The former child star was at the heighth of her adult fame with three hits just behind her (Splendor in the Grass, West Side Story and Gypsy) and another opening at Christmas: Love with the Proper Stranger.
Time capsule: In the summer of '63 --let's pretend it was summer but it's Malibu you never know-- Cleopatra and Hud were playing in movie theaters. Liz Taylor, her main rival for 60s female starpower, was dazzling in eyeliner in the former. Paul Newman, one of Wood's earliest co-stars, was delivering a magnificent performance in the latter. Newman and Wood were both nominated for an Oscar the following February, Liz was not but she ended up with the only Best Picture nominee between them. Tell me again how Cleopatra is greater than Hud? AAAaaaaargh.The summer's biggest hits on the radio? The immortal "It's My Party" -Lesley Gore, "I Will Follow Him" -Little Peggy March (Hi Sister Act!) and the great and silly "If You Wanna Be Happy" -Jimmy Soul --remember when Cher, Christina Ricci and Winona Ryder danced to that in Mermaids (1990)? Good times.
Speaking of good times: President John F Kennedy and Martin Luther King were both championing civil rights and delivering famous speeches in the hot months this year.
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"If you wanna be happy for the rest of your life, never makie a pretty woman your wife..." God I can conjure that scene up like lightning, the three of them dancing around the kitchen, singing into mixing spoons - that most cliched chick-flick staple - lil' Ricci's cuteness battling "box of puppies" for Cutest Thing On Earth, and Jake Ryan brooding somewhere off-screen (but never off my brain).
I've seen Mermaids more times than is healthy, I think.
what happened to wood after 1965 she made nothing of note!
It's funny how the stereotypical 60s political scene was so far ahead of the stereotypical 60s music scene. We younguns tend to forget how slow that decade's change came along.
When I saw "Natalie at the beach" I TOTALLY thought that was Natalie PORTMAN. Who has now just turned 27, apparently. How is she that old?
And is she the new Natalie Wood? Similarities abound.
Shame you hated Wanted. I'm totally still seeing it.
I still think of Portman as the new Audrey Hepburn, but that's probably just due to physical similarity. Portman's much more gritty and hip than Hepburn ever was.
How dare you say that about my beloved Cleopatra! I remember going into it thinking it was going to be a kitch-fest, and, to a certain extent, it was, but it's no Ten Commandments (for better or for worse) and it has some incredible dialogue. Liz carries the whole damn movie, and it's really a great one at that, a true spectacle, beautiful, and even intelligent. Ok, I guess you weren't hating on Cleo, just comparing it to Hud, which is more of a "quiet" actor's showcase.
yeah Billy you got there eventually ;) nothing against Cleopatra it's just that HUD is the real deal. just awesome. I can't believe it wasn't nominated.
so where did her career post 65 any offers!!! did people realise hey she can't act.
bite your tongue. Natalie is awesome.
The reason for the weird disappearance in her career is that she quit at the top of her game for a few years, returning in 1969 with big hit BOB & CAROL & TED & ALICE in which she is super... but that was essentially the last hurrah since the later films weren't hits or very good.
i thought she was offered bonnie & clyde. 1967. she turned it down because beatty had been such a heartless schmuck to her when he dumped her a few years earlier.
Ms. Wood is fantastic in Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice. I think it's her best performance, and man is she foxy in it.
As for Bonnie & Clyde, I heard they originally wanted Tuesday Weld to play Bonnie(and to play Lolita, too).
what's she doing at the beach? i thought she was scared of water..?
well according to that PICTURES AT A REVOLUTION book Natalie wasn't really as close to getting Bonnie & Clyde as the legend goes. It wasn't even offered to her according to the book -- though common history has it (maybe from her camp?) that she turned it down.
Duncan, I absolutely agree with you. She is über foxy in B&C&T&A and it's by far her best comedic performance
Plus, she did die young so it's not like she had her golden years to have a second wind in her career like, say, Ellen Burstyn.
Also, kudos on the Sister Act mention. I have to go listen to that soundtrack now.
She made just 4 films after 'B&C&T&A' to focus on her family. But I swear I've read interviews with Beatty where he says she was offered the part of Bonnie. Why she (may have) turned it down I'm not sure, though she didn't make any films in 67 or 68. I do wish she had won the Oscar for Splendor though.
The previous poster makes a great point though about her being at the beach when she's so terrified on water.
And finally, Nat - you need more posts of Natalie!!!
a film about ms wood is needed i feel moviegoers have forgotten her,like me i suppose why oh why was she only offered meteor and brainstorm as vehicles for her talent!
interesting....i've read the tuesday weld thing too. plus i read somehwere that Jane fonda was considered for bonnie. i wonder how they ended up w Miss Dunaway - who i thought was terrific. "Boy, boy - watchu doin' wit my mama's car?". what the hello dolly every became of miss dunaway's career? hot hot hot....to become a bit of a joke. I saw her in boston in "Master Class" in the early 90's - amazing performance and strikingly beautiful.
Jimmy --you must read PICTURES AT A REVOLUTION
great bok and you'll get all the Bonnie & Clyde casting and preproduction drama you can handle
i'll see if it's @ B&N today! driving from DC to NH this weekend so I need something to read. thanks, pallie.
ps - do you recall who calls you "pallie" when he doesn't remember your name??? kind of tied into Miss Dunaway.
20-something year old Natalie Wood in a bikini? Wowwee! I like! And I have to agree with Billy D when he says that Natalie Portman is the new Audrey Hepburn. Especially when she had her hair all stylish when she was growing it back after shaving it all off for V for Vendetta.
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