETURN TO GOLDEN WORLD; BE BOLD: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
MAKE FOOL; LOVED CRAMPED STAGES: 7/23/81 Los Angeles Times; 6/62 Vogue
JIRAS COMMENTS: Robert Jiras to SF, 9/16/99
INGE RECOMMENDED BEATTY: Inge letter to Trilling 6/9/59, Trilling Collection, USC
HINGLE COMMENTS: Pat Hingle to SF, 9/7/99
NATALIE SAID SHE FOUND BEATTY DIFFICULT: 10/78 Interview; 11/68 Cosmopolitan (called affair nonsense); 3/9/69 New York Times; 2/62 Screen Stories
TOLD REDFORD: Robert Redford to SF
COLLINS DENIES AFFAIR: Joan Collins to SF, by letter
NATALIE WAS SERIOUS: Lana Wood to SF
PANICKY ABOUT BATHTUB SCENE: Henry Jaglom to SF, 6/23/99; Lana Wood to SF
KAZAN COULD CUT AWAY: “Natalie Wouldn’t, Necessarily,” John Hartl, San Francisco Times
HAD AUDREY SAY A LINE: “Natalie Wood: Mother, Men, and the Muse,” Murray Kempton, Show, March 1962
LIED ABOUT LEDGE: 12/28/69 London Times
KAZAN TRICKED NATALIE ABOUT DOUBLE: 2/79 New York Daily News
KAZAN DENIED: Elia Kazan, AMC’s Hollywood Real to Reel
INTERVIEW ABOUT DOUBLE: “Natalie’s Double Couldn’t Swim,” Frank Quinn, New York Sunday Mirror, 6/12/60
DOUBLE THREATENED TO SUE: Correspondence file, 8/15/60 letter from attorney Melvin Block to Warner Brothers, Warners Special Collections, USC [states the double could swim]
MAGUIRE’S COMMENTS: Charles Maguire to SF, 6/16/99
HANCHETT’S COMMENTS: Willis Hanchett to SF, 6/9/99
NATALIE ECSTATIC BUT UPSET HOODWINKED: Mart Crowley, AMC’s Hollywood Real to Reel
TALKED ABOUT KAZAN’S MANIPULATION: Dennis Hopper to SF
LOCKWOOD’S COMMENTS: Gary Lockwood to SF, 10/7/99
KAZAN’S FAVORITE SCENE; BROUGHT HER OWN PAIN TO IT: Elia Kazan, AMC’s Hollywood Real to Reel
GOT CALL DURING SPLENDOR, ODD SITUATION: Natalie Wood, Donahue, December 1976
FIRST APPROACHED ABOUT MARIA: 7/22/59 Daily Variety (Natalie and Elvis Presley for West Side); 1/24/60 Hedda Hopper column (offer to Natalie); 12/4/61 Los Angeles Times (Natalie said she was considered from the start [Wise confirmed to Army Archerd, 1981])
LAWRENCE TOO OLD; WANTED UNKNOWN: Walter Mirisch to SF, January 2001; also Hirshan to SF (wanted unknown who could sing)
FAWN IN FOREST: Robert Relyea to SF, 8/16/99; Robert Relyea, West Side Stories, MGM-UA Entertainment, produced by Peter Fitzgerald, 1995
RELYEA COMMENTS; PANIC SET IN: Robert Relyea to SF, 8/16/99
TESTED ALBERGHETTI, ETC.: Warner Brothers Special Collections, West Side Story file, USC, handwritten notes of possible Marias
NEEDED “NAME”: Robert Wise to SF, 7/30/97
SAW SPLENDOR TEST: Robert Wise, “E True Hollywood Story: Natalie Wood,” (“That’s our Maria”); Wise, “West Side Stories” documentary
IMPRESSED BY DEPTH: Jerome Robbins, AMC’s Hollywood Real to Reel
NOT EAGER TO PLAY INGÉNUE: 6/30/61 Daily Variety
SURPRISE 22ND BIRTHDAY: Maria Gurdin to Phyllis Quinn; Louella Parsons column, Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, 7/20/61; “Lunch Date With Natalie Wood and Bob Wagner,” Lyn Tornabene, Cosmopolitan, October 1960 (on-set party, Sinatra at 500 Club)
ATTENDED SINATRA’S OPENING: Louella Parsons, Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, 8/1/61
NEGOTIATED IN ASBURY PARK: Leonard Hirshan to SF; 7/26/61 Daily Variety; Natalie Wood, Donahue, 12/76 (dance scenes had been shot); Paramount production notes: shooting began in NY on 8/10/61
NATALIE TURNED DOWN PERCENTAGE: 3/62 Show
HARDLY THOUGHT OF MUSICAL ASPECTS: Natalie Wood interview, Los Angeles Times, 12/4/60
SINGING INTRIGUED HER: Robert Blake outtakes; Olga Viripaeff to SF; Robert Wise to SF; Walter Mirisch to SF
AGREEMENT ABOUT HER VOICE: Walter Mirisch to SF; Robert Wise to SF; Saul Chaplin, West Side Stories documentary
VOICE LESSONS, BELIEVED SHE’D SING: Robert Blake outtakes; Marni Nixon to SF, 10/11/99; Marni Nixon, West Side Stories; 12/4/61 Los Angeles Times (taking voice lessons and to do own singing)
CROWLEY HER BEST GIRLFRIEND: Maria Gurdin to Phyllis Quinn
CROWLEY A CARETAKER; HOUSE BEAUTIFUL: Faye Nuell Mayo to SF
HOUSE IN DISREPAIR: Louella Parsons column, Los Angeles Herald- Examiner, 8/24/61 (on boat); 12/4/61 Los Angeles Times; 2/22/62 Hollywood Reporter (roof fell in); 9/22/61 Time
PHONE NOT RINGING: Wagner to Sunday Express, 8/5/62
MISS HAVISHAM’S MANSION: 11/68 Cosmopolitan
BEVERLY HOUSE ORNATE: 1/3/60 Los Angeles Examiner; 2/60 Modern Screen; “Endsville,” Louella Parsons, Modern Screen, June 1960 (mad young millionaires)
BUTLER: 10/60 Cosmopolitan; 2/60 Modern Screen; Robert Hyatt to SF; Jeanne Hyatt to SF
12-HOUR DAYS; WISE THOUGHT INJURED: “Natalie Wood: Beauty and Violence,” Stanley Gordon and Jack Hamilton, Look, 4/11/61; 12/4/60 Los Angeles Times
MORENO COMMENTS: Rita Moreno to SF, 9/14/99
RESENTED NATALIE: Rita Moreno to SF; Tony Mordente to SF
EXHAUSTED: Louella Parsons, Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, 8/22/61; 9/22/61 Time
THREATENED NOT TO SHOW UP: Saul Chaplin, “West Side Stories”
MORDENTE COMMENTS: Tony Mordente to SF, 9/8/99
INSECURE: Lana Wood to SF; Tony Mordente to SF
BEATTY NOT AROUND: Bob Jiras to SF
NATALIE TOLD HIGH NOTES DUBBED: Marni Nixon, West Side Stories; 12/7/61 Daily Variety (Wise says Natalie’s voice on “borderline”); Marni Nixon to SF
NATALIE WAS DECEIVED ABOUT VOICE: Marni Nixon to Boston Herald, 9/20/94 (a “conspiracy”); Marni Nixon, West Side Stories; Saul Chaplin, West Side Stories
NATALIE UPSET ABOUT VOICE: Tony Mordente to SF; Olga Viripaeff to SF; Robert Wise to SF; Relyea to SF; Marni Nixon to SF; Morgan Brittany to SF, 8/19/99
TONSILLECTOMY: Daily Variety 3/23/61, 4/6/61 (scheduled tomorrow), 4/11/61 (complications), 4/13/61 (missed Oscars); 4/6/61 Hollywood Reporter; 4/14/61 Louella Parsons (R.J. says “terrible” tonsillectomy); “Why Natalie and Bob Split!” Peter Forbes, Motion Picture, September 1961; “The Night Liz Prayed for Natalie,” Naomi Katz, Movie Life, September 1961 (bled 4 hours); 3/62 Photoplay (Maria says Natalie almost died in surgery); “The Story Behind The Split,” No. 16, 1961 Hollywood Romances (R.J. took adjoining hospital room)
PRESSURED TO DO INSPECTOR: Correspondence, Warner Brothers Steve Trilling Special Collection, USC; trade reports
NATALIE VISITED R.J. ON SET: 5/4/61 Hollywood Reporter; Irving Brecher to SF, 5/29/99; Mother Dolores Hart to SF, 9/23/99
WAGNERS TO GO TO EUROPE FOR R.J. TO MEET ZANUCK AND NATALIE TO MAKE LOVERS: Louella Parsons column, Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, 6/9/61
NATALIE SIGNED FOR LOVERS: Contracts and correspondence, Trilling Collection, USC; 6/2/61 Hollywood Reporter (Natalie signed); Troy Donahue to SF
WAGNERS’ JUNE SOCIAL SCHEDULE: reports of their attendance in 6/61 trades and Parsons columns (see Parsons: Beatty and Collins just returned from Europe); see also 10/61 Movie Life (Wagners and Beatty/Collins foursome); 6/22/61 Los Angeles Mirror (h
and-in-hand at Jubilee)
AFTER SAIL WRAPPED: 1961 Hollywood Romances; 10/61 Screen Stories; 2/62 Screen Stories
NATALIE’S ACCOUNT OF MARRIAGE ENDING: Robert Hyatt to SF (from Natalie and Maria); Jeanne Hyatt to SF (from Maria); Lana Wood to SF (from Maria and Natalie); Maryann Marinkovich Brooks to SF (from Natalie)
CHAPTER 19
IN HIDING: Robert Hyatt to SF; Jeanne Hyatt to SF; Maryann Marinkovich Brooks to SF (lost 10 pounds: see also Louella Parsons 6/29/61); 6/61 trade reports and Hollywood columnists; memos and correspondence, Trilling Collection, USC (studio trying to find Natalie); 6/27/61 Hollywood Reporter
SAW ANALYST EVERY DAY AFTERWARD: Robert Hyatt to SF; Jeanne Hyatt to SF; 2/62 Motion Picture; Twinkle Twinkle Little Star; 8/75 Cosmopolitan; 10/79 After Dark; 11/68 Cosmopolitan
KEPT SECRET: Maryann Marinkovich Brooks to SF; Robert Hyatt to SF; Jeanne Hyatt to SF; Lana Wood to SF; Roderick Mann to SF, 1/20/00; Faye Nuell Mayo to SF
NATALIE DIDN’T WANT DIVORCE: 3/86 GQ
R.J. WAS DESTROYED: Prudence Maree to SF
SHOULD HAVE HUNG: 11/85 Parade
STATEMENT: Quoted in newspapers and columns on 6/21/61 across the U.S.; 6/21 Daily Variety (“fooled everyone”); 4/62 Ciné (“like a bomb”); 6/22 Los Angeles Mirror (“baffled”); 8/75 Cosmopolitan (Taylor under sedation); 6/27 Hollywood Reporter (“come out of hiding”)
CHECKED IN WITH STUDIO, WHEREABOUTS SECRET, FLU: 6/23 & 6/26 & 6/29/61 Louella Parsons columns, Los Angeles Herald-Examiner; William Orr to SF, 5/29/99
BEATTY IN NY: 6/29/61 New York Telegram (doing retakes and photo shoot); 6/30/61 Daily Variety; 10/61 Movie Life
MIGHT CRACK UP; ALMOST OVER EDGE: 10/79 After Dark; “Natalie Wood: Hollywood’s Number One Survivor,” Thomas Thompson, Look, April 1979
NEEDED COMPANY AT NIGHT: 10/79 After Dark; 11/30/81 London Sun; numerous other sources
CROWLEY TOOK CARE OF NATALIE: Robert Jiras to SF
NATALIE REQUESTED LEAVE FOR EMOTIONAL REASONS: 7/3/61 letter from Warners to Natalie, Correspondence and Contracts, Warners Collection, USC; 2/62 Screen Stories (dropped out of Lovers because unfit emotionally)
TOO MANY MEMORIES: 12/61 Modern Screen