1 00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:03,120 Speaker 1: Hollywoodland is a production of Double Elvis. 2 00:00:07,600 --> 00:00:10,760 Speaker 2: We shall show you in this film typical examples of 3 00:00:10,800 --> 00:00:13,640 Speaker 2: the children who have been well brought up the Kayan 4 00:00:13,720 --> 00:00:17,279 Speaker 2: who grow up to be strong, healthy and happy. Like 5 00:00:17,400 --> 00:00:22,560 Speaker 2: these young folks, sturdy grows, joyousness, contentment in life, and 6 00:00:22,640 --> 00:00:25,600 Speaker 2: vigorous health for the children of to day will built 7 00:00:25,760 --> 00:00:29,200 Speaker 2: men and women of tomorrow with strength of body, nerve 8 00:00:29,400 --> 00:00:32,320 Speaker 2: and mind, and thus a better chance to get the 9 00:00:32,360 --> 00:00:34,800 Speaker 2: most out of life. 10 00:00:36,400 --> 00:00:40,400 Speaker 3: The stories about Natalie Wood are insane. Her death in 11 00:00:40,479 --> 00:00:43,080 Speaker 3: nineteen eighty one at the age of forty three was 12 00:00:43,120 --> 00:00:48,000 Speaker 3: originally ruled in accidental drowning, but has long been considered mysterious, 13 00:00:48,040 --> 00:00:52,320 Speaker 3: so mysterious that the case was officially reopened thirty years later. 14 00:00:53,040 --> 00:00:55,520 Speaker 3: She was forced into a career as a child star 15 00:00:55,640 --> 00:00:57,560 Speaker 3: by a mother who thought it was her destiny to 16 00:00:57,600 --> 00:01:01,280 Speaker 3: become famous. She went on to make unprecedented deals for 17 00:01:01,320 --> 00:01:04,959 Speaker 3: a woman in mid twentieth century Hollywood, and unprecedented amounts 18 00:01:04,959 --> 00:01:08,640 Speaker 3: of money. She did this all while silently tortured by 19 00:01:08,680 --> 00:01:11,840 Speaker 3: fears of water, of gypsy curses, even of sex, and 20 00:01:11,880 --> 00:01:17,640 Speaker 3: of childbirth. And Natalie Wood made great films Unlike that 21 00:01:17,720 --> 00:01:19,639 Speaker 3: clip I played for you at the top of the show. 22 00:01:19,959 --> 00:01:22,759 Speaker 3: That wasn't a great film. That was a fair youse 23 00:01:22,800 --> 00:01:25,720 Speaker 3: sample from the Library of Congress of a nineteen forty 24 00:01:25,760 --> 00:01:30,160 Speaker 3: one US Department of Agriculture film titled for Health and Happiness. 25 00:01:30,760 --> 00:01:33,240 Speaker 3: I played you that clip because I can't afford the 26 00:01:33,280 --> 00:01:37,600 Speaker 3: rights to sample Terry Gilliam's film Time Bandits. And why 27 00:01:37,600 --> 00:01:40,480 Speaker 3: would I play you that specific slice of Monty Python 28 00:01:40,560 --> 00:01:45,600 Speaker 3: adjacent celluloid Cheese? Could I afford it? Because that was 29 00:01:45,640 --> 00:01:48,880 Speaker 3: the number one movie in America on November twenty ninth, 30 00:01:48,960 --> 00:01:52,280 Speaker 3: nineteen eighty one, And that was the day that Natalie 31 00:01:52,280 --> 00:01:55,760 Speaker 3: Wood's body was found floating in the Pacific Ocean off 32 00:01:55,800 --> 00:01:59,160 Speaker 3: the coast of Santa Catalina Island, some eight hours after 33 00:01:59,240 --> 00:02:04,800 Speaker 3: she'd gone miss On this episode Mysteries, Prophecies, Fears, Monty 34 00:02:04,880 --> 00:02:10,000 Speaker 3: Python and Jason Celluloi and the Immortal Natalie Wood. I'm 35 00:02:10,080 --> 00:02:43,800 Speaker 3: Jake Brennan, and this is Hollywood Land. The voice on 36 00:02:43,840 --> 00:02:45,920 Speaker 3: the other end of the phone didn't have any time 37 00:02:45,960 --> 00:02:49,320 Speaker 3: for pleasantries. Give me the gucci, the voice said in 38 00:02:49,360 --> 00:02:53,120 Speaker 3: a low rasp. The voice was gruff, irritable, fresh out 39 00:02:53,160 --> 00:02:56,400 Speaker 3: of Fox and the receptionist at the Los Angeles County 40 00:02:56,440 --> 00:02:59,480 Speaker 3: Coroner's Office asked who his calling and what the call 41 00:02:59,520 --> 00:03:02,000 Speaker 3: was regarding, just like she had been trained when she 42 00:03:02,120 --> 00:03:05,720 Speaker 3: was first hired. Negucci, the voice repeated. The man on 43 00:03:05,720 --> 00:03:08,120 Speaker 3: the other end of the line wasn't asking, he was telling. 44 00:03:08,720 --> 00:03:11,440 Speaker 3: It was clear to the receptionist by the snubnosed tone 45 00:03:11,480 --> 00:03:13,480 Speaker 3: of voice that the caller was of the East Coast 46 00:03:13,600 --> 00:03:17,519 Speaker 3: variety New Jersey. Most likely she put him on hold, 47 00:03:17,560 --> 00:03:19,400 Speaker 3: even though it was also clear that he was the 48 00:03:19,480 --> 00:03:21,480 Speaker 3: kind of man who didn't want to be put on hold. 49 00:03:22,919 --> 00:03:27,880 Speaker 3: It was December nineteen eighty one. The receptionist found Thomas Negucci, 50 00:03:28,000 --> 00:03:31,480 Speaker 3: La County's chief medical examiner, hard at work in his office. 51 00:03:31,960 --> 00:03:34,280 Speaker 3: She patched the call into his phone and told him 52 00:03:34,320 --> 00:03:37,920 Speaker 3: it was urging. Negucci was pouring over photos related to 53 00:03:37,960 --> 00:03:41,520 Speaker 3: the dead body he was currently investigating, that of actress 54 00:03:41,600 --> 00:03:45,120 Speaker 3: Natalie Wood, forty three years old, found drowned in the 55 00:03:45,160 --> 00:03:48,720 Speaker 3: ocean near Santa Catalina Island, twenty miles off the coast 56 00:03:48,720 --> 00:03:49,720 Speaker 3: of California. 57 00:03:50,160 --> 00:03:51,640 Speaker 1: She had been found floating. 58 00:03:51,280 --> 00:03:54,680 Speaker 3: In the ocean around breakfast time on Sunday, November twenty ninth, 59 00:03:55,200 --> 00:03:57,720 Speaker 3: roughly eight hours after she had gone missing from the 60 00:03:57,800 --> 00:04:01,000 Speaker 3: splendor the fifty five foot yacht she co owned with 61 00:04:01,040 --> 00:04:06,400 Speaker 3: her husband, actor Robert Wagner. Magucci flipped through the photos 62 00:04:06,440 --> 00:04:09,800 Speaker 3: for the upteenth time, empty liquor bottles and beer bottles 63 00:04:09,800 --> 00:04:13,600 Speaker 3: strewn through each frame, clothes randomly tossed on the furniture, 64 00:04:13,920 --> 00:04:17,440 Speaker 3: Natalie's purse on the floor. Maguci picked up the receiver 65 00:04:17,600 --> 00:04:20,240 Speaker 3: and knew the voice right away. The voice on the 66 00:04:20,240 --> 00:04:23,080 Speaker 3: phone was not just a voice. It was the voice 67 00:04:23,120 --> 00:04:27,320 Speaker 3: as in capital T, capital V. The voice aka the 68 00:04:27,440 --> 00:04:36,039 Speaker 3: Chairman aka O blue Eyes Francis Albert Sinatra. And now 69 00:04:36,080 --> 00:04:38,800 Speaker 3: that the voice got the coroner on the horn, he 70 00:04:38,880 --> 00:04:41,560 Speaker 3: made it clear he not only had no time for pleasantries, 71 00:04:41,839 --> 00:04:44,599 Speaker 3: he also had no time for some scalpel wielding herb 72 00:04:45,200 --> 00:04:47,920 Speaker 3: Maguchi had some set of balls on him. Sinatra bellow. 73 00:04:48,200 --> 00:04:50,560 Speaker 3: He told the press that Natalie was drunk. He told 74 00:04:50,600 --> 00:04:52,880 Speaker 3: him that the boys were arguing, and now there's talking 75 00:04:52,960 --> 00:04:57,120 Speaker 3: an affair. Sinatra was practically spitting into the phone. Negucci 76 00:04:57,120 --> 00:04:59,240 Speaker 3: couldn't even get a word in. He just took the beating. 77 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:02,960 Speaker 3: So what the hell is a psychological autopsy? Sinatra wanted 78 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:05,919 Speaker 3: to know that wasn't even a real thing. Sinatra had 79 00:05:06,040 --> 00:05:06,880 Speaker 3: news for Nagucci. 80 00:05:06,920 --> 00:05:09,520 Speaker 1: He was done. Shut it down. The whole thing Endsville. Baby. 81 00:05:09,600 --> 00:05:14,719 Speaker 3: She slipped, she fell, she drowned. Case closed. On the 82 00:05:14,760 --> 00:05:18,159 Speaker 3: one hand, the case did seem open and shut. Natalie Wood, 83 00:05:18,200 --> 00:05:21,440 Speaker 3: the former child actress who quickly became an audience favored 84 00:05:21,480 --> 00:05:24,040 Speaker 3: in a bygone era of contract stars in the mid 85 00:05:24,080 --> 00:05:27,599 Speaker 3: twentieth century, beloved for her roles a miracle on thirty 86 00:05:27,600 --> 00:05:30,599 Speaker 3: fourth Street, rebel without a cause in west Side's story, 87 00:05:31,040 --> 00:05:34,960 Speaker 3: may have simply had a terrible accident, and that terrible 88 00:05:35,000 --> 00:05:37,200 Speaker 3: accident could have been caused by the seven or eight 89 00:05:37,240 --> 00:05:40,120 Speaker 3: glasses of wine she drank that night. She may have 90 00:05:40,160 --> 00:05:42,240 Speaker 3: slipped off the side of her boat, hit her head, 91 00:05:42,240 --> 00:05:45,359 Speaker 3: and drowned in the Pacific under moonlight, and by the 92 00:05:45,400 --> 00:05:47,839 Speaker 3: time the other people on the boat, her husband, along 93 00:05:47,839 --> 00:05:51,120 Speaker 3: with actor Christopher Walkin and skipper Dennis Davern, noticed she 94 00:05:51,200 --> 00:05:55,080 Speaker 3: was missing, it was too late. Negucci saw no immediate 95 00:05:55,080 --> 00:05:58,599 Speaker 3: evidence of foul play. It was a similar scenario to 96 00:05:58,680 --> 00:06:01,279 Speaker 3: the one that had played out just weeks earlier, when 97 00:06:01,320 --> 00:06:04,440 Speaker 3: actor William Holden had too much to drink, slipped, hit 98 00:06:04,480 --> 00:06:06,240 Speaker 3: his head, and bled out on the floor of his 99 00:06:06,320 --> 00:06:11,039 Speaker 3: apartment in Santa Monica. Negucci rolled that an accident, But 100 00:06:11,160 --> 00:06:13,520 Speaker 3: on the other hand, Negucci had been briefed that a 101 00:06:13,600 --> 00:06:17,680 Speaker 3: rather spirited argument had preceded Natalie's disappearance that Saturday night 102 00:06:17,680 --> 00:06:22,000 Speaker 3: in November. The argument was between Wagner and Wakin, Natalie's 103 00:06:22,040 --> 00:06:24,680 Speaker 3: co star in her new film Brainstorm, who was a 104 00:06:24,720 --> 00:06:29,000 Speaker 3: guest aboard the couple's yacht for Thanksgiving weekend. Negucci was 105 00:06:29,080 --> 00:06:31,800 Speaker 3: further brief that there were rumors that Natalie and Wokin 106 00:06:31,880 --> 00:06:35,120 Speaker 3: were having an affair, and perhaps that was a secret 107 00:06:35,200 --> 00:06:38,200 Speaker 3: that led to further truths about what exactly happened to 108 00:06:38,279 --> 00:06:43,960 Speaker 3: Natalie Wood that fateful evening. Negucci knew all about secrets. 109 00:06:44,400 --> 00:06:47,920 Speaker 3: He had spent two decades uncovering secrets on his adutopsy 110 00:06:48,040 --> 00:06:52,279 Speaker 3: Table nineteen sixty two, The secret of Marilyn Monroe's addiction 111 00:06:52,400 --> 00:06:56,400 Speaker 3: to pills in Probable Suicide nineteen sixty eight, The secret 112 00:06:56,440 --> 00:06:59,359 Speaker 3: of the assassination of Bobby Kennedy, which seemed to suggest 113 00:06:59,400 --> 00:07:03,680 Speaker 3: a gunman, In addition to surround Saram nineteen seventy, the 114 00:07:03,720 --> 00:07:06,440 Speaker 3: secret of the batch of white China heroin the Janis 115 00:07:06,520 --> 00:07:10,600 Speaker 3: Joplin skin popped in a hotel on Franklin Avenue. Perhaps 116 00:07:10,720 --> 00:07:14,080 Speaker 3: Nukuchi thought there was a secret here too, a secret 117 00:07:14,080 --> 00:07:18,120 Speaker 3: he wasn't seeing right off the bat. Why would Natalie 118 00:07:18,120 --> 00:07:21,120 Speaker 3: Wood suddenly separate herself from her husband and her friend 119 00:07:21,160 --> 00:07:23,840 Speaker 3: in the middle of the ocean. Why would Natalie Wood, 120 00:07:23,920 --> 00:07:26,960 Speaker 3: who had a profoundly deep seated fear of water and drowning, 121 00:07:27,040 --> 00:07:29,640 Speaker 3: walked to the edge of the boat in her nightgown alone. 122 00:07:29,960 --> 00:07:32,880 Speaker 3: Why would her husband, Robert Wagner, wait for nearly two 123 00:07:32,960 --> 00:07:36,320 Speaker 3: hours after he noticed she'd gone missing to actually do 124 00:07:36,400 --> 00:07:40,680 Speaker 3: something about it? And thus, a few days before Old 125 00:07:40,720 --> 00:07:43,239 Speaker 3: Blue Eyes got him on the horn, the Gucci announced 126 00:07:43,280 --> 00:07:45,280 Speaker 3: at a press conference, and he was planning a quote 127 00:07:45,360 --> 00:07:50,440 Speaker 3: unquote psychological autopsy to determine just what happened prior to 128 00:07:50,520 --> 00:07:55,400 Speaker 3: Natalie's disappearance. That's when Sinatra draped his pinstriped jacket on 129 00:07:55,440 --> 00:07:57,760 Speaker 3: the back of a chair at his house in Beverly Hills, 130 00:07:58,200 --> 00:08:00,920 Speaker 3: sat down, crossed one pin stripe pant leg on top 131 00:08:00,960 --> 00:08:03,000 Speaker 3: of the other, and dialed the number for the La 132 00:08:03,080 --> 00:08:07,080 Speaker 3: County Coroner. Sinatra told Negucci that he was waiting into 133 00:08:07,080 --> 00:08:10,240 Speaker 3: waters where he didn't belong, revealing that Natalie was drunk. 134 00:08:10,280 --> 00:08:13,400 Speaker 3: That Wagner and Walkin were arguing these were all secrets, 135 00:08:13,560 --> 00:08:17,440 Speaker 3: Hollywood secrets, secrets that were supposed to remain secret. Negucci 136 00:08:17,480 --> 00:08:19,720 Speaker 3: was a fink. Sinatra reminded Negucci that he worked with 137 00:08:19,760 --> 00:08:23,320 Speaker 3: the pleasure of guys like Sinatra, and Sinatra was not pleased. 138 00:08:23,920 --> 00:08:27,720 Speaker 3: Thanks in part to Sinatra's displeasure, there was no psychological 139 00:08:27,720 --> 00:08:32,000 Speaker 3: autopsy and there was no investigation period. Two weeks after 140 00:08:32,040 --> 00:08:35,440 Speaker 3: her body was found, the Sheriff's department closed the case, 141 00:08:36,080 --> 00:08:40,040 Speaker 3: and almost immediately thereafter, Negucci found himself without the title 142 00:08:40,240 --> 00:08:43,120 Speaker 3: Chief Medical Examiner after his name for the first time 143 00:08:43,200 --> 00:08:48,480 Speaker 3: in fourteen years. And why did a guy like Frank 144 00:08:48,520 --> 00:08:50,760 Speaker 3: Sinatra give enough of a ship to clam up old 145 00:08:50,800 --> 00:08:53,520 Speaker 3: fashioned police work and get a hard working guy fired? 146 00:08:53,880 --> 00:08:56,120 Speaker 3: And why the hell would Frank Sinatra get involved in 147 00:08:56,120 --> 00:08:59,600 Speaker 3: the investigation of Natalie Wood's murder. The answer to that 148 00:08:59,720 --> 00:09:08,760 Speaker 3: question is another Hollywood secret. Frank Sinatra first met Natalie 149 00:09:08,760 --> 00:09:11,240 Speaker 3: Wood with her mother Maria on the Warners lot in 150 00:09:11,320 --> 00:09:15,080 Speaker 3: Los Angeles. It was nineteen fifty four. They were both 151 00:09:15,120 --> 00:09:19,440 Speaker 3: already Hollywood royalty. Sinatra boasted a new gold statuette on 152 00:09:19,520 --> 00:09:20,360 Speaker 3: his shelf. 153 00:09:20,040 --> 00:09:22,960 Speaker 1: For his supporting role, and from here to eternity, and. 154 00:09:23,080 --> 00:09:26,079 Speaker 3: Natalie was the child star of the day, a household 155 00:09:26,160 --> 00:09:29,080 Speaker 3: name ever since. Her breakout role was a Santa Skeptic 156 00:09:29,120 --> 00:09:32,920 Speaker 3: in the Sleeper Hit Miracle on thirty fourth Street. Sinatra 157 00:09:33,200 --> 00:09:37,640 Speaker 3: was charmed, Natalie was starstru Sinatra invited Natalie and Maria 158 00:09:37,720 --> 00:09:40,480 Speaker 3: back to his place for her party, some clam bake 159 00:09:40,600 --> 00:09:43,480 Speaker 3: or something, and Maria excused herself but encouraged Natalie to 160 00:09:43,480 --> 00:09:44,199 Speaker 3: go alone. 161 00:09:44,640 --> 00:09:45,880 Speaker 1: Natalie wore a black. 162 00:09:45,720 --> 00:09:48,720 Speaker 3: Dress and was quickly enveloped by swirls of smoke from 163 00:09:48,760 --> 00:09:52,960 Speaker 3: unfiltered camel cigarettes and bubbles from bottomless glasses of champagne. 164 00:09:53,679 --> 00:10:00,320 Speaker 3: Sinatra was thirty eight, Natalie was fifteen. Frank and IRA's 165 00:10:00,360 --> 00:10:03,480 Speaker 3: affair with an underage Natalie Wood was kept way under 166 00:10:03,520 --> 00:10:05,959 Speaker 3: the radar. It was the kind of scandal that, had 167 00:10:06,000 --> 00:10:09,839 Speaker 3: the gossip calumnist sniffed it out, could ruin careers, maybe 168 00:10:09,840 --> 00:10:13,960 Speaker 3: even send someone to jail. But for Maria, not just 169 00:10:14,080 --> 00:10:17,440 Speaker 3: Natalie's mother, but her self appointed Bengali, it was a 170 00:10:17,440 --> 00:10:20,440 Speaker 3: wise career move for the daughter who was the sole 171 00:10:20,480 --> 00:10:22,240 Speaker 3: breadwinner for the entire family. 172 00:10:23,160 --> 00:10:25,360 Speaker 1: Sinatra had power. In Maria's mind. 173 00:10:25,400 --> 00:10:27,560 Speaker 3: The best way for Natalie to gain power was to 174 00:10:27,559 --> 00:10:31,160 Speaker 3: put her in bed with the powerful. Sinatra also knew 175 00:10:31,200 --> 00:10:33,160 Speaker 3: how to cover his tracks, and he kept. 176 00:10:32,920 --> 00:10:33,679 Speaker 1: His nose clean. 177 00:10:34,160 --> 00:10:36,560 Speaker 3: They called him Lady Macbeth behind his back on account 178 00:10:36,559 --> 00:10:38,160 Speaker 3: of how type a he was. When it came to 179 00:10:38,200 --> 00:10:41,559 Speaker 3: personal hygie, the spot came out if Frank commanded the 180 00:10:41,600 --> 00:10:42,480 Speaker 3: spot to come out. 181 00:10:43,160 --> 00:10:45,679 Speaker 1: So when a secret needed to remain a secret. 182 00:10:45,280 --> 00:10:47,880 Speaker 3: Like an affair between a powerful man and an impressionable 183 00:10:47,960 --> 00:10:51,640 Speaker 3: underage girl some twenty years his junior, Frank made sure 184 00:10:52,000 --> 00:10:56,640 Speaker 3: all lips were sealed. Sinatra's relationship with Natalie turned into 185 00:10:56,679 --> 00:11:00,480 Speaker 3: that of godfather, protecting his interest, not to mention protecting 186 00:11:00,480 --> 00:11:03,120 Speaker 3: his own ass. He had her tailed every time she 187 00:11:03,160 --> 00:11:05,720 Speaker 3: took a more appropriately aged boy out on a date. 188 00:11:06,080 --> 00:11:09,280 Speaker 3: He pulled Robert Wagner aside. One years later, Robert took 189 00:11:09,360 --> 00:11:11,600 Speaker 3: Natalie as his wife and told him all his sunny 190 00:11:11,600 --> 00:11:14,360 Speaker 3: Corleone style. If you ever heard her, he'll have to 191 00:11:14,400 --> 00:11:18,200 Speaker 3: answer to me. Sureley Maria thought, with the help of 192 00:11:18,240 --> 00:11:21,199 Speaker 3: a man like Frank Sinatra, her daughter could achieve her 193 00:11:21,240 --> 00:11:25,520 Speaker 3: wildest dreams. But Natalie Wood's dreams were not like other people's. 194 00:11:25,920 --> 00:11:30,400 Speaker 3: They were dark places, full of superstition, paranoia, and fatal premonitions, 195 00:11:31,120 --> 00:11:34,520 Speaker 3: and one day the horrible things in her dreams would 196 00:11:34,520 --> 00:12:07,480 Speaker 3: come true. The rain came down sideways, the wind howled 197 00:12:08,040 --> 00:12:10,720 Speaker 3: despite the onslaught of the elements, the girl made her 198 00:12:10,720 --> 00:12:13,840 Speaker 3: way through the darkness. The bunny suit she wore was 199 00:12:13,920 --> 00:12:17,240 Speaker 3: soaked through to the bone. Her pigtails were coming undone. 200 00:12:17,520 --> 00:12:19,439 Speaker 3: She had a lean into the wind just to stay 201 00:12:19,520 --> 00:12:22,920 Speaker 3: upright up ahead, she could see the wooden foot bridge 202 00:12:23,400 --> 00:12:26,280 Speaker 3: was a short bridge and offered safe passage over a 203 00:12:26,360 --> 00:12:29,600 Speaker 3: narrow section of river. She placed her hands on a 204 00:12:29,679 --> 00:12:33,360 Speaker 3: railing and took a deep breath. Her heart pounded. She 205 00:12:33,440 --> 00:12:36,000 Speaker 3: tried not to look down at the water. Dark things 206 00:12:36,080 --> 00:12:39,080 Speaker 3: hid in the dark water. Her mother's voice echoed in 207 00:12:39,120 --> 00:12:41,880 Speaker 3: the back of her mind. Stay away from water. Water 208 00:12:42,000 --> 00:12:46,000 Speaker 3: is depth. Lightning struck a nearby telephone pole. Right as 209 00:12:46,040 --> 00:12:48,120 Speaker 3: the girl placed a foot on the first board of 210 00:12:48,120 --> 00:12:51,720 Speaker 3: the wooden bridge. She panicked. The second step she took 211 00:12:51,800 --> 00:12:53,920 Speaker 3: was slippery, the river lapping at her feet. 212 00:12:54,240 --> 00:12:56,280 Speaker 1: On the third step, wet and rotten. 213 00:12:56,040 --> 00:12:59,960 Speaker 3: Boards gave out, and the girl tumbled into the Riverat 214 00:13:00,040 --> 00:13:02,480 Speaker 3: and to swallow her hole. She reached out with her 215 00:13:02,520 --> 00:13:04,160 Speaker 3: left hand to grab one of the posts on the 216 00:13:04,160 --> 00:13:07,800 Speaker 3: footbridge and felt her wrist snap. She clung to the post, 217 00:13:08,080 --> 00:13:10,480 Speaker 3: the river still trying to drag her down to darkness. 218 00:13:10,720 --> 00:13:14,200 Speaker 3: Her left wrist stung like hell, and then she looked down. 219 00:13:15,080 --> 00:13:18,160 Speaker 3: The dark water below her was swirling, twisting up around 220 00:13:18,160 --> 00:13:20,680 Speaker 3: a large rock. She thought she could see something in 221 00:13:20,720 --> 00:13:23,680 Speaker 3: the water right below the surface. She held onto the 222 00:13:23,679 --> 00:13:27,080 Speaker 3: post tighter and narrowed her eyes. Whatever was below the 223 00:13:27,120 --> 00:13:30,800 Speaker 3: surface was struggling, struggling to move, struggling to get out, 224 00:13:31,280 --> 00:13:33,600 Speaker 3: And as the girl kept her gaze at the dark water, 225 00:13:34,000 --> 00:13:36,800 Speaker 3: the river rose up on either side of the large rock, 226 00:13:37,240 --> 00:13:41,360 Speaker 3: like two long arms outstretched. The river's long arms swept 227 00:13:41,400 --> 00:13:44,160 Speaker 3: towards the girl from either side, and within the time 228 00:13:44,200 --> 00:13:47,120 Speaker 3: it takes for thunder to crack, she was pulled under. 229 00:13:49,679 --> 00:13:53,320 Speaker 3: Natalie Wood woke up screaming in bed. Thunder echoed outside 230 00:13:53,360 --> 00:13:56,160 Speaker 3: her bedroom window. She looked down at her left hand 231 00:13:56,200 --> 00:13:59,880 Speaker 3: and saw the misshapen wrist, one of the two constant reminders. 232 00:14:00,280 --> 00:14:02,760 Speaker 3: The protruding bone made it look twice the size of 233 00:14:02,760 --> 00:14:06,839 Speaker 3: her other wrist. The other constant reminder was the dream. 234 00:14:07,120 --> 00:14:10,480 Speaker 3: Every time she had it, it felt so real because 235 00:14:10,520 --> 00:14:13,719 Speaker 3: it was real. Natalie was only nine years old when 236 00:14:13,760 --> 00:14:15,800 Speaker 3: she crossed the wooden bridge in a bunny suit for 237 00:14:15,840 --> 00:14:19,320 Speaker 3: a climactic scene in The Green Promise, a low budget 238 00:14:19,440 --> 00:14:24,040 Speaker 3: RKAO picture from nineteen forty eight. Airplane propellers threw biblical 239 00:14:24,080 --> 00:14:27,480 Speaker 3: weather at her point blank, and the bridge was rigged 240 00:14:27,480 --> 00:14:30,720 Speaker 3: to collapse once Natalie was safely across, but the lever 241 00:14:30,840 --> 00:14:34,440 Speaker 3: was accidentally pulled too soon and she fell. She really 242 00:14:34,440 --> 00:14:37,640 Speaker 3: did break her left wrist, and every night thereafter, when 243 00:14:37,680 --> 00:14:40,080 Speaker 3: she was tucked into bed, she feared that she would 244 00:14:40,120 --> 00:14:42,640 Speaker 3: have to relive the moment over again in her dreams. 245 00:14:43,400 --> 00:14:45,400 Speaker 1: Her mother, Maria kept it hush hush. 246 00:14:45,680 --> 00:14:48,240 Speaker 3: She never took Natalie to a doctor because Maria didn't 247 00:14:48,240 --> 00:14:50,880 Speaker 3: believe in doctors, and for the rest of her life, 248 00:14:51,000 --> 00:14:54,160 Speaker 3: Natalie would keep the injury a secret. She wore large 249 00:14:54,160 --> 00:14:57,360 Speaker 3: cuff bracelets or gloves to hide the glaring imperfection of 250 00:14:57,400 --> 00:15:00,560 Speaker 3: her poorly healed wrist. And it wasn't just to wrist. 251 00:15:01,000 --> 00:15:04,360 Speaker 3: Her whole life was shrouded in secrets from the moment. 252 00:15:04,400 --> 00:15:07,440 Speaker 3: She was born in San Francisco in nineteen thirty eight. 253 00:15:08,040 --> 00:15:10,920 Speaker 3: Even her real name was a secret. Natalie Wood was 254 00:15:10,920 --> 00:15:15,120 Speaker 3: born Natalia Nikolavina Nakarenko to Russian immigrants, but her mother 255 00:15:15,200 --> 00:15:19,920 Speaker 3: always called her Natasha. Natalie Wood was a necessary americanization 256 00:15:20,440 --> 00:15:23,200 Speaker 3: given to her by producers. When Maria made the decision 257 00:15:23,240 --> 00:15:25,800 Speaker 3: that her second born would have a career in Hollywood. 258 00:15:27,280 --> 00:15:30,720 Speaker 3: Maria controlled what Natalie did and also what Natalie believed. 259 00:15:31,240 --> 00:15:34,120 Speaker 3: Maria told her beloved Natasha that they were descendants of 260 00:15:34,120 --> 00:15:38,840 Speaker 3: the Romanovs, the royal Russian family. In reality, Maria's peasant 261 00:15:38,840 --> 00:15:41,760 Speaker 3: family fled her home and then the Motherland when the 262 00:15:41,760 --> 00:15:46,120 Speaker 3: Bolshevik Revolution literally came to their front door. They jumped 263 00:15:46,120 --> 00:15:49,040 Speaker 3: the Trans Siberian Railroad bound for the city of Harvan 264 00:15:49,160 --> 00:15:52,640 Speaker 3: and China, before traveling by boat to San Francisco. It 265 00:15:52,760 --> 00:15:55,400 Speaker 3: was in Harvon that Maria said a gypsy read her fortune. 266 00:15:55,680 --> 00:15:58,960 Speaker 3: The gypsy told Maria two things. Her second born would 267 00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:02,400 Speaker 3: be famous, and she would one day drown in dark water. 268 00:16:03,720 --> 00:16:07,840 Speaker 3: Gypsy curses were the least of young Natalie's worries. Maria 269 00:16:07,960 --> 00:16:11,359 Speaker 3: passed on her old world neurosis and kept Natalie terrified 270 00:16:11,400 --> 00:16:14,440 Speaker 3: of just about everything. Water would kill her, so she 271 00:16:14,520 --> 00:16:17,120 Speaker 3: never learned how to swim. Kidnappers would take her and 272 00:16:17,160 --> 00:16:20,040 Speaker 3: sell her to Communist so Natalie would go home alone. 273 00:16:19,800 --> 00:16:20,680 Speaker 1: And God forbid. 274 00:16:20,680 --> 00:16:23,240 Speaker 3: If she became pregnant, the process of giving birth would 275 00:16:23,240 --> 00:16:26,640 Speaker 3: surely kill her, if dark water hadn't killed her already 276 00:16:27,960 --> 00:16:30,640 Speaker 3: broken mirrors, hats on beds, she was on tables, they 277 00:16:30,680 --> 00:16:34,920 Speaker 3: were all bad news. Maria's scare tactics knew no bounds. 278 00:16:35,200 --> 00:16:37,680 Speaker 3: She once pulled Natalie aside during a screen test and 279 00:16:37,720 --> 00:16:39,920 Speaker 3: made her daughter watch as she tore the wings off 280 00:16:39,960 --> 00:16:42,160 Speaker 3: a living butterfly in order to get her to cry 281 00:16:42,200 --> 00:16:42,960 Speaker 3: on cue. 282 00:16:43,640 --> 00:16:46,480 Speaker 1: Maria wasn't the only one pulling then mother power moves. 283 00:16:46,840 --> 00:16:51,920 Speaker 3: Traumatizing child stars was something old Hollywood specialized in. MGM 284 00:16:52,040 --> 00:16:55,000 Speaker 3: drugged a teenage Judy Garland with amphetamines on the set 285 00:16:55,040 --> 00:16:56,800 Speaker 3: of The Wizard of Oz to keep her thin and 286 00:16:56,920 --> 00:17:00,960 Speaker 3: full of energy. Child stars, like Shirley Temple, the biggest 287 00:17:00,960 --> 00:17:03,680 Speaker 3: box office draw in the late thirties, were forced to 288 00:17:03,720 --> 00:17:05,800 Speaker 3: sit on blocks of ice in a room with no 289 00:17:05,960 --> 00:17:09,040 Speaker 3: windows as punishment for running around and doing the things 290 00:17:09,040 --> 00:17:11,960 Speaker 3: that little kids do while the adults are trying to work. 291 00:17:13,080 --> 00:17:16,400 Speaker 3: But whatever the studios wanted, they got. The old studio 292 00:17:16,440 --> 00:17:21,040 Speaker 3: system kept many prized actors under exclusive contract. They owned 293 00:17:21,160 --> 00:17:24,000 Speaker 3: the actors, and they didn't just own their time on screen, 294 00:17:24,359 --> 00:17:27,920 Speaker 3: but their private lives too. When to go out, when 295 00:17:27,920 --> 00:17:29,960 Speaker 3: to be home, what to where, who to be seen with. 296 00:17:30,119 --> 00:17:34,040 Speaker 3: Every decision in a contracted star's life was made for them. 297 00:17:34,280 --> 00:17:37,200 Speaker 3: For Natalie Wood, the studios made up their minds that 298 00:17:37,280 --> 00:17:40,440 Speaker 3: she would forever be the little girl. But by fifteen 299 00:17:40,520 --> 00:17:43,520 Speaker 3: years old, she no longer could pass for the precocious 300 00:17:43,560 --> 00:17:45,400 Speaker 3: Santa skeptic and miracle on. 301 00:17:45,440 --> 00:17:46,399 Speaker 1: Thirty fourth Street. 302 00:17:46,920 --> 00:17:50,520 Speaker 3: Hollywood and its infinite yet myopic wisdom couldn't see her 303 00:17:50,560 --> 00:17:53,119 Speaker 3: as anything else, so one of the biggest stars in 304 00:17:53,119 --> 00:17:57,200 Speaker 3: Hollywood stopped getting rolls. Maria couldn't have her family's meal 305 00:17:57,240 --> 00:18:00,920 Speaker 3: ticket without a roll. If Natalie didn't work, family didn't meet. 306 00:18:01,520 --> 00:18:04,000 Speaker 3: So Maria turned a blind eye when older men like 307 00:18:04,080 --> 00:18:08,399 Speaker 3: Frank Sinatra came calling. She let those powerful players usher 308 00:18:08,480 --> 00:18:12,520 Speaker 3: Natalie into adulthood, and in return, they'd insure her career 309 00:18:12,640 --> 00:18:19,000 Speaker 3: carried on. After Sinatra came Nicholas Ray. Ray was forty 310 00:18:19,040 --> 00:18:21,640 Speaker 3: three years old at the time, more than twenty five 311 00:18:21,720 --> 00:18:24,840 Speaker 3: years her senior, and was directing a new film called 312 00:18:24,880 --> 00:18:28,919 Speaker 3: Rebel without a Cause. Natalie desperately wanted the role of Judy, 313 00:18:29,400 --> 00:18:31,960 Speaker 3: not only so she could act alongside the King of Cool, 314 00:18:32,119 --> 00:18:34,640 Speaker 3: James dean, but so she could shed the little girl 315 00:18:34,760 --> 00:18:38,760 Speaker 3: roles for good and break bad. Ray convinced Natalie to 316 00:18:38,800 --> 00:18:40,680 Speaker 3: sleep with him before he had made up his mind 317 00:18:40,720 --> 00:18:41,640 Speaker 3: on whether or not she. 318 00:18:41,680 --> 00:18:44,760 Speaker 1: Had the park. It wasn't long before another. 319 00:18:44,480 --> 00:18:46,439 Speaker 3: Powerful actor in Hollywood came calling. 320 00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:51,240 Speaker 1: Unlike Ray, this one was married. He was in his thirties. 321 00:18:51,480 --> 00:18:53,880 Speaker 3: He invited Natalie to his hotel suite to have her 322 00:18:53,920 --> 00:18:56,639 Speaker 3: read for a big part in a big picture. And 323 00:18:56,680 --> 00:18:59,520 Speaker 3: the room was dark when she entered. It was quiet 324 00:19:00,000 --> 00:19:02,560 Speaker 3: when she could hear the wind blowing outside. It pawed 325 00:19:02,600 --> 00:19:05,400 Speaker 3: at the floor to ceiling windows. She closed the door 326 00:19:05,440 --> 00:19:07,600 Speaker 3: behind her and began to make her way into the room, 327 00:19:07,960 --> 00:19:11,240 Speaker 3: her feet cushioned by the plush carpet, and the actor 328 00:19:11,359 --> 00:19:13,040 Speaker 3: was sitting all the way at the other end of 329 00:19:13,119 --> 00:19:15,879 Speaker 3: the room in a chair against the window, his body 330 00:19:15,920 --> 00:19:18,720 Speaker 3: silhouetted in the darkness by the vibrant glow of Los 331 00:19:18,760 --> 00:19:22,600 Speaker 3: Angeles at night. Outside. He was smoking a cigarette. His 332 00:19:22,720 --> 00:19:25,879 Speaker 3: face glowed red every time he took a drag. It 333 00:19:25,960 --> 00:19:28,800 Speaker 3: didn't take Natalie all that long before she realized what 334 00:19:28,880 --> 00:19:31,919 Speaker 3: was actually happening. He didn't want her to read, and 335 00:19:31,960 --> 00:19:34,439 Speaker 3: there was no script. There was no part. There was 336 00:19:34,560 --> 00:19:37,160 Speaker 3: just the two of them in the dark. He wanted 337 00:19:37,200 --> 00:19:39,640 Speaker 3: her to take her clothes off, and then he would 338 00:19:39,640 --> 00:19:42,760 Speaker 3: do the thing the powerful men in Hollywood did, and 339 00:19:42,840 --> 00:19:45,000 Speaker 3: it was going to happen, whether or not Natalie wanted 340 00:19:45,000 --> 00:19:48,439 Speaker 3: it to or not. Natalie felt herself pulled into the 341 00:19:48,480 --> 00:19:50,639 Speaker 3: current of the river. She could only hold onto that 342 00:19:50,720 --> 00:19:54,000 Speaker 3: bridge post for so long. Her left wrist began to ache, 343 00:19:54,280 --> 00:19:56,679 Speaker 3: and she hoped in vain behind closed eyes that it 344 00:19:56,680 --> 00:19:59,000 Speaker 3: was all just a dream. But when it was over, 345 00:20:00,240 --> 00:20:03,240 Speaker 3: back through the suite to the door, the powerful actor 346 00:20:03,280 --> 00:20:06,080 Speaker 3: reminded her that if she ever told anyone about what happened, 347 00:20:06,359 --> 00:20:08,520 Speaker 3: then he would personally see to it that she would 348 00:20:08,600 --> 00:20:12,160 Speaker 3: never work again, her family would star, and her life 349 00:20:12,160 --> 00:20:18,440 Speaker 3: would be over. His word was her new prophecy. That night, 350 00:20:18,640 --> 00:20:21,439 Speaker 3: like most nights, Natalie took all of her secrets to 351 00:20:21,480 --> 00:20:23,359 Speaker 3: bed with her, where they remained hidden. 352 00:20:23,840 --> 00:20:24,879 Speaker 1: But she couldn't keep. 353 00:20:24,760 --> 00:20:27,440 Speaker 3: The memories and the paranoia out of her dreams, where 354 00:20:27,440 --> 00:20:30,119 Speaker 3: every night they would wait until she was asleep and 355 00:20:30,160 --> 00:20:33,920 Speaker 3: then rear their ugly heads. Natalie reached over to the 356 00:20:34,000 --> 00:20:36,720 Speaker 3: nightstand next to her bed and fumbled around. 357 00:20:36,400 --> 00:20:37,880 Speaker 1: Looking for her sleeping pills. 358 00:20:38,359 --> 00:20:40,720 Speaker 3: The pills had become part of her nightly routine, as 359 00:20:40,760 --> 00:20:43,760 Speaker 3: regular as brushing her teeth, and the more she took, 360 00:20:44,240 --> 00:20:50,080 Speaker 3: the longer she could hold the secrets at bay. 361 00:20:50,240 --> 00:20:52,000 Speaker 1: We'll be right back after this. 362 00:20:52,160 --> 00:20:59,600 Speaker 3: We're were were nineteen sixty four, Los Angeles, the day 363 00:20:59,640 --> 00:21:04,000 Speaker 3: after Thanksgiving. The pills were screwed all over the duvet cover, 364 00:21:04,400 --> 00:21:08,520 Speaker 3: second alls, dexadrines, nembatal, dexatrin. At first it had just 365 00:21:08,560 --> 00:21:11,000 Speaker 3: been sleeping pills, but that was back when she was 366 00:21:11,040 --> 00:21:15,040 Speaker 3: a teenager. Now, as an adult, Natalie Wood needed more 367 00:21:15,080 --> 00:21:18,440 Speaker 3: than just sleeping pills. It was harder than ever to escape. 368 00:21:18,680 --> 00:21:22,879 Speaker 3: She didn't just need sleep, she needed peace, So she 369 00:21:23,000 --> 00:21:27,879 Speaker 3: diversified reds, blues, uppers, downers. The usual bedtime cocktail was 370 00:21:27,920 --> 00:21:29,640 Speaker 3: a little bit of this, a little bit of that, 371 00:21:29,800 --> 00:21:32,360 Speaker 3: something to usher in a deep sleep pronto, and then 372 00:21:32,440 --> 00:21:34,560 Speaker 3: something else to keep all the bad. 373 00:21:34,320 --> 00:21:36,879 Speaker 1: Things out of her head while she was under. It 374 00:21:36,920 --> 00:21:37,920 Speaker 1: was red she took. 375 00:21:38,560 --> 00:21:41,119 Speaker 3: She swallowed a handful, and then a handful more, and 376 00:21:41,240 --> 00:21:43,520 Speaker 3: she knew it was too many. She chased them with 377 00:21:43,640 --> 00:21:44,919 Speaker 3: room temperature white wine. 378 00:21:46,720 --> 00:21:49,040 Speaker 1: She couldn't get warm baby out of her head. That 379 00:21:49,280 --> 00:21:50,720 Speaker 1: fuck they weren't. 380 00:21:50,480 --> 00:21:53,000 Speaker 3: Dating while they were making swunder in the Grass together 381 00:21:53,040 --> 00:21:56,600 Speaker 3: with director Elia Kazan, even though the gossip calms worked 382 00:21:56,640 --> 00:22:00,840 Speaker 3: overtime to prove otherwise. Their affair started afterward, when she 383 00:22:00,880 --> 00:22:02,400 Speaker 3: had separated from her husband. 384 00:22:02,680 --> 00:22:04,000 Speaker 1: They had been together a few years. 385 00:22:04,040 --> 00:22:06,520 Speaker 3: When Baby snuck out the back door of Chasins on 386 00:22:06,600 --> 00:22:10,560 Speaker 3: Beverly Boulevard with some hat checked Bimbo left Natalie alone 387 00:22:10,560 --> 00:22:13,119 Speaker 3: at the table. She figured she was totally in the 388 00:22:13,200 --> 00:22:15,399 Speaker 3: right when she went home, poured lighter fluid on his 389 00:22:15,480 --> 00:22:19,520 Speaker 3: clothes and tossed a lit match on top. Then she 390 00:22:19,640 --> 00:22:23,080 Speaker 3: thought about Robert Wagner aka r J, who she thought 391 00:22:23,119 --> 00:22:25,919 Speaker 3: about often. He was supposed to be her knight in 392 00:22:25,960 --> 00:22:29,879 Speaker 3: shining Armor, a golden god of old Hollywood. He turned 393 00:22:29,920 --> 00:22:34,240 Speaker 3: out to be something else entirely. He was Natalie's fantasy husband, 394 00:22:34,280 --> 00:22:36,639 Speaker 3: first when she was eleven and saw him as a 395 00:22:36,680 --> 00:22:39,960 Speaker 3: young man on set, and then he became her real husband, 396 00:22:40,240 --> 00:22:44,000 Speaker 3: her first husband, in nineteen fifty seven, but the fantasy 397 00:22:44,040 --> 00:22:49,399 Speaker 3: turned reality. Marriage only lasted four years, and the reality 398 00:22:49,520 --> 00:22:52,959 Speaker 3: hiding below the glossy surface, sheltered in a mansion filled 399 00:22:53,000 --> 00:22:55,400 Speaker 3: with the finest of the fine was just too much 400 00:22:55,440 --> 00:22:58,840 Speaker 3: for Natalie to process. The reality was there behind a 401 00:22:58,880 --> 00:23:02,000 Speaker 3: closed door door that Natalie openedly one night when she 402 00:23:02,040 --> 00:23:05,119 Speaker 3: feared RJ had up and vanished. She searched for him 403 00:23:05,160 --> 00:23:07,880 Speaker 3: throughout their house and eventually found him behind that door, 404 00:23:08,480 --> 00:23:12,080 Speaker 3: and he wasn't alone. The trauma of that memory was 405 00:23:12,119 --> 00:23:14,920 Speaker 3: added to all the other traumas in her unconscious mind 406 00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:18,679 Speaker 3: on that day after Thanksgiving in nineteen sixty four, the 407 00:23:18,760 --> 00:23:22,119 Speaker 3: irrational fears of drowning and childbirth, the memories of car 408 00:23:22,160 --> 00:23:24,320 Speaker 3: accidents up on the hall in that one time with 409 00:23:24,400 --> 00:23:27,040 Speaker 3: Dennis Hopper, and then again in the Hollywood Hills on 410 00:23:27,080 --> 00:23:29,320 Speaker 3: her own, the violent rape at the hands of a 411 00:23:29,359 --> 00:23:30,240 Speaker 3: powerful actor. 412 00:23:30,680 --> 00:23:32,440 Speaker 1: She wanted it to all go away. 413 00:23:32,720 --> 00:23:36,480 Speaker 3: Thus the pills, And after she had knocked the handfuls 414 00:23:36,520 --> 00:23:38,840 Speaker 3: back with the tepid white wine, she picked up the 415 00:23:38,880 --> 00:23:42,640 Speaker 3: phone and dialed her friend, playwright Mark Crowley. She told 416 00:23:42,720 --> 00:23:45,120 Speaker 3: him about the reds, She told them what she had done, 417 00:23:45,680 --> 00:23:48,200 Speaker 3: and then she closed her eyes and let herself get 418 00:23:48,280 --> 00:23:53,600 Speaker 3: pulled under. Natalie's multiple overdoses in the sixties, whether they 419 00:23:53,600 --> 00:23:57,399 Speaker 3: were actually suicide attempts, their desperate cries for help didn't 420 00:23:57,440 --> 00:24:01,440 Speaker 3: make the juicy gossip. Combs of Hepa Hopper Pills aka 421 00:24:01,560 --> 00:24:04,560 Speaker 3: Mother's Little Helpers ran rampant throughout the nightstands of the 422 00:24:04,600 --> 00:24:07,960 Speaker 3: Hollywood elite, even if their rampant abuse rarely made the 423 00:24:08,040 --> 00:24:13,160 Speaker 3: nightly news. Marilyn Monroe's death in nineteen sixty two took 424 00:24:13,160 --> 00:24:14,680 Speaker 3: the dirty little pills public. 425 00:24:15,080 --> 00:24:17,280 Speaker 1: The secrets like those were the dark water. 426 00:24:17,160 --> 00:24:20,720 Speaker 3: Of Hollywood, and if the movie going tabloid reading public 427 00:24:20,800 --> 00:24:23,640 Speaker 3: looked too closely at them, they could see things they 428 00:24:23,760 --> 00:24:24,720 Speaker 3: never wanted to see. 429 00:24:25,440 --> 00:24:26,439 Speaker 1: Natalie could relate. 430 00:24:26,840 --> 00:24:30,000 Speaker 3: According to her sister Lana, Natalie never let the secret 431 00:24:30,080 --> 00:24:32,720 Speaker 3: get out that she had found her husband RJ. Robert 432 00:24:32,720 --> 00:24:35,920 Speaker 3: Wagner in the arms of another man, though Wagner has 433 00:24:35,920 --> 00:24:38,880 Speaker 3: denied this ever since the incident supposedly took place in. 434 00:24:38,840 --> 00:24:39,879 Speaker 1: The early sixties. 435 00:24:40,400 --> 00:24:43,000 Speaker 3: Natalie was so crushed by the incident she couldn't even 436 00:24:43,040 --> 00:24:45,560 Speaker 3: bring herself to write it down. In a draft of 437 00:24:45,600 --> 00:24:49,240 Speaker 3: an abandoned memoir discovered long after her death, Natalie only 438 00:24:49,280 --> 00:24:52,480 Speaker 3: alluded to the incident as reality crushing the fragile web 439 00:24:52,520 --> 00:24:55,199 Speaker 3: of romantic fantasies with sledgehammer force. 440 00:24:56,000 --> 00:24:56,760 Speaker 1: That's a quote. 441 00:24:57,119 --> 00:24:59,320 Speaker 3: When she saw what she saw behind the door that night, 442 00:24:59,520 --> 00:25:03,720 Speaker 3: she gas and tripped backwards over herself. She walked determinedly 443 00:25:03,800 --> 00:25:06,679 Speaker 3: towards the kitchen and felt as though a violent wind 444 00:25:06,680 --> 00:25:09,280 Speaker 3: had just begun blowing in her face. She had to 445 00:25:09,359 --> 00:25:12,199 Speaker 3: lean into it just to stay upright. She took a 446 00:25:12,240 --> 00:25:15,520 Speaker 3: crystal wine glass from the cabinet. She stood there holding 447 00:25:15,560 --> 00:25:18,040 Speaker 3: the crystal, running her fingers over the etching, feeling the 448 00:25:18,080 --> 00:25:21,760 Speaker 3: wind attack. Her face was howling now, her ears filled 449 00:25:21,800 --> 00:25:24,479 Speaker 3: with static. Her hand began to shake, and her fingers 450 00:25:24,480 --> 00:25:27,240 Speaker 3: became tighter around the crystal. She could hear the shouts 451 00:25:27,280 --> 00:25:30,160 Speaker 3: of men somewhere behind the bluster of the wind, Arj's 452 00:25:30,240 --> 00:25:34,200 Speaker 3: voice perhaps, and someone else's. Her nightgown suddenly felt wet 453 00:25:34,240 --> 00:25:36,760 Speaker 3: and heavy, like it was soaked through to the bone. 454 00:25:36,960 --> 00:25:39,280 Speaker 3: She gritted her teeth and heard the grind of enamel 455 00:25:39,320 --> 00:25:41,800 Speaker 3: on enamel in her head. Her grip and the crystal 456 00:25:41,840 --> 00:25:45,320 Speaker 3: became tighter. She squeezed so hard that the glass shattered 457 00:25:45,320 --> 00:25:47,760 Speaker 3: in her hand and the pieces cut into her palm, 458 00:25:47,760 --> 00:25:49,680 Speaker 3: and the blood ran down her arm and dripped onto 459 00:25:49,680 --> 00:25:52,680 Speaker 3: the kitchen floor. She didn't remember calling her mother or 460 00:25:52,760 --> 00:25:55,240 Speaker 3: running to her parents' house, and nothing but her nightgown 461 00:25:55,440 --> 00:25:59,840 Speaker 3: or the handfuls of pills she took that night. The 462 00:26:00,119 --> 00:26:03,720 Speaker 3: hospital staff and Los Angeles recognized the unconscious patient in 463 00:26:03,760 --> 00:26:07,560 Speaker 3: the er as the ultimate manifestation of silver screen fame 464 00:26:07,640 --> 00:26:10,520 Speaker 3: and hope. To her fashion, they had a queen in 465 00:26:10,560 --> 00:26:13,280 Speaker 3: their midst, a queen that they not only revived but 466 00:26:13,359 --> 00:26:16,440 Speaker 3: kept alive in the nineteen sixties. 467 00:26:16,800 --> 00:26:18,320 Speaker 1: Natalie Wood was the queen. 468 00:26:18,680 --> 00:26:21,080 Speaker 3: They actually called her the Queen of the Warners Love, 469 00:26:21,480 --> 00:26:23,920 Speaker 3: and it was there that she outran the little girl 470 00:26:23,920 --> 00:26:27,160 Speaker 3: image and fought to be accepted by Hollywood and audiences 471 00:26:27,160 --> 00:26:30,040 Speaker 3: in grown up roles like Deanie and Swunder in the Grass, 472 00:26:30,080 --> 00:26:33,359 Speaker 3: Louise and Gypsy, and Maria, and the big screen adaptation 473 00:26:33,480 --> 00:26:38,760 Speaker 3: of the popular Broadway musical West Side Story. West Side's 474 00:26:38,760 --> 00:26:40,040 Speaker 3: Story in particular was. 475 00:26:40,040 --> 00:26:42,080 Speaker 1: A huge get for Natalie Wood. 476 00:26:42,200 --> 00:26:44,320 Speaker 3: And not just because she was a white woman playing 477 00:26:44,400 --> 00:26:47,359 Speaker 3: the part of a Puerto Rican hell Mickey Rudy, John Wayne, 478 00:26:47,400 --> 00:26:50,280 Speaker 3: Marlon Brando, and Katherine Hepburn had all paved the way 479 00:26:50,320 --> 00:26:55,040 Speaker 3: for cringeworthy, culturally insensitive casting choices by that point. It 480 00:26:55,119 --> 00:26:57,560 Speaker 3: was the fact that, after one of the largest screen 481 00:26:57,640 --> 00:27:00,520 Speaker 3: test searches in Hollywood history to cast the role Maria, 482 00:27:00,880 --> 00:27:04,080 Speaker 3: it was awarded to Natalie Wood, along with an unprecedented 483 00:27:04,080 --> 00:27:08,160 Speaker 3: two hundred and fifty thousand dollars payday Even more unprecedented 484 00:27:08,520 --> 00:27:12,760 Speaker 3: was in nineteen sixty six, after numerous iconic roles award 485 00:27:12,800 --> 00:27:17,560 Speaker 3: nominations in clandestine overdoses, Natalie decided to sever her contract 486 00:27:17,560 --> 00:27:20,960 Speaker 3: with Warner Brothers and walk away. She cut a check 487 00:27:21,000 --> 00:27:23,480 Speaker 3: for one hundred and seventy five grand to buy herself out. 488 00:27:23,920 --> 00:27:26,840 Speaker 3: At twenty eight years old, she was free. It was 489 00:27:26,880 --> 00:27:29,399 Speaker 3: the first time in two decades that she wasn't needed 490 00:27:29,440 --> 00:27:32,240 Speaker 3: on the set the next morning, and for the next 491 00:27:32,240 --> 00:27:35,200 Speaker 3: six years she would act in only one film, Bob 492 00:27:35,320 --> 00:27:38,800 Speaker 3: and Carol and Ted and Alice, a groundbreaking look at 493 00:27:38,840 --> 00:27:42,840 Speaker 3: the sexual revolution. In nineteen sixty nine, instead of taking 494 00:27:42,840 --> 00:27:45,680 Speaker 3: her usual fee of seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars, 495 00:27:46,000 --> 00:27:49,080 Speaker 3: she took only fifty grand up front and fifteen points 496 00:27:49,080 --> 00:27:51,600 Speaker 3: in the film, and the shrewd business move. 497 00:27:51,520 --> 00:27:54,160 Speaker 1: Reportedly made her upwards of three million dollars. 498 00:27:55,359 --> 00:27:58,960 Speaker 3: After a second failed marriage to London agent Richard Gregson 499 00:27:59,040 --> 00:28:02,960 Speaker 3: in numerous relations and shifts and engagements, Natalie married RJ 500 00:28:03,200 --> 00:28:07,199 Speaker 3: for a second time in nineteen seventy two. Surprising as 501 00:28:07,200 --> 00:28:10,000 Speaker 3: it may have been, the years of calm and domesticity 502 00:28:10,160 --> 00:28:12,600 Speaker 3: had helped her to move beyond many of the traumas 503 00:28:12,640 --> 00:28:15,960 Speaker 3: and curses of her past. She wasn't relying on pills 504 00:28:15,960 --> 00:28:18,520 Speaker 3: to get her through the night. She had conquered fears 505 00:28:18,560 --> 00:28:20,960 Speaker 3: and moved on. She was even willing to pretend that 506 00:28:21,080 --> 00:28:23,919 Speaker 3: ur J's illicit tryst, one that he would continue to 507 00:28:23,960 --> 00:28:28,720 Speaker 3: publicly refute throughout the years, never happened. Fuck prophecies, and 508 00:28:28,760 --> 00:28:31,840 Speaker 3: fuck what anyone else thought. They were a Hollywood power couple, 509 00:28:31,960 --> 00:28:35,400 Speaker 3: and they were meant to be. Natalie would make it so. 510 00:28:35,480 --> 00:28:37,880 Speaker 3: She even moved on beyond her fear of dark water, 511 00:28:38,000 --> 00:28:41,320 Speaker 3: and she and RJ bought their fifty five foot yacht, Splendor, 512 00:28:41,800 --> 00:28:45,400 Speaker 3: named for Natalie's nineteen sixty one film. She began to 513 00:28:45,440 --> 00:28:48,200 Speaker 3: stage a comeback in Hollywood and surprised many when she 514 00:28:48,240 --> 00:28:51,200 Speaker 3: shifted from the big screen to the TV screen, a 515 00:28:51,240 --> 00:28:54,240 Speaker 3: trailblazing move that many other A list actors would make 516 00:28:54,320 --> 00:28:57,720 Speaker 3: in the decades to come. In a nineteen seventy nine 517 00:28:57,760 --> 00:29:01,440 Speaker 3: feature article in Look magazine, Natalie was hailed as quote 518 00:29:01,440 --> 00:29:04,880 Speaker 3: Hollywood's number one survivor, one of the rare former child 519 00:29:04,920 --> 00:29:08,240 Speaker 3: actors who quote fought her demons and won. She had 520 00:29:08,280 --> 00:29:11,800 Speaker 3: it all, fame, money, children, her fairytale old Hollywood prince, 521 00:29:12,120 --> 00:29:15,320 Speaker 3: happiness again, she had put the secrets of the past 522 00:29:15,400 --> 00:29:17,120 Speaker 3: behind her. She left them in the wake of the 523 00:29:17,120 --> 00:29:20,880 Speaker 3: splendor as it cast off the coast of California Thanksgiving 524 00:29:20,920 --> 00:29:24,800 Speaker 3: weekend nineteen eighty one, destination one of her on RJ's 525 00:29:24,800 --> 00:29:29,360 Speaker 3: favorite spots, Santa Catalina Island. One of the Harbin Gypsy's 526 00:29:29,360 --> 00:29:33,440 Speaker 3: prophecies had come true. Natalie was famous, she was loved 527 00:29:33,520 --> 00:29:36,400 Speaker 3: the world over, and she didn't let the other prophecy 528 00:29:36,440 --> 00:29:56,640 Speaker 3: frighten her anymore. There was no angry phone call from 529 00:29:56,680 --> 00:30:00,120 Speaker 3: Frank Sinatra. When the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department reopened in 530 00:30:00,200 --> 00:30:04,640 Speaker 3: the investigation into Natalie Wood's death in twenty eleven, the 531 00:30:04,760 --> 00:30:07,959 Speaker 3: voice was silent. Old Blue Eyes have been dead for 532 00:30:08,040 --> 00:30:11,560 Speaker 3: over a decade. The coroner's official cause of death was 533 00:30:11,680 --> 00:30:17,200 Speaker 3: changed from accidental drowning to drowning and other undetermined factors. 534 00:30:17,960 --> 00:30:21,440 Speaker 3: Some choose to interpret the other undetermined factors part as 535 00:30:21,440 --> 00:30:24,040 Speaker 3: an admission by the authorities that there was more to 536 00:30:24,080 --> 00:30:28,240 Speaker 3: this case than a simple accident. Perhaps Thomas Negucci, the 537 00:30:28,400 --> 00:30:31,560 Speaker 3: La County Medical Examiner, had been onto something after all, 538 00:30:31,680 --> 00:30:35,120 Speaker 3: way back in nineteen eighty one, and perhaps Natalie Wood's 539 00:30:35,120 --> 00:30:37,480 Speaker 3: death was more than just a careless or a drunken 540 00:30:37,560 --> 00:30:39,640 Speaker 3: slip and fall off the side of a yacht in 541 00:30:39,640 --> 00:30:42,960 Speaker 3: the middle of the night. Perhaps someone else was responsible 542 00:30:43,000 --> 00:30:47,000 Speaker 3: for her death, But who her husband Robert Wagner, her 543 00:30:47,040 --> 00:30:50,760 Speaker 3: co star Christopher Walking, the boat's private captain Dennis Davern, 544 00:30:51,360 --> 00:30:55,440 Speaker 3: or was it someone else? That Thanksgiving weekend wasn't exactly 545 00:30:55,440 --> 00:30:59,800 Speaker 3: a relaxing getaway. Tensions ran high, Jealousy lurked around every 546 00:30:59,880 --> 00:31:04,040 Speaker 3: day corner. Alcohol fueled the fire. Conversations quickly turned to 547 00:31:04,200 --> 00:31:06,920 Speaker 3: arguments where should they moor the boat? Should they stay 548 00:31:06,920 --> 00:31:09,440 Speaker 3: overnight on the Splendor or in town on the island? 549 00:31:09,640 --> 00:31:11,480 Speaker 3: And where should they eat? What should they eat? And 550 00:31:11,480 --> 00:31:15,160 Speaker 3: why is Christopher Walking even here? What exactly do you want? 551 00:31:15,240 --> 00:31:18,600 Speaker 3: Chris RJ reportedly barked at one point, bright around the 552 00:31:18,600 --> 00:31:20,880 Speaker 3: time he smashed a wine bottle over a table in 553 00:31:20,920 --> 00:31:22,880 Speaker 3: the boat's salon, what do you want to do? 554 00:31:23,200 --> 00:31:24,160 Speaker 1: Fuck my wife? 555 00:31:24,680 --> 00:31:27,920 Speaker 3: And that particular exchange was one that Dennis Davern didn't 556 00:31:27,920 --> 00:31:31,560 Speaker 3: divulge at first. It came out later though, after years 557 00:31:31,560 --> 00:31:34,640 Speaker 3: of Harvard's secrets took their toll on Davn's conscience. 558 00:31:36,520 --> 00:31:38,320 Speaker 1: Thus, for some the whole other. 559 00:31:38,200 --> 00:31:41,640 Speaker 3: Determined factors part of the revised cause of death became 560 00:31:41,760 --> 00:31:45,960 Speaker 3: simply other secrets. The real story was bubbling under that 561 00:31:46,080 --> 00:31:50,560 Speaker 3: highly produced Hollywood narrative. The questions first raised by Thomas 562 00:31:50,600 --> 00:31:54,800 Speaker 3: Degucci exactly thirty years prior were still unanswered, and the 563 00:31:54,840 --> 00:32:00,040 Speaker 3: circumstances surrounding Natalie's death remained strange. Christopher Walkin was the 564 00:32:00,120 --> 00:32:02,520 Speaker 3: first to lawyer up when the case was reopened in 565 00:32:02,560 --> 00:32:06,400 Speaker 3: twenty eleven. He had his own secrets, the secrets of 566 00:32:06,400 --> 00:32:08,480 Speaker 3: what he and Natalie Wood talked about on the set 567 00:32:08,520 --> 00:32:11,880 Speaker 3: of Brainstorm, the film that would unknowingly be her last. 568 00:32:12,480 --> 00:32:15,160 Speaker 3: Brash Off and oscar Win for The Deer Hunter. Walkin 569 00:32:15,320 --> 00:32:18,440 Speaker 3: was skeptical of Hollywood, of its gossip and its greed. 570 00:32:18,840 --> 00:32:20,920 Speaker 3: He was a window into the soul of New York 571 00:32:20,960 --> 00:32:24,360 Speaker 3: City theater, a callback to the method man of Natalie's youth. 572 00:32:25,080 --> 00:32:27,560 Speaker 3: Was Natalie tempted to leave behind the big budget world 573 00:32:27,640 --> 00:32:30,840 Speaker 3: of Hollywood glamour to reconnect with their raw acting roots, 574 00:32:31,240 --> 00:32:33,720 Speaker 3: or was there something else going on, something that would 575 00:32:33,760 --> 00:32:36,280 Speaker 3: cause Walkin and RJ to argue the way they did. 576 00:32:36,680 --> 00:32:37,920 Speaker 1: According to Dennis Davern. 577 00:32:37,960 --> 00:32:41,600 Speaker 3: Anyway, Davern, who had been Natalie and RJ's private captain 578 00:32:41,680 --> 00:32:46,160 Speaker 3: since nineteen seventy five had his own secrets. Shortly after 579 00:32:46,240 --> 00:32:49,800 Speaker 3: Natalie's death, Davern got himself an attorney r J's. 580 00:32:50,480 --> 00:32:52,080 Speaker 1: He later told Vanity. 581 00:32:51,720 --> 00:32:54,320 Speaker 3: Fair that he didn't speak the truth about what happened 582 00:32:54,360 --> 00:32:57,480 Speaker 3: on the Splendor that night because he was under RJ's thumb. 583 00:32:58,000 --> 00:33:00,360 Speaker 3: RJ put him up at his house for months. They 584 00:33:00,480 --> 00:33:03,320 Speaker 3: drank together, went to therapy together. What the fuck was 585 00:33:03,320 --> 00:33:06,800 Speaker 3: that about? RJ even drafted a statement detailing exactly what 586 00:33:06,880 --> 00:33:09,720 Speaker 3: happened on the night of November twenty eighth, nineteen eighty one. 587 00:33:10,000 --> 00:33:16,440 Speaker 3: Had Davern signed him, RJ's story became Davern's story. Davern's conscience, however, 588 00:33:16,640 --> 00:33:20,040 Speaker 3: wasn't so thick skin. He was haunted by his own secrets. 589 00:33:20,880 --> 00:33:23,600 Speaker 3: They came to him in dreams, just like Natalie's had 590 00:33:23,640 --> 00:33:26,960 Speaker 3: haunted hers. He dreamed of shouting matches aboard the Splendor. 591 00:33:27,120 --> 00:33:30,000 Speaker 3: He dreamed of smashed wine bottles and hurled threats. He 592 00:33:30,080 --> 00:33:32,520 Speaker 3: dreamed of a man pushing Natalie Wood into the ocean. 593 00:33:33,240 --> 00:33:35,280 Speaker 3: And he dreamed of the thing that people with secrets 594 00:33:35,360 --> 00:33:38,320 Speaker 3: dream about, the fear of being found out and the 595 00:33:38,360 --> 00:33:44,520 Speaker 3: fear of being ruined. One evening years later, he woke 596 00:33:44,600 --> 00:33:47,520 Speaker 3: for one of his dreams, and drunk dialed Natalie's younger 597 00:33:47,600 --> 00:33:50,920 Speaker 3: sister Lana. He hadn't slept off that night Scotch yet, 598 00:33:51,120 --> 00:33:53,600 Speaker 3: and his words were slurred as he told Lana that 599 00:33:53,680 --> 00:33:56,920 Speaker 3: he had to tell her exactly what happened that night 600 00:33:56,960 --> 00:34:00,560 Speaker 3: in November nineteen eighty one. He needed to tell so 601 00:34:00,680 --> 00:34:03,200 Speaker 3: that the secrets would stop finding him in his sleep. 602 00:34:04,080 --> 00:34:07,440 Speaker 3: When the sun came up and Davern sobereda he refused 603 00:34:07,440 --> 00:34:09,920 Speaker 3: to repeat the secrets he had revealed the night before. 604 00:34:10,520 --> 00:34:13,960 Speaker 3: And then there was John Pain. John Pain had his 605 00:34:14,040 --> 00:34:18,200 Speaker 3: own secrets. His boat, the Capricorn, was moored eighty feet 606 00:34:18,239 --> 00:34:21,720 Speaker 3: from the Splendor, and around eleven PM, the time Natalie 607 00:34:21,760 --> 00:34:25,360 Speaker 3: supposedly went missing, Payne claims he heard a woman's voice, 608 00:34:25,640 --> 00:34:29,000 Speaker 3: Please help me, I'm drowning, and then he heard other voices, 609 00:34:29,200 --> 00:34:33,080 Speaker 3: the voices of men, laughing, voices of men pretending to care. 610 00:34:34,520 --> 00:34:36,399 Speaker 3: He wasn't one hundred percent sure that one of those 611 00:34:36,480 --> 00:34:40,680 Speaker 3: voices was RJ's. RJ. Robert Wagner has spoken very little 612 00:34:40,680 --> 00:34:43,440 Speaker 3: of what happened that night, but when he has, he 613 00:34:43,520 --> 00:34:45,920 Speaker 3: echoes the verdict delivered by the Chairman of the board 614 00:34:45,960 --> 00:34:46,919 Speaker 3: all those years ago. 615 00:34:47,400 --> 00:34:48,040 Speaker 1: She slipped. 616 00:34:48,160 --> 00:34:57,920 Speaker 3: She felt she drowned case clothes Endsville Baby. No one 617 00:34:57,920 --> 00:35:00,480 Speaker 3: has ever been charged with a crime and connection Natalie 618 00:35:00,520 --> 00:35:04,279 Speaker 3: Wood's death. The case remains open, and even though many 619 00:35:04,280 --> 00:35:07,800 Speaker 3: suspicious details of surfaced over the years, and the accounts 620 00:35:07,840 --> 00:35:10,880 Speaker 3: of people like Dennis Davern and John Payne have added 621 00:35:10,920 --> 00:35:13,480 Speaker 3: to a splintered narrative, it feels like it was crib 622 00:35:13,560 --> 00:35:17,120 Speaker 3: straight from Rosamont. The hard truth remains that the biggest 623 00:35:17,120 --> 00:35:19,960 Speaker 3: secrets went into the water that evening with Natalie Wood, 624 00:35:20,440 --> 00:35:23,399 Speaker 3: and they floated away from the splendor under the cover 625 00:35:23,480 --> 00:35:26,320 Speaker 3: of moonlight along in Isthmus to just about one hundred 626 00:35:26,360 --> 00:35:29,760 Speaker 3: and fifty yards off Blue Cavern Point, a Kelp forest 627 00:35:29,760 --> 00:35:33,319 Speaker 3: off the coast of Santa Catalina Island. It was there 628 00:35:33,400 --> 00:35:37,200 Speaker 3: that the secrets drowned along with Natalie Wood, suspended beneath 629 00:35:37,200 --> 00:35:38,240 Speaker 3: her red down jacket. 630 00:35:38,280 --> 00:35:40,080 Speaker 1: They kept her booed at the top of the water. 631 00:35:40,920 --> 00:35:46,480 Speaker 3: Secrets so explosive they ought to be in pictures. I'm 632 00:35:46,560 --> 00:36:03,920 Speaker 3: Jake Brennan and this is hollywood Land. Hollywood Land was 633 00:36:03,960 --> 00:36:06,960 Speaker 3: created by Years Truly and is produced in partnership with 634 00:36:07,040 --> 00:36:11,000 Speaker 3: Double Elvis. Follow like rate and review hollywood Land wherever 635 00:36:11,040 --> 00:36:12,839 Speaker 3: you get your podcasts and get in touch with us 636 00:36:12,840 --> 00:36:16,520 Speaker 3: on social media at double Elvis. If you like hollywood Land, 637 00:36:16,640 --> 00:36:19,439 Speaker 3: check out my other show, the award winning Disgraceland, which 638 00:36:19,480 --> 00:36:21,279 Speaker 3: looks at the world of music through the lens of 639 00:36:21,280 --> 00:36:24,080 Speaker 3: true crime. Just search for Disgraceland or wherever you get 640 00:36:24,080 --> 00:36:31,799 Speaker 3: your podcasts. Good. Here's a lap