Exploring Natalie Wood's life and career through the unique perspective of her daughter, Natasha Gregson Wagner, and others who knew her best.Exploring Natalie Wood's life and career through the unique perspective of her daughter, Natasha Gregson Wagner, and others who knew her best.Exploring Natalie Wood's life and career through the unique perspective of her daughter, Natasha Gregson Wagner, and others who knew her best.
- Awards
- 1 nomination
- Self
- (archive footage)
- Self - Natalie's Personal Assistant 1977 - 1981
- (as Liz Applegate)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe documentary premiered on May 5, 2020 on the HBO channel. That day is also a special day for Natasha Gregson Wagner - it would have been her father Richard Gregson's 90th birthday. Richard was married to Natalie Wood from 1969 to 1972.
- Quotes
Self - Actor, Filmmaker: The business she was in is a tough business and to survive in that business, you had to have a tough side to you, and so I think she had to develop that. But it wasn't comfortable. What she really wanted to do was to laugh and have fun and just be a regular person But mainly, she had a big heart, and that showed up in her work.
- ConnectionsFeatures Happy Land (1943)
- SoundtracksThis House
Written by Cyril J. Mockridge (as Cyril Mockridge)
Performed by Edward B. Powell (as Edward Powell) and Cyril J. Mockridge (as Cyril Mockridge)
Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
This film takes two passes at her life, the first taking about 40 minutes to get to the first mention of her demise and then investigating in detail her somewhat mysterious and some might say suspicious death. It's a pity that these seemingly spurious allegations, led by her obsessed younger sister who claims that Wagner had something to do with it, come to dominate the narrative and running time as Wood's achievements were considerable and worth recounting, no matter how she passed.
The child of Russian immigrant parents, her mother is described as eccentric and demanding, the classic showbiz mom in fact. When she married Wagner, both were in demand as young and photogenic high-profile stars, the Brad and Angelina of their day with their faces on the front of every movie magazine. However the marriage didn't last and both remarried and had daughters with other partners, both remarrying in the process before they got back together in the 70 's, remarrying and this time having a baby girl of their own. This second marriage appears to have been a happy one with Wood revelling in her role as mother to the three girls between her and Wagner, to the extent that she took a career break to bring up their kids, but was just returning to Hollywood in parts befitting her maturiy when she met her end.
I must admit the woman I encountered here, I liked and admired. She was a good actress, certainly beautiful but was also business-smart and apparently a good wife and devoted mother. Her story is told with lots of library interview footage of Wood as well as extensive interviews with all her surviving family members, especially Wagner, although unsurprisingly there's no input at all from the accusatory sister or Walken, apart from a brief historical clip of him denying any involvement in her death. I do think though this was the right course to take with the narrative as it seems clear to me that Wagner felt and still feels genuine remorse and clearly has the support of the three girls in the family and close friends.
With other admiring contributions by notable co-stars such as Robert Redford, Dyan Cannon and Elliott Gould, what emerged was a picture of a well-rounded woman with a strong idea of her own worth and determined to live her life her way.
Just a postscript to say that it's a bit of a shame to hear so many of the participants talking about their reliance on therapy. It seems that the lifestyles of the rich and famous aren't to be envied after all.
- Lejink
- Jan 30, 2023
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Натали Вуд: Она што останува
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 40 minutes