From child star to teenage rebel to full-fledged grown-up actress, Natalie Wood was able to transition seamlessly. Wood (real name: Natasha Gurdin) first caught the public’s attention as the little girl in Miracle on 34th Street, then sought to shed her innocent image by taking on the role of troubled teen Judy opposite James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause. In real life, she was a little minx! At 16 years old she was having affairs with Rebel co-star Dennis Hopper and her 43-year-old director Nicholas Ray! More risqué roles in films like Splendor in the Grass (1961), West Side Story (1961), and Gypsy (1962) followed, turning Wood into one of the sexiest stars of ‘60s. She starred as a sex expert in 1964’s Sex and the Single Girl and a swinger in 1969’s Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice. Don’t let her sweet appearance fool you. Natalie Wood was one fierce chick! And today, she’s our Siren Centerfold.
She was voted one of the top sex stars of the 1970s in Playboy magazine.
We absolutely love her sense of fashion! Her clothes always perfectly embodied the decade. Check out some of her looks from the 60s and 70s here.
Wood suffered an intense fear of drowning ever since an accident during the filming of The Green Promise (1949). Elia Kazan had to trick her into doing water scenes in Splendor in the Grass. Ironically, and tragically, she died of drowning at the age of 43.
She also had a sense of humor! On April 23, 1966, she became the first performer voted the year's worst by the Harvard Lampoon to show up and accept her "award."
At first I thought maybe Katie Holmes could play Natalie Wood, if she was a bit shorter, and Kristine thought Catherine Zeta Jones, if she was a bit younger. But in this picture isn't Wood the spitting image of Katharine Heigl?!
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