Natasha
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OVERENTHUSIASTIC WANNABE: 2/23/55 Daily Variety
ALMOST OVER THE EDGE: Phoebe Kassebaum to SF
WARNERS WANTED REYNOLDS: Warner Brothers collection, Rebel Without a Cause, USC
REYNOLDS WASN’T INTERESTED; CAMERA LOVED NATALIE; DEPTH AND SOUL; WOMAN IN A GIRL’S FACE: Debbie Reynolds to SF, 12/21/98
LONG’S COMMENTS: Beverly Long to SF, 9/22/99
THERE WERE 50 OF US; JIMMY TRUSTED NICK: Natalie Wood, Nicholas Ray: I’m a Stranger Here Myself
3/1 RAY MEMO: Trilling Warner Brothers collection, USC
SEVERAL TESTS: Natalie Wood, excerpted on AMC’s Real to Reel
I SPOILED IT: 10/30/69 Los Angeles Times
WOULD HAVE SIGNED ANYTHING: 10/84 McCall’s
GAVE HER THE ONLY; SHE WAS INSTINCTUAL: Robert Blake outtakes
SCARED TO DEATH; MANSFIELD ERA; LOOKING FOR WAYS; POUT; VOICE COACH; SUSAN STRASBERG FIXATION; USED VICKS: Jacqueline Eastes Perry to SF
PADDING: Beverly Long to SF; Jacqueline Eastes Perry to SF
SPOTTED MINEO IN A LINEUP: Nicholas Ray, as quoted in The Mutant King
FAMILY ATMOSPHERE; TONY WAS AROUND; RAY USED HIS SEXUALITY: Faye Nuell Mayo to SF
NO DIRECTOR IMPROVISED: Natalie Wood, “I’m a Stranger Here Myself”
LIKED STRUCTURE: Lana Wood to SF
COREY ALLEN’S COMMENTS: Corey Allen to SF, 9/22/99
ALL BUSINESS; THOUGHT NATALIE COULD HANDLE RAY; SHE’D LISTEN FOR HOURS: Maryann Marinkovich Brooks to SF
KNEW OF AFFAIR, RAY SEXY, AFFAIR WITH DEAN: Mitzi McCall Brill to SF, 10/3/99
ROSENMAN COMMENTS: Leonard Rosenman to SF
LOVE TRIANGLE: Jacqueline Eastes Perry to SF; Scott Marlowe to SF; Leonard Rosenman to SF; Faye Nuell Mayo to SF
HAD TO LIVE THEIR ROLES: “Natalie Wood Speaks Out: Youth Silly About Dean?” Marilyn Lee, Los Angeles Examiner, 7/21/56
CRUSH ON DEAN: 10/78 Interview
DIDN’T HAVE STRONG SENSE; RAY TAUGHT HER ABOUT BOOKS: 7/71 Pageant 181–88 WEIRD NIGHT; HENNESSY HAD A MEETING; NEVER SAW HER HUG: Beverly Long to SF
THE CAST MUMBLED; COMMITTED TO A PLAY: Marsha Hunt to SF, 7/30/99
GREAT DIRECTORS LIKE KAZAN: “Natalie Wood Heralded ‘Best’ Since Helen Hayes,” Ruth Waterbury, Los Angeles Examiner, 10/9/55
DEAN ALL SHE TALKED ABOUT; TOYED: Sal Mineo, as quoted in The Unabridged James Dean: His Life and Legacy from A to Z, Randall Riese, Contemporary Books, Chicago, 1991
FLIRTATIOUS: Tom Hennessy to SF, 10/3/99
NATALIE WAS SCHOOLED: Ann Doran to SF
KEPT HEARING ABOUT METHOD: 12/28/69 London Sunday Times
TOOK ACTING AS A JOB: Margaret O’Brien to SF
FELT INFERIOR TO ANYONE FROM STUDIO: Faye Nuell Mayo to SF; Jacqueline Eastes Perry to SF; Scott Marlowe to SF; Robert Redford to SF, et al.
DORAN COMMENTS: Ann Doran to SF
“SPECIAL DISPENSATION” AND HENNESSY COMMENTS: Tom Hennessy to SF, 10/3/99
NATALIE MADE UP INTERVIEWS: 8/13/64 Look
STEFFI SKOLSKY COMMENTS: Steffi Skolsky Splaver to SF
FAYE COMMENTS: Faye Nuell Mayo to SF
QUIET BUZZ; SEEMED STERN; HANG ON TO HER BRA STRAPS: Jack Grinnage to SF, 9/23/99
THEY WERE THE GODS: Natalie Wood, quoted in Elvis, Albert Goldman, Avon Books, New York, 1981
WILD SIDE: Tom Hennessy to SF
NATALIE THOUGHT BEING GROWN UP: 5/56 Modern Screen
UP FOR ANYTHING; BEST DAY OF HIS LIFE: Perry Lopez to SF, 2/9/99
COOPER COMMENTS: Ben Cooper to SF, 10/13/99
SET-UP DATE: Robert Hyatt to SF
TURN THE PAGE: Jim Westmoreland/Rad Fulton to SF, 2/15/99
OBSESSED WITH SONG: Steffi Skolsky Splaver to SF; Jacqueline Eastes Perry to SF
LYRICS: “When the World Was Young (Ah! the Apple Trees),” Johnny Mercer and M. Philippe Gerard, recorded by Peggy Lee in May 1953, Decca, Black Coffee album
FAVORITE SCENE FROM REBEL: “Natalie Wood to Make First…” The Star, 10/24/78
SAID SHE DATED DEAN: 10/9/55 Examiner; Hedda Hopper, Chicago Tribune 6/26/55; 8/79 McCall’s
SANG RUSSIAN SONG: Maria Gurdin to Phyllis Quinn
OBSESSED WITH DEAN: Lana Wood to SF
COMPARED DEAN TO LITTLE PRINCE: “She Grew Up Being a Star!” Seymour Korman, Chicago Tribune, 8/18/56
TWO PEOPLE: 10/78 Interview
CHAPTER 15
GAVE HER TIGER; BIG DEAL; PIVOTAL PART: Faye Nuell Mayo to SF
BURST IN TEARS: 8/75 Cosmopolitan
FLOUNCED IN FUR; BLIND DATE WITH HOPPER: Margaret O’Brien to SF
TOP 10%: Tom Hennessy to SF
DID IT FOR LANA: Jack Grinnage to SF
CHOSE LANA LISA: 8/18/56 Chicago Tribune
PUSHED ME; SUNBURN; SCARED ON LOCATION; CRUSH ON WAYNE: Lana Wood to SF, 8/24/99
TOUGH BUT KIND: “Nat at the NFT,” Photoplay U.K., August 1980
PATRICK WAYNE COMMENTS; “DUST AND HEAT”; “FRIED” SKIN: Patrick Wayne to SF, 10/6/99
GIRL WAS BRILLIANT; WAYNE IMPRESSED BY HER EYES: Vera Miles and Harry Carey, Jr., A Tribute to a Very Special Lady
LONELY PEOPLE; DON’T LIKE TECHNIQUE; TONGUE-TIED: 1/56 Modern Screen
FREQUENTLY LONELY; KEEPS TIGERS; TAKES TIGERS ON PLANE; STARDOM’S A BY-PRODUCT: “Going Steady with Stardom,” Bill Tusher, Motion Picture, March 1957
CUTE AND ECCENTRIC, SCORED FOR EACH OTHER; TURN IT ON AND OFF; DATED BURR, BEARD, GAY PERIOD: Dennis Hopper to SF
BURNED TO PLAY SCARLETT: 6/26/55 Chicago Tribune
BUILT POOL TO MONITOR; HAD TO BE NATALIE WOOD: Robert Hyatt to SF
GOT IN, GOT WET: Lana Wood to SF, 8/24/99
UPSET AT BILLING; BURR OFFERED HER A WORLD OUTSIDE: Scott Marlowe to SF, 6/8/99
BEATNIK PHASE; DINNER IN CHINATOWN: 8/56 Motion Picture
CRIED HER EYES OUT: “Natalie Wood: It Seemed As If All Was Going Her Way,” Roderick Mann, Los Angeles Times, 12/1/81
DINNER IN CHINATOWN: “Remembrances Of James Dean,” Paul Hendrickson, Los Angeles Times, 7/22/73
VALENTINO; RUNNING AROUND IN: Corey Allen to SF
EPIC: Ann Doran to SF
GRUESOME THOUGHT: Stanley Kauffman on “Natalie Wood: The Final Days,” September Films, United Productions, aired spring 2000
LUCKY PICTURE: Natalie Wood, interview excerpt, “Intimate Portrait: Natalie Wood”
SINCE HELEN HAYES: 10/9/55 Los Angeles Examiner
ENDEARING: Ben Cooper to SF
HYSTERICAL OVER DEAN: 10/78 Interview
CAPITALIZING ON FAME: United Press release, Vernon Scott, 4/4/57, USC Warner Brothers Archives
BADMOUTHED: Steffi Skolsky Splaver to SF
ADAMS SOLD STORIES: Faye Nuell Mayo to SF; Steffi Skolsky Splaver to SF
FELT PRESSURE; ANALYZED HER SCRIPT: Lana Wood, American Cinematheque
PATS OF JOY: “Actress, 17, Takes Pet to Sign New Contract,” Los Angeles Examiner, 10/27/55
OVERDREW $400: Incomplete Natalie Wood article by Liza Wilson, unsourced newspaper, 8/19/56, from the USC Warner Brothers Archives
DORTORT COMMENTS: David Dortort to SF, 6/26/99
ANDERSON COMMENTS: Richard Anderson to SF, 4/29/99
ESCARGOTS: 2/60 Coronet
ORSON WELLES MAKEOVER: Maryann Marinkovich Brooks to SF
CRAZY ABOUT BURR: Jacqueline Eastes Perry to SF
SAFETY NET: Debbie Reynolds to SF
CLAIMED TO BE MARRIED: [Note: Burr’s sister, Geraldine Fuller, said he was married only once; A&E Biography, Raymond Burr, airing 3/2/00]
BURR LOVED NATALIE; STUDIO PRESSURED: Robert Benevides to SF, 6/24/99; “Nat Wood-Bob Wagner: Too Much of Everything?” Joan Curtis, Screen Parade, November 1958
CHAPTER 16
TOP PICKS: “Hedda Hopper Predicts,” Chicago Tribune Magazine, 1/1/56
FIVE LAYOUTS: Warner Brothers publicity files, USC Warners Collection
DOG PADDLE; PHYSICAL WITH BURR; MORE CONCERNED ABOUT WARDROBE: Judi Meredith Nelson to SF, 6/10/99
MORE FAN MAIL: 8/19/56 Los Angeles Examiner
FAN MAGAZINES STRANGE: 12/28/69 London Sunday Times
COMPARED TO BROOKE SHIELDS: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
91 POUNDS, TIME OFF: A Cry in the Night file, USC Warners Collection
BURR SENT FLOWERS; STANDING OVATION; SAW NATALIE THREE TIMES WEEKLY; PHILHARMONIC: The Burning Hills file, USC Warners Collection
MET AT A PARTY: 1/3/55 Hollywood Reporter (in a spin at Ciro’s); 3/86 GQ; “The Love Story of the Year,” Patty de Roulf, Motion Picture, December 1957; Natalie Wood to Sue Russell
RED HEART: Louella Parsons column, Los Angeles Examiner, 2/7/56
TAB HUNTER COMMENTS: Tab Hunter to SF, 5/3/99
COCONUT GROVE: undated Los Angeles Mirror News, Natalie Wood Collection, USC Warners Archives; 3/9/55 Daily Variety
PLAY FEMME FATALE: “Movie Veteran at 17,” People and Places, March 1956
CURTIS RAN INTO NATALIE AT AN OYSTER HOUSE PARTY, SULKING OVER BURR: 11/58 Screen Parade; 2/1/56 Hollywood Reporter
WARNER CHAPERONED: 1/31/56 Hollywood Reporter
JOKES ABOUT HER LINES; GIRL WITH LEFT BEHIND: Mart Crowley, “Starring Natalie Wood”
HEISLER COMPLAINT: Stu Heisler phone call, 2/16/56 memo, The Burning Hills folder, Jack L. Warner Collection, USC
PLAY CHARACTER PARTS: 7/56 Filmland
THREW THE BOOK DOWN: Jacqueline Eastes Perry to SF
TAYLOR AND BRANDO: 3/5/56 Daily Variety
EVERY GIRL FALLS: 11/57 Seventeen
ANNE OF 1000 DAYS; USO TOUR; AN UNDERSTANDING, MARRIAGE: “Hollywood Today,” Sheilah Graham, Hollywood Citizen- News, 4/5/56
REAL HEART IS BURR: Louella Parsons column, Los Angeles Examiner, 3/15/56
RETRACTED COMMENTS: 2/57 Modern Screen
BURR SAID LATER: “Little Girl, What Now?” Dell Hollywood Life Stories, February 1962; Raymond Burr, Ona Hill, McFarland and Company, North Carolina, 1994
BURR WAS BITTER: Robert Benevides to SF
CUT HER HAIR: Tab Hunter to SF; 3/23/56 Daily Variety; 7/56 Movie Life; 8/56 Motion Picture
PLUMAS LOCAS: “S.F. Actress Visits Here,” Bob Hall, unsourced San Francisco newspaper, May 1956
STARTED A TREND; SCHLOCKY: Tab Hunter to SF
MADE HER DO IT: circa 1978 Preview
UCLA PARTY: Tab Hunter to SF; Ed Tolmas to SF, 10/4/99 215, 216 UNAFFECTED; EVER SEE MARY ANN: Dr. Melvyn Wishan to SF, 10/6/99
HONORED US: 7/56 Modern Screen; 8/56 Screen Album
BACKED OFF: Maryann Marinkovich Brooks to SF
HUNTER WAS SAFE: Lana Wood to SF
TRIP AN INDUCEMENT: “Natalie Wood: Female Rebel Without a Cause,” Exposed, February 1957
SCOTT MARLOWE COMMENTS: Scott Marlowe to SF, 6/8/99 & 8/12/99
“EILATAN,” NIGHTCLUB TOUR: Warner Brothers publicity, USC Warners Collection
PINK PHONE, BREAKFAST IN BED: 8/56 Screen Album
HAWAII TRIP: “Natalie Wood’s Confidential Diary,” Natalie Wood, Movie Parade, November 1956
FELL OFF BOAT; IMPATIENT TO WORK: “Aloha Means Goodbye,” Photoplay, September 1956
READ NIETZSCHE AND WARREN: 2/60 Coronet
FIRST TIME ON A BOAT: Scott Marlowe to SF
PICTURED WITH NEPHEWS: 5/56 unsourced San Francisco paper
WONDERS IF OLGA’S HAPPY: 7/56 Filmland
MADLY IN LOVE; AFRAID OF DOCTORS; MARIA DIDN’T LIKE ANALYSIS, NATALIE DIDN’T LIKE MOM: Lana Wood to SF
REALIZED SHE WAS MANIPULATED: Mart Crowley, “Intimate Portrait: Natalie Wood”
HYPNOTIZED: “Natalie-And Her Men,” Movie Life, April 1957
REVIEW OF GIRL: “The Girl He Left Behind,” James Powers, Hollywood Reporter, 10/26/56
PAID MEDICAL BILLS: Faye Nuell Mayo to SF
ADAMS AND BLAIR SPIED: Maryann Marinkovich Brooks to SF
TO MARRY MARLOWE: Louella Parsons column, Los Angeles Examiner, 7/2/56
USING NATALIE; ADAMS PERSUADED NATALIE TO DELAY MARRYING: “Boy-Crazy Teen-Ager?” Movieland, March 1957
WORRIED ABOUT FAN MAGS: 3/9/69 New York Times
WARNERS PRESS RELEASE TO MAKE PICTURE WITH MARLOWE: USC Warners Archives, folder for The Girl He Left Behind
PRESS PARTY, DESSERT PARTY, 50 STARS: The Hollywood Reporter, 7/20/56
DATE ARRANGED BY WILLSON; PUSHED PRESLEY: Robert Hyatt to SF
STUDIO SETUP DATE; SENT ONE WITH MANNERS: “Hollywood Can Never Wreck Their Marriage Again!: An Exclusive Interview With Robert Wagner’s Mother-in-Law,” Stacie Keyes, TV Radio-Mirror, January 1976; Joan Curtis, quoted in 11/58 Screen Parade
CHIFFON DRESS AND TIARA: “I’m Not the Girl He Married,” Karen Foster, Screen Stories, August 1959
HAPPY JACK SQUIRREL: Robert Wagner in an undated, unsourced televised interview excerpted on AMC’s Real to Reel
THOSE EYES, INTELLECT; RUNNING WITH ELITE OF HOLLYWOOD: 3/86 GQ
WONDERFUL TALENT, MORE ACCOMPLISHED; SO HONEST: “Now, a New Beginning,” Dotson Rader, Parade Magazine, 11/17/85
PERFECT IMITATIONS, WAITED FOR HIM TO CALL, SENT FLOWERS: “I Married Bob,” Natalie Wood, as told to Liza Wilson, American Weekly, 5/18/58
BURNED AN EFFIGY; PLUNGING NECKLINE, TIGER: 8/58 Modern Screen; 3/10/57 Sheilah Graham column
ANOTHER DATE: Sidney Skolsky interview with Robert Wagner, 11/21/57, from transcript in Skolsky collection, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
FIRED WILLSON; PRESLEY NOT WHAT SHE WANTED: Jacqueline Eastes Perry to SF
TAB’S A SOFT DRINK: 12/28/69 London Sunday Times
PLANTED ITEM ABOUT ADAMS: Army Archerd column, Daily Variety, 8/15/56; Faye Nuell Mayo to SF; 2/58 Movie TV (Natalie said it was a set-up)
WOUK’S IMPRESSIONS OF NATALIE: “My Search for Marjorie,” Herman Wouk, The American Weekly, 5/11/58
MET PRESLEY IN MALIBU: Marlowe to SF; “I Got Cold Feet at the Altar: Elvis: Natalie’s Fill-in-Or Future?” Irene D. Reich, Modern Screen, December 1956; undated, unsourced London newspaper clipping quoting Natalie Wood from the British Film Institute collection on Wood
THREESOME: “Natalie Wood: Show-off or Show-Woman?” Louella Parsons, Los Angeles Examiner, 12/16/56
LONELY ON NY TRIP: “Natalie Wood, the Star Who Beat the Jinx,” Peer J. Oppenheimer, Compact, February 1957
NEEDED SOMEONE AROUND: “Bob, Did You Know?” Judi Meredith, Photoplay, March 1958
FIKE COMMENTS: Lamar Fike to SF, 2/12/99
MUD AND FAHD LIKED PRESLEY; NATALIE CRAZY ABOUT HIM; CALLED IN “CODE”: Maria Gurdin to Phyllis Quinn
NATALIE DISCUSSED WITH GOLDMAN; LOOKED THROUGH WINDOWS; HADN’T BEEN AROUND ANYONE RELIGIOUS: Elvis
CARNIVAL REVIEW: Daily Variety, 10/11/56
PLAYED A REAL RAT: Ben Cooper to SF
VAUGHN COMMENTS: Letter from Robert Vaughn to SF, 9/9/99
LEFT TOWN ABRUPTLY, SECRETLY: Leonard Hirshan to SF, 5/4/99; Michael Zimring to SF, 7/2/99; Sheilah Graham column, 3/10/57; Louella Parsons column, Los Angeles Examiner, 3/10/57
WHO SHOULD DRIVE UP: Jerry Schilling to SF, 7/30/97
MET BY VAUGHN, TOREADORS: 3/10/57 Sheilah Graham; 11/16/56 Hollywood Reporter
ACT THREE
CHAPTER 17
GOLDEN GLOBE: information provided by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association [Note: Natalie received the award in January 1957]
MODERN SCREEN CEREMONY: from video of The Ed Sullivan Show, 12/3/56; 11/30/56 Hollywood Reporter
BEST ACTING AS HER: Dennis Hopper to SF
WORRIED LIKED HER BECAUSE NATALIE WOOD: Lana Wood to SF
NEUROSES KEPT HER SLIM: “Teenage Dreamboat,” Movieland, October 1957
RJ’S FIRST BOAT; FIRST INTIMACY: 10/79 Orange Coast; “Heart To Hart,” Jane Ardmore, San Antonio Light, 9/27/81
FLOATING IN SPACE: “The Very Private Lives of Natalie and Bob Wagner,” Leonard Lewis, Movie World, March 1959
HEAD OVER HEELS: 3/86 GQ
STAR JUNKET: 3/10/57 Sheilah Graha
m column
BOYS SWARMING: Karl Malden to SF, 7/29/99
NO PICNIC: “Natalie Wood: Bait Enough For Beatty?” Helen Hendricks, Silver Screen, October 1962
PRIVATE LINE, TALKED ALL NIGHT, BLACK FURNITURE; BURN OUT: 3/57 Motion Picture
AMBITION OF LIFE: 4/8/57 Hollywood Reporter
PARTY LINE; LOVE TALK: Dr. Melvyn Wishan to SF
TORTURED HER OVER MARJORIE: Marlowe to SF
HAD TO PLAY THE GAME: Zimring to SF
BROOKLYN ACCENT; 3 DATES; TWO-PART SERIES: 8/57 and 9/57 Photoplay
SWEARING CONTESTS; ACTED AS A BEARD: Judi Meredith Nelson to SF
SINATRA WAS COURTING: Faye Nuell Mayo to SF; 4/8/57 Hollywood Reporter; 4/30/57 Daily Variety
TOMORROW WON’T COME: Sheilah Graham column, Sunday Mirror, 3/11/57
HEADING FOR A FALL: “Natalie Wood: Teenage Tiger,” Look, 6/25/57
SINATRA INCONGRUOUS: “The Night Natalie Wood Can Never Forget,” Peer Oppenheimer, Movieland, August 1957
BOY CRAZY: 3/21/57 Daily Variety
COULDN’T BE FAITHFUL; LOOKING FOR HAPPINESS; LUNCH WHEN ENGAGED: Jacqueline Eastes Perry to SF
CALL IT FASCINATION: 10/62 Silver Screen
INTENSE ABOUT SOMETHING: “Little Girls Grow Up Fast,” Young Movie Lovers, 1957 issue
COMPARED TO ZELDA: 2/60 Coronet
HANDS SHAKING: Amanda Duff Dunne to SF
SCENES WITH TIERNEY: Anna Lee Nathan to SF
NERVOUS HEART: 1/21/57 Daily Variety
EVERY TIME SHE READS: 3/58 Photoplay
NO MORE FAN COVERS: “Why Are Men Afraid of Natalie?” Joy Sands, Movie and TV Spotlight, October 1957
TRIED TO MAKE HER LOOK LIKE FEMME: UP press release by Vernon Scott, 4/4/57
MAKING UP MIND BETWEEN R.J. AND NICKY; NICKY WOULDN’T BE BEST THING: Troy Donahue to SF, 5/29/99
MET WITH CONRAD HILTON; VERY SERIOUS: Olga Viripaeff to SF; Lana Wood to SF
EVERY 3 MINUTES: “Divorce Without Marriage,” Hollywood’s Top 10 Scandals 1963
VIOLENT-TEMPERED HILTON: “Liz, Ms. Taylor Will See You Now,” Paul Theroux, Talk, October 1999 [Taylor states Hilton “physically abused” her and “kicked a baby out of her stomach”]
MINK ON BOAT FOR 19TH BIRTHDAY: 8/58 Modern Screen; 7/22/57 Daily Variety
SHOUP TAUGHT HER; BOOB UPLIFTS: Faye Nuell Mayo to SF; Judi Meredith Nelson to SF
CRITICIZED METHOD: “Natalie Wood Heard From: Tells What’s Wrong with N.Y. Actors,” Joe Hyams, New York Tribune, 6/20/57