LATEST NEWS
Sorry about the lack of updates to my website, but not a lot has been mentioned about Natalie in the UK in the past year. I thought there would have been some tributes in the press about the 25th anniversary of her death in November 2006, but unfortunately nothing appeared. (I’m sure her fans commemorated her passing with tributes of their own). Due to this I’ve finally decided to add an extra section to my website. I visited Los Angeles in September 2005 and have added a section with my photos of visiting with Natalie at Westwood Memorial Park. I hope you like the photos. (See new button “Memorial 2005”).
“CMG Worldwide” also announced on 10th November 2006 the addition of Natalie Wood’s Estate to their list of celebrity clientele. They also launched the first “official” Natalie Wood website on 22nd August 2007. The “Official” site contains a wealth of personal and career-related information for Wood’s fans, both young and old, as well as information for potential business partners. (I was amazed and incredibly pleased to find a link for my own website in the “tribute sites” section).
Natalie’s official site can be found at www.cmgworldwide.com/stars/wood
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Gavin Lambert’s book “Natalie Wood: A Life” has finally got a UK release on 1ST JULY 2004. The book will be published by Faber & Faber Ltd, has 370 pages with 78 b&w illustrations. The ISBN is: 0-571-22197-1 and is priced at £17.99. Here is how the book is described in Faber & Faber’s catalogue: Natalie Wood made her silver-screen debut aged seven, starred in some of America’s best-loved movies (Rebel Without a Cause, The Searchers, Splendor in the Grass, West Side Story), and died, shockingly, in 1981. This is her story. |
Gavin Lambert’s 20-year friendship with Wood began when she starred in the movie adaptation of his novel Inside Daisy Clover. Now he describes her life, from Russian parentage and the urgings of her driven ‘stage mother’, though her awkward adolescence, to her flowering as a glamorous movie star. He documents her marriages, divorces, love affairs; her suicide attempt at 26; the birth of her children, her friendships, her struggles as an actress, and her tragic death by drowning at 43.
Drawing exclusively on private papers and interviews with those who knew her best – including her husband Robert Wagner – Lambert presents us with the richest imaginable portrait of this beguiling, tragic woman.
More news regarding the new biography of Natalie Wood.
The cover has eventually been listed onto the Random House website with the following information:
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The only problem I find with the cover of Gavin Lambert’s book is the similarity to the UK paperback edition of Suzanne Finstad’s biography “Natasha: The Biography of Natalie Wood”. (See comparison between the two books on the left). Unfortunately at the moment the Lambert book does not have a UK publisher, so I can’t say whether or not the book, if it was published in the UK, would use the same photograph. |
I have also found confusion as to the correct release date of NATALIE WOOD: A LIFE. When I wrote to Random House in February I was given a released date of JANUARY 30, 2004, but I have found whilst researching the impending release of the book dates including JANUARY 1, 2004 and JANUARY 6, 2004. We can only guess the correct release date at this present time as the Random House site only lists a release date of JANUARY 2004.
DON’T FORGET:
The US Biography channel will be showing a brand new 1-hour biography of Natalie
on Tuesday 23rd September 2003.
 Click image to view full size |
NEW NATALIE WOOD
CROSS-STITCH After being inspired by Natalie's beauty and talent for the last eleven years I decided to make another Natalie Wood cross-stitch. The reason I chose this photograph is because it wasn't the usual staged pose and showed all of Natalie's vulnerability and exceptional beauty. I also chose this photo because a dear friend and fellow Brit, Anthony (Tony) Costello sent it to me. Tony was Natalie's secretary from Christmas 1965 until late 1968. Tony sadly passed away early this year (2002), so this is a tribute to both him and Natalie. I hope it does both of them justice. The picture is the same size as my original Natalie cross-stitch and took over two months to complete. |
COURTNEY
WAGNER WEBSITE 
NEW
COURTNEY WAGNER ARTICLE
Courtney Wagner
Age: 27
Famous family: Wagner is the daughter of Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood, who
drowned accidentally in 1981. Her half-sisters are actors Katie Wagner and Natasha
Gregson Wagner.
Growing up the child of
movie stars wasn't easy for the shy Wagner, who never wanted a career in showbusiness.
"In the Los Angeles scene, it makes someone feel like they're important
if they have a picture in a magazine or their face on TV," says Wagner,
who launched the Wagner and Ko jewellery line with childhood friend Anita Ko
last autumn. "I couldn't get past stage fright." Wagner's closest
brush with the paparazzi came when she was the girlfriend of actor Stephen Dorff
(the pair posed for the cover of Interview magazine in 1993). Now dating musician
Renn Hawkey, Wagner lives in Los Angeles, not far from her father, with whom
she is especially close. "Everything about him is so marvellous,"
she says. But it's her business that takes up most of her time. "It's giving
me a feeling of satisfaction," she says of making her modern but classic
accessories, which have been worn by Cameron Diaz and Melissa Etheridge. "It's
actually taken a huge load off. I always struggled with this feeling of, God,
what am I going to do? What am I going to do?"
NATASHA
WAGNER'S VIEWS ON SUZANNE FINSTAD BOOK
Natasha Gregson Wagner knows what it is like to have your life - and especially your tragedies - splashed all over the press. Since her mother's - NATALIE WOOD - untimely death in 1981, the vultures have been circling. The most recent book, Natasha: The Biography of Natalie Wood by SUZANNE FINSTAD was released this past June 2001, and in it Suzanne claims that Natalie twice tried to commit suicide, was raped as a teenager and might have survived her fatal plunge into the Pacific Ocean. It is no wonder that Natasha, who bears her mother's birth name, can't bring herself to read this stuff.
"People are going to
write things like that," Natasha comments sadly. "It is unfortunate
that she (Suzanne) said she had our family's support. But a wonderful biography
on my Mom will be coming out next year (2002) by GAVIN LAMBERT that we are all
involved with - everybody that knew my Mom and was close to her - and that will
really be the one I hope everyone reads. It will be the definitive biography
on my Mother. This one that came out is trash."
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NATALIE WOOD CROSS STITCH This is my own personal tribute to Natalie. I wanted to find someway of celebrating Natalie's life, something that was totally mine, and as I am also a cross-stitch fan I decided to make my own tribute. The reason I chose this picture is because it captures all of Natalie's beauty and charisma. The cross-stitch itself took me nearly three months to complete and contains over 17,000 individual stitches, and measures 8 inches by 11 inches in total. I had the finished pattern professionally framed and it now takes pride of place in my home. I'd love to hear what fellow Natalie fans have to think of my tribute! Click on the image to view it full size. |
GAVIN LAMBERT'S BIOGRAPHY
OF NATALIE WOOD
I found this text in an interview that Gavin did in 2000. It tells us why he
chose to do the biography of Natalie. This will be the first time that Robert
Wagner has collaborated on a book on his late wife, and hopefully it will turn
out to be the most accurate. As everyone will know, Gavin Lambert was the writer
of Natalie's 1965 movie, "Inside Daisy Clover", so he knew her personally
also. As far as I know the book is still in the process of being written, if
I come across any other news I will post it on this website.
Interview with Gavin Lambert:
Are you working on any
other biographical projects?
I'm working on a biography of Natalie Wood, with the full co-operation of the
Wagner family. Actually, its something that Robert Wagner had asked me to do
a few years ago. He had always refused any kind of co-operation to other people
because he thought they were not the right person. That's why there's been practically
nothing written about her. There's been one very trashy book, really compiled
from gossip columns. At the time that R.J. originally asked me, I was busy on
something else, but I said that I would love to do it, maybe a bit later. And
then six months or so ago, I had come to the end of something and I thought,
well, I'd like to do it now. So I told Wagner and he was very happy. It's wonderful
to have that kind of co-operation because all kinds of doors open that are previously
closed and there are no strings. It's a very fascinating project, because she
was a very extraordinary person and, I think, a very underrated actress. So
it's a pleasure to do in many ways.
That will give you another
opportunity to look at an interesting period of you own life as well, since
she starred in the film version of your first novel, Inside Daisy Clover, for
which you wrote the screenplay as well.
Yes. There's quite a lot to say about that.
NATASHA: THE BIOGRAPHY OF NATALIE WOOD
The UK edition of Suzanne Finstad's "Natasha" book has finally been released on July 26th, 2001.
There is not a lot of difference between the two versions of the book. The UK edition has a different cover and is released through the Century imprint at Random House UK (ISBN: 0-712-67700-3).
The English version of the book has been slightly abridged and has only 430 pages compared to the US version, which has 454 pages. I have yet to finish the UK edition to find out how much of the text is missing. I will post on this website if anything important was missed out.
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The only other differences between the two versions of the book are the back of the sleeve, and the pictures inside are placed in a slightly different order. The wonderful pictures on the back of the US version do not appear on the UK edition. The back cover of the book looks like this, for anyone who is interested. |
If anyone is a collector like I am, and are willing to purchase two copies of the book for the different covers, most bookstores in England are willing to import the book. If anyone is having any problems importing the book, they can e-mail me personally, and I'll try to help.
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