Happy Autumn Everyone!
As I gazed at the Harvest Moon this year, I wondered what stories the moon could tell us from its watchful eye above. Many things occur after dark, but one of the most memorable is the mysterious death of actress Natalie Wood.
Natalie Wood came to my attention while watching the classic Miracle on 34th Street. That curious little girl charmed me. Later, I caught Natalie in other parts, including A Rebel Without a Cause with James Dean and her brilliant role as Maria in West Side Story.
Yet, decades later, the moon would have a story to tell. When Natalie was a young girl, her mother visited a fortune teller who predicted that Natalie would die from drowning. The prediction led her mother to ingrain the dangers of water on her daughter from then on. To make matters worse, when Natalie turned eleven, her family accepted a role in The Green Promise. During filming, the Director created a broken bridge for the young actress to walk over. Assured a safe passage, Natalie hurried to the end of the broken crossing but fell into the dark waters below. Natalie broke her left wrist. The protruding bone from that injury would be a haunting reminder of the dangers of dark water for the rest of her life.
In 1957, on her eighteenth birthday, Natalie agreed to a date with actor Robert J. Wagner (aka RJ), eight years her senior, and they married that same year. Both would divorce and remarry. Afterward, Natalie took time off to raise her children.
In 1981, Natalie accepted a part in the movie Brainstorm, starring Christopher Walken. The two became friends, and Natalie invited him to spend Thanksgiving in Catalina, Ca. on their boat, The Splendour.
Walken, RJ, Natalie, and the ship’s captain, Dennis Davern, boarded the boat on November 27, 1981. As the weekend progressed, so did their drinking. Despite the captain’s and RJ’s presence, Natalie and Walken laughed and enjoyed one another’s company. That upset RJ and the first of many arguments ensued. Embarrassed, Natalie asked the captain to take her back to shore in the inflatable dinghy to spend the night.
The following day, she returned. Walken informed Natalie that despite the incident the night before, he wanted to stay for the weekend. Natalie made breakfast for the lot while Walken flirted with her. Seething, RJ hurled comments at the two. That evening, Walken and Natalie went to shore and had dinner at the local restaurant. RJ and the captain joined them later.
According to the waitress’s testimony, the group ingested three bottles of wine and three bottles of champagne, and one man had at least five daiquiris. She continued to testify that Natalie ate very little and struggled to walk.
All four people returned to The Splendour around 10:30 p.m. Natalie then suggested they end the evening with a glass of wine. According to the captain’s testimony, RJ smashed the wine bottle and accused Walken of trying to have sex with his wife. Mortified by her husband’s behavior, Natalie enters her stateroom, changing into a pink flannel nightgown and wool socks. Her husband follows her, and an altercation follows.
Davern wondered if he and Walken should try to stop the fight, but Walken refused. “It’s best to avoid getting involved in arguments between a man and his wife,” he said. With that, Walken bids the captain goodnight and closes himself in his guest suite, where he remains for the rest of the night.
Davern moves to the upper level and hears the yelling from the captain’s perch. The fighting escalates, and the sound of a body hitting the wall startled him. Wanting to protect his friend, Davern tapped on the stateroom door. Surprised, RJ opened the door only a few inches and told him, “Go away.”
It wasn’t long after when a deafening silence hung over the ship, and the fighting stopped. But something didn’t feel right to Davern. He waited as long as possible, then returned to the stateroom. This time, he entered the bedroom without knocking. On the other side of the room, a door leading to the back of the boat (the F deck) swung open. When he stepped out, Davern noticed the dinghy floating at the rear where he had secured it earlier. RJ stood with his back against the railing, sweating and out of breath. “Natalie’s gone,” he said. “Go look for her in the other rooms.”
The captain hurried and checked the rest of the boat, including Walken’s room, who had slept through the entire incident. When he returned, RJ said that Natalie couldn’t sleep with the dinghy hitting the boat. “She must’ve come out here to secure it when she fell in.” (Years later, RJ would change his story and say Natalie took the boat to shore.)
Davern insisted they turn on the searchlight and call the authorities, but RJ refused. “No, we will not do that,” he told the captain. It would be hours before Davern called the Harbor Patrol.
At sunrise, the rescue crew found the dinghy washed up on shore a hundred yards from The Splendour and Natalie’s body face down in the water nearby.
The original coroner’s report found Natalie’s blood alcohol level at .14. There were multiple bruises on her body, including a gash to her forehead. Besides other welts, her right forearm had extensive defense wounds. The coroner determined the bruising came from her struggle to return to the ship. The death certificate notes her death as an accidental drowning.
The investigators found a harbor officer who claimed to hear a woman screaming. Likewise, a nearby ship also reported hearing a woman yell, “Help me! Someone, help me!” Both witnesses assumed that partygoers from a nearby ship were playing games.
There are a lot of things that don’t add up with this case. If RJ knew Natalie suffered from the fear of dark water, why didn’t he tie the dinghy to the boat? Why did Natalie yell for someone to help her and not her husband? RJ knew Natalie did not know how to swim, yet he refused to turn on the searchlights to find her. Also, how can an inflatable raft create knocking noises? A search of The Splendour revealed fingernail scratches on the side of the boat. Why didn’t RJ pull Natalie out of the water if she were that close?
Decades later, Davern returned to the Los Angeles Police Department and admitted he lied. He confessed that the accidental drowning narrative came from an agreement between him and RJ’s lawyers. Although his credibility waned when he reported the event to wretched tabloids, Davern took two polygraph tests and passed them with 100 percent truthfulness.
In 2011, the LAPD reopened the case, and a new coroner changed the death certificate to read the cause of death as drowning and other undetermined factors. Although RJ remains innocent until proven guilty, in 2018, authorities revealed he was now a person of interest.
Okay, friends, I have to run; a can of pumpkin spice whipped cream is sitting in my fridge, and I have to investigate how it got there. Haha!
Harper
HARPER GALE BOOKS 