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Natalie Wood
- The Complete Biography
- Narrated by: Suzanne Finstad, Rose McGowan
- Length: 20 hrs and 17 mins
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Natalie Wood
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Summary
New York Times best seller • The definitive biography of a vulnerable and talented actress, now with shocking new chapters including the reopened investigation into her mysterious drowning.
An ID Book Club Selection • “Impressive, disturbing, and revelatory.” (Variety)
Natalie Wood has been hailed alongside Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor as one of the top three female movie stars in film history. We watched her mature on the movie screen before our eyes in classics such as Miracle on 34th Street, Rebel Without a Cause, Splendor in the Grass, and West Side Story. But the story of what she endured, of what her life was like when the doors of the soundstages closed, had long been obscured.
Based on years of astonishing research, Natalie Wood (previously published as Natasha) raises the curtain on Wood’s turbulent life. Award-winning author Suzanne Finstad conducted nearly 400 interviews with Natalie Wood’s family, close friends, legendary costars, lovers, film crews, and virtually everyone connected to her death. Through these firsthand accounts, Finstad reconstructs a life of emotional abuse and exploitation, of unimaginable fame, great loneliness, and loss. She reveals painful truths in Wood’s complex relationships with James Dean, Frank Sinatra, Warren Beatty, and, of course, Robert Wagner.
Thirty years after Natalie Wood’s death, the LA Sheriff’s Department reopened the investigation into her drowning using Finstad’s groundbreaking research and chilling, hour-by-hour timeline of that tumultuous weekend as evidence. Within a year, the LA Coroner changed Natalie Wood’s death certificate from "Accidental Drowning" to "Drowning and Other Undetermined Factors." In 2018, the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department officially named Wagner a "Person of Interest" in Wood’s death.
In this updated edition, Finstad will share her explosive findings from the last two decades. With her unprecedented access to the LASD’s "Murder Book", ignored by the original investigators, and new witnesses who have never spoken publicly, Finstad uncovers what really happened to Natalie Wood on that fateful boating trip in 1981 with Wagner and Christopher Walken. She expands on intimate details from Wood’s unpublished memoir, which affirms her fear of drowning and the betrayal by Wagner that shattered their first marriage.
Finstad tells this 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.
Critic reviews
“Gripping . . . a sad, penetrating portrait that juxtaposes the storybook myth that made Wood a popular movie actress and the real story of what happened once the cameras stopped rolling.” (The New York Times Book Review)
“A spectacularly comprehensive, moving, shocking, and riveting book. It has put together many pieces of the puzzled life Natalie and I led, and helped me understand what I had not been able to see for myself.” (Lana Wood, Natalie Wood’s sister)
“A poignant, intensely sympathetic portrait of the vulnerable, sensitive little girl who grew up to be the quintessential Hollywood star.” (Los Angeles Times)
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What listeners say about Natalie Wood
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Stephen
- 24-03-22
A Biographical Thriller
A surprise in many ways, I wasn't expecting the painstaking attention to detail.
An exhilarating, though also sad listen, relating to the demise of a legend.
Let hope one day justice will out.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Wretched_heart
- 21-05-20
Wow.
This book was so interesting and so detailed, I am glad I chose to listen.
Rose McGowan as a narrator was the perfect choice and the emotion you hear in her voice at times is so moving. I really hope she goes on to do more audiobooks.
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Jennifer
- 12-03-21
Love it!
Really enjoyed listening to this telling of Natalie Woods rise to fame, great details and lots of famous faces!
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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- Nikki noos
- 21-03-24
Devastating for Robert Wagner
Upsetting true story because Robert Wagner should have been held accountable for what he did. I didn’t like the narrator.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Hayley
- 30-07-20
Fascinating
So happy to read/ listen to a well researched book that brings the subject to life.
Fascinating and deeply disturbing- but ultimately a celebration of a woman who overcame so much and was a true star .
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Michelle Habiby
- 14-12-20
Fascinating, heartbreaking ❤
A wonderful, eye-opening book, incredible detail. Thoroughly enjoyed it and would most definitely recommend. Hollywood let her down badly.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Buyer
- 28-11-21
Chilling conclusion but also a detailed Hollywood memoir
A must read for those who love behind the scenes Hollywood and also Natalie Wood. The chilling conclusion means this cannot be over…
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Liz
- 13-02-21
Fascinating
I found this book such a fascinating account of Natalie Wood’s life. Heartbreaking in so many ways. There was a huge amount of detail. I listened any spare moment I could. The narrator was excellent.
What a tragedy that Natalie died so young and her two daughters left behind.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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- flowertoes
- 07-04-20
McGowan obsessed.
I quite enjoyed the reading of this book until the last chapters,the truth is,no one .knows what happened on the night that Natalie Wood died,S the last chapters went on l got more and more irritated with Susanne Finstad everyone on that boat was parasitic,no one probably remembered exactly what happened,they were all alcoholics how mu h did she say Natalie had drunk,Wagner and Natalie rowed ,well I should be surprised if they had,not If i were Wagner I would take Finstad to court and have it out in the open.l also wonder what the Sinatra family think about their father being a pedafile.Robert Wagner is how old now..84-5-6...or more,They had a row,Wagner did the wrong thi ng and kept drinking g and did not know his arse from his elbow,nobody knows what happened to the lovely Natalie Wood,she would be 82 now.R.I.P.Natalie.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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- steven brown
- 02-06-21
unlistenable
never got a chance to listen to the story.
the robotic voice doing the narrative is just something i couldn't listen to.
waste of money buying this book.....play the sample before you buy,i wish i had.
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1 person found this helpful