The New York Times bestselling definitive biography of Natalie Wood, Natasha is the haunting story of a vulnerable and talented actress whom many of us felt we knew. We watched her mature on the movie screen before our eyes—in Miracle on 34th Street, Rebel Without a Cause, West Side Story, Splendor in the Grass, and on and on. She has been hailed—along with Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth … with Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor—as one of the top three female movie stars in the history of film, making her a legend in her own lifetime and beyond. But the story of what Natalie endured, of what her life was like when the doors of the soundstages closed, has long been obscured.
Natasha is based on years of exhaustive research into Natalie’s turbulent life and mysterious drowning. Author Suzanne Finstad conducted nearly four hundred interviews with Natalie’s family, close friends, legendary costars, lovers, film crews, and virtually everyone connected with the investigation of her strange death.
Through these firsthand accounts from many who have never spoken publicly before, Finstad has reconstructed a life of emotional abuse and exploitation, of almost unprecedented fame, great loneliness, poignancy, and loss. She sheds an unwavering light on Natalie’s complex relationships with James Dean, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Raymond Burr, Warren Beatty, and Robert Wagner and reveals the two lost loves of Natalie’s life, whom her controlling mother prevented her from marrying.
Finstad tells this beauty’s heartbreaking story with sensitivity and grace, revealing a complex and conflicting mix of fragility and strength in a woman who was swept along by forces few could have resisted.
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For lovers of Old Hollywood. This biography reveals how difficult and tragic Natalie’s career and life were. The chapters devoted to her mysterious death are heartbreaking.
Biographies are enjoyable to me about famous people and their lives, people they knew and from Inside their hearts and heads the joys & insecurities. You learn a lot and this book was no exception.
This book answers a lot of questions about Natalie Wood, but also is very tragic and sad. I figured it wouldn’t be a happy read, and though informative, it really was haunting and twisted. It was clear that the research was exhaustive and thorough.
The life of Natalie Wood was both sad by a controlling mother and somewhat fairy tail by her beauty and acting success. She accumulated wealth and many male love affairs with handsome and famous men. What I found very enlightening was how kind many of her friends attested to. She hid her sadness and seemed to be a pleasant lady even while she …
Very interesting read!
Long on words with a story lost inside it.
For those who grew up in the 50’s and 60’s this is great nostalgia and fascinating back story of a lovely woman.
I expected more definitive theories about her death. There were some, and it lets you come to your own conclusions which are dark. It does give you indight into here childhood and how it effected her life which was extremely interesting.
It’s not so great to be a Movie Star. Even if you’re beautiful and talented.
The stress is unbelievable and sad, especially when you are thrown into
it as a child. This biography is well referenced and believable and sad.
Story didn’t flow. It went back and forth between mother and daughter’s life. Seem to repeat incidents to add more information, instead of giving the full story the first time.
Not what I expected.
Interesting, but redundant.
Interesting but too many details for me. Wasn’t looking fir a filmography
This book was a good biography on Natalie Wood, very insightful information on an amazing actress and her life.
I’ve always been a fan of Natalie’s. In fact when I was younger I was often told I looked like her.
I never knew her background story. She had a sad childhood that forced her to grow up too soon and be the family breadwinner. Even her death was a foreseen tragedy as told by a fortune teller Natalie’s mom took her to.
Through it all Natalie was …
Loved Natalie as a person. Very interesting about her life and relationships. So baffling and unbelievable as to how she got in the water ! Sad and poignant.
Natalie Wood led a different kind of life due to her mother’s control. It was interesting to see how she evolved into the star she was and how tragedy was such a part of her life.
The book dragged on and on with too many insignificant details
Good profile about this “star”
Sad book. Didn’t know she had such a tortured life.