Original caricatures by Jeff York of Natalie Wood in GYPSY and BOB & CAROL & TED & ALICE (copyright 2025)
As a film critic and fan, I am often asked who my favorite movie stars are. When I say Natalie Wood is my favorite actress, most folks immediately exclaim, “Oh! She drowned, right?” and I cringe. It’s sad to realize that her untimely and scandalous death at 43 back in 1981 has eclipsed her brilliant career in many minds. But here we are, four decades since, and too many have no idea of the invaluable contributions she made to the world of cinema. They don’t realize that Wood was one of Hollywood’s very best actresses, certainly one of its biggest stars, and easily one of the most important women in the history of the medium.
Few have started earlier in their career and remained a star for four decades. She started acting in movies when she was four (!) and came to the entire world’s attention when she played Susan Walker, the little girl at the center of the drama in 1947’s MIRACLE ON 34th STREET. Wood made quite an impression at the tender age of eight in that film. She was adorable, sure, but also wise beyond her years and hers was a feisty take on the role. In some respects, it was a template for her career, one that saw her do similar things in major, groundbreaking work through her teen years, ingenue stage, and well into roles as a mature woman. Wood had versatility too, excelling in almost every kind of genre: drama, comedy, romance, musicals, and even farce. The fact that she also happened to be a stunning beauty…well, that was merely the icing on the cake. Her career was wholly unique in so many ways, and only Jodie Foster made as much of an impact on the industry from childhood to adulthood. But Wood did it first.
Another actress you could mention in the same breath with Wood is Nicole Kidman. Both actresses have become famous, and maybe a little infamous, for taking on roles of women dealing head-on with their burgeoning sexuality. Kidman, with the likes of EYES WIDE SHUT, BIG LITTLE LIES, and BABY GIRL; Wood with so more roles throughout her career. In the generation-defining REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE, she played Judy, a troubled girl who feels ignored and unloved by her cold father, so she dresses up in provocative clothing to get attention from the world. Of course, all her father can do is call her a “dirty tramp,” but Judy wasn’t that at all. Wood garnered all sorts of attention for the film, starting with being the love interest of the character played by the phenom that was James Dean. Moreover, she was wonderful in the film, and it showcased her move from child star to bigger and more mature roles.
Wood’s portrayal of Judy was so effective, she received her first Academy Award nomination at just 17. She created a stunning portrait of a good girl leaning into being bad for attention, for love, to be seen by a world so dismissive of women, youth, anybody different really. It was a thoroughly modern portrait of the young American teenager at that time and Wood went on to create more of such characters, always in the moment, in the zeitgeist. (An interesting side note…while the character of Judy was not a tramp, Jo Van Fleet beat Wood for the Oscar by playing one. She played the role of the brothel madam who was the long-lost mother of the main character in the movie adaptation of John Steinbeck’s EAST OF EDEN. Oh, and that actor who played her son? James Dean.)
Other teen/ingenue roles followed that further cemented Wood’s chops including THE SEARCHERS in 1956, where she was the abducted girl driving the search; WEST SIDE STORY in 1961 where she scored the coveted lead role of Maria; and as the title character of GYPSY in 1962. Her role in THE SEARCHERS was not large, but her casting was crucial as audiences needed to be invested in her plight throughout a very tough and brutal narrative with two dark, cynical characters as leads (played by John Wayne and Jeffrey Hunter). It worked and many consider the film to be the greatest western of all time. As for WEST SIDE STORY, Wood may have been dubbed for most of her singing by Marni Nixon, as was common practice across movie musicals in the day, but she anchored the drama with a strong and passionate turn that sends shivers up your spine when she explodes with rage in the final scene. Such fire would become a hallmark of Wood’s oeuvre, and it not only was part of her character in each drama, but certainly reflective of a dissatisfied and angry nation that was starting to defy the patriarchy and status quo from the 50s well into the late 70s.
In GYPSY, Wood’s very next musical adaptation, she played the forlorn teen Louise, a willing but untalented girl supporting her talented sister Baby June in a vaudeville act conceived by their overbearing stage mother. The role becomes even more sorrowful when June runs off and the song & dance act then becomes centered around the reluctant Louise. Wood not only makes you believe Louise’s naivete and earnestness as a teen girl, but she pulls off the show-stopping transition when her character is forced into stripping at a burlesque house. In that moment, Louise becomes the famous showgirl “Gypsy Rose Lee” and Wood became a woman for all to see on screen.
It’s a remarkable performance, one helluva transition on screen, perhaps as stunning in its way as watching the good Doctor Jekyll turn into Mr. Hyde in various film adaptations earlier. When Louise gazes at herself in the mirror, dressed in her tight blue gown, full makeup, and upturned hair, Louise realizes that she has always been an attractive woman. No one was looking though, including herself, at the truth of what she had become growing up in such circumstances. Wood turns that moment into a devastating revelation, staring for a number of beats before blurting out. “Momma, I’m pretty…I’m a pretty girl, Momma.” It’s a moment that takes your breath away. And breaks your heart. I’m tearing up just writing about it.
There’s no turning back then for Louise as she goes out on stage to strip and, in a brilliantly edited montage, we see her character go from a timid teen afraid to remove a glove to a confident star using only the curtains as a coverup of her nudity. It is both entrancing and shocking, and it cemented Wood in the eyes of her audience as an actress who was willing to take on daring and controversial roles, especially ones dealing with a woman’s sexuality.
In her Oscar-nominated performances in SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS in 1962 and LOVE WITH THE PROPER STRANGER in 1963, Wood not only played young women grappling with love, romance, and sex, but those films challenged societal norms in America about morals, women’s rights, and mental illness. In the former, Wood played opposite Warren Beatty; they were Deanie and Bud, a teen couple trying to figure how they feel about each other and their burgeoning sexual longing. Do they dare go all the way, even though they’re not married and their small town would turn them into pariahs if they knew they were so active? All their obsessing and struggling with mixed emotions end up taking a toll on the couple. They break up, reconcile, go through all kinds of fits and starts, and ultimately wrestle with betrayal. It all drives Deanie to madness and she attempts suicide, a shocker of a subject for film stories back then. Wood made it all palpable and eminently relatable. Her performance, the story, and the audacious themes resonated with audiences worldwide and it became a big critical and commercial hit. In fact, many consider SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS to be Wood’s greatest performance, including yours truly.
LOVE WITH THE PROPER STRANGER was another film dealing with women and sex and their increasing presence in all kids of walks of life in American society, only this time the taboo topic was abortion. Wood played Angie Rossini, a salesclerk at Macy’s who also happens to be the loving daughter of a good Italian family in 1960s New York City. She becomes pregnant after a one-night stand with jazz musician Rocky Papasano (Steve McQueen). Together, barely knowing each other and realizing that they’re not ready to be parents, they set out to abort the pregnancy. Such a procedure was still illegal at that time, and thus, the story follows not only their grappling with all the emotions involved, but legal worries as well. Inevitably, the ups and downs of what to do bring the couple closer together, but it’s Angie who decides to proceed with Rocky. In fact, throughout the film, Angie is presented as a character in control of her own decision-making, stubborn about it and sticking to her beliefs. She refuses to view herself as ‘damaged goods’ and it was an early stake in the ground for the coming woman’s movement. Despite such a strong, lead character, Wood’s impassioned and nuanced performance, and an upbeat ending, the film was not a commercial success. Perhaps abortion was too controversial a topic to drive mainstream Hollywood fare, but nonetheless, the film today is lauded for its artistry and bravery, as well as being ahead of its time in many respects.
Wood continued to play women trying to find themselves in an ever-changing world, no matter what the context or setting of the film. In period films like INSIDE DAISY CLOVER which took place during the Depression, and Blake Edward’s farce THE GREAT RACE in the early 1900s, Wood played characters out of time, fighting for their rights, standing up to male dominance. In many ways, such roles were as much about Wood’s stance against a prejudiced system in Hollywood, as they were of the characters fighting the patriarchy.
Nonetheless, her characters and their sexual politics never felt strident, even in a character like the suffragist Maggie DuBois that Wood played in Edwards’ slapstick confection. She matched the comedy and energy of costars Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon in every scene, performing pratfalls and zipping out zingers with a sharp tongue. The highlight of the film is an elaborately staged pie fight where everyone, including Wood, gets pummeled endlessly with pastry. (Curtis’s pristine leading man avoids all flying pies until the very end of the scene.) Wood made it all the funnier, huffing and puffing as her character is outraged at such humiliation. Wood disliked filming the scene, despite the hilarity, as she was caked in pie for hours and the rancid smell became truly nauseating. Still, none of that showed up on screen and it plays as one of the greatest comedy scenes in cinema.
The last classic film of Wood’s career occurred in 1969 with BOB & CAROL & TED & ALICE. In Paul Mazursky’s comedy of manners, a defining film of that era, Wood played one half of the sophisticated Los Angeles couple Bob and Carol Sanders. They go to a meditation retreat in the mountains to get in touch with their feelings and end up eschewing lies and secrets after the revelatory weekend. Soon after a business trip, filmmaker Bob (Robert Culp) confesses to his wife that he slept with a co-worker. Watching Wood’s Carol process all the varying emotions she’s going through in the scene makes for a sly and subtle comedy scene. Ultimately, Carol forgives Bob for his discretion, but she goads him into admitting that she’s more attractive, a better kisser and lover to do so. In fact, part of the amusement in the scene finds Carol straddling Bob on the floor in their bathroom like she’s going to screw the memory of that other woman out of his system with her superior sensuality.
What’s also clever about Wood’s performance in BOB & CAROL & TED & ALICE lies in how she brings earnestness to every scene, including that one. She’s a loving, caring woman, willing to adapt to the new takes on the time. There’s nothing churlish about her exerting her sexuality; it’s another expression of love for her. During the (ahem) climax of the film, Carol is wholly onboard turning their Vegas vacation with their best friends Ted and Alice (Elliot Gould and Dyan Cannon) into a foursome in their hotel suite. Despite the hemming and hawing of the reluctant Bob and their best friends, Carol is pure and sweet about the orgiastic possibility, playing off of what she learned at the retreat about giving in to love and desire. Standing in her bra, panties, and heels, trying to cajole everyone into bed, it plays as both funny and sweet. They all try, but realize ultimately that the discomfort of crossing lines doesn’t sit well with any of them, including Carol. It’s a strong, traditional ending in its way for such a provocative film, but no matter, it gave Wood another chance to show off her comedy skills, her embrace of edgier material, and her palpable sensual presence.
Wood took a break from screen acting in the early 70s, by and large, to concentrate on raising her family, but did acclaimed work in a few films and quite a lot of terrific television work to boot. She won a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Miniseries for her role in the remake of FROM HERE TO ETERNITY on television and got critical hosannas for her turn as a suicidal suburban housewife drifting in and out of asylums in the TV-movie THE CRACKER FACTORY. Her final film role was in BRAINSTORM, a science fiction piece about scientists finding a way to enter other people’s minds and manipulate their thoughts. Wood was still shooting pickup footage when she died, but the film was released intact a year later. The movie remains an interesting if under-developed genre piece, as well as the last time Wood graced the screen.
No matter, Wood’s legacy was already firmly entrenched by then, and she likely would’ve gone on to other successes had she lived. One can imagine her aging into many of the kind of roles that Jane Fonda has succeeded in well into her 80s. It’s all conjecture, of course, but what we do have is Wood’s legacy of work.
Natalie Wood was, dare I say, a trailblazer, as well as a gifted talent. And few have made as much an impact on her craft as she did from five to 43. She obviously made quite an impression on me as well. And that is why she’s my answer when asked about favorite movie stars.
