CA - Natalie Wood, 43, drowned off California coast, 29 Nov 1981

[JerseyGirl]

Detectives said Wagner sat with the boat’s captain Dennis Davern that night in 1981, even though Natalie Wood could not swim and the seas were rough.

When Mr Davern suggested a call for help on the two-way radio, Wagner allegedly said: “No, we don’t want to call anybody.”

Ninety minutes later, Wagner allegedly asked people in the nearby town to look for her on land – instead of calling the Coast Guard to search the water.

Los Angeles County detectives said Wagner was jealous of Miss Wood’s closeness to actor Christopher Walken, who was with the couple that evening on their 60-foot yacht Splendour.

agner had been angry at Ms Wood.

He had smashed a bottle of wine on board the yacht and asked Walken: “What are you trying to do, **** my wife?”

Mr Davern said he then heard sounds of a physical fight coming from below deck – then nothing.

en minutes later he went down to the stateroom and found Wagner, now 87, crying: “Natalie’s gone, she’s missing”.

Wagner told Mr Davern to search for her.

Mr Davern did so and when he came back Wagner said: “The dinghy’s now missing.”

Mr Davern wanted to turn on the searchlight but Wagner said: “Don’t.”

Mr Davern said: “We should get on the radio and call somebody” but that Wagner replied: “No, we don’t want to call anybody. Let’s just wait and see if she comes back.”

Wagner then opened the Scotch and the two drank until 1.30am

Wagner refused to speak to officers many times even though they travelled to his home in Aspen, Colorado.

The dinghy that went missing from the yacht when Ms Wood disappeared

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/914429/robert-wagner-natalie-wood-death-murder-documentary

 

[Blondie in Spokane]

The more I read these accounts the sadder I get. I can’t imagine the terror and loneliness NW experienced in that dark, cold water when the reality of the dire situation hit her. No matter how many times she cried for help....nobody was coming to rescue her. Her husband drank scotch for another 90 minutes while she was floating away, ultimately drowning? If all of this is true it is so hard to fathom that RJ was able to continue prospering in the ensuing years. But, as was stated above, I also believe that he will pay dearly in the end when he meets his maker.

This renewed & ongoing suspicion toward RJ must be making him very, very uncomfortable.

 

[Really?]

I love Walken's part in ..."True Romance"
.......classic.

 

[Pisces Cloud]

Where was Walken's wife during all this? Wasn't it a holiday weekend?

 

[Only4Justice]

SBM to focus on Walken. Walken was a big named actor by that point, having won two Oscars. He began acting as a teen and was very successful in theater. By the early 70s he had begun his film career. By 1981, with two Oscars under his belt, he had no trouble finding work, then or afterwards.

I don't believe RW could have or did stall his career in the early 80s.

"Walken's first film of the 1980s was the controversial*Heaven's Gate, directed by Cimino of*Deer Hunter*fame. Walken also starred in the 1981*action*adventure*The Dogs of War, directed by*John Irvin. He surprisedmany critics and filmgoers with his intricate tap-dancing striptease in*Herbert Ross's musical*Pennies from Heaven*(1981). In 1982, he played a socially awkward but gifted theater actor in the film adaptation of*Kurt Vonnegut Jr.'s*short story*Who Am I This Time?*opposite*Susan Sarandon. Walken then played schoolteacher-turned-psychic*Johnny Smith*in*David Cronenberg's 1983*adaptationof*Stephen King's*The Dead Zone. That same year, Walken also starred in*Brainstormalongside*Natalie Wood*and (in a minor role) his wife,*Georgianne.

In 1985, Walken played a*James Bond*villain,*Max Zorin, in*A View to a Kill,*Roger Moore's last appearance as Bond. Walken dyed his hair blond to befit Zorin's origins as a*Naziexperiment."

Walken is one of those actors who doesn't mind not working if a script does not suit him. He's famous for turning scripts down, particularly if he thinks a part was written with only him in mind. He has always been a home-body, and prefers to stay there when not working. He also does not live in Hollywood. I have always had the sense that Hollywood had little sway over how he lives his life. He's also been married to the same woman since 1969. They do not have children - only a rescued cat. Again, he is not like a lot of Hollywood, and I doubt he could have been strong armed.

The captain of the boat has said he was asleep. Walken has said that he was asleep. The narrative from these two men, who likely had never met prior to that weekend, match, which leads me to believe they are telling the truth.

What I said to my husband this morning is that I do think if Walken had not been passed out, that evening would have ended differently. Wagner held no sway over Walken, as he did over the captain. They did not seem to care for each other. Walken had no dog in this fight. So had he been awake, I feel certain he would have insisted harbor patrol be called and flood lights turned on. With both the captain and Walken insisting on this, Wagner would have been overruled.

Natalie would be alive and Hart to Hart would have come to an abrupt end as the world discovered Wagner had beat the hell out of miss Natalie. Walken would have come out a hero. Wagner would have disappeared into drunkenness and probably be dead by now. Natasha WOOD would have had a career in film as opposed to Natasha Wagner. Courtney would be a bit more put together, hopefully having gained a decent step dad somewhere along the way. Katie may not have turned out as well as she has, however, with her father exposed and disgraced unless other people stepped up in her life.

Anyone have a time machine so we can go back to 1981 and pour coffee and uppers down Walken's throat? This has got to haunt him.

But I feel his life went better than the captain's in terms of guilt because Walken can only think what might have been if he had been awake, while the captain was awake and had the opportunity to do the right thing, or if he didn't have the balls to, to wake Walken and ask him to help do the right thing. The captain knows that his decisions could have saved Natalie.

That said, of course Wagner is ultimately responsible. Still, how could the captain not at least go wake Walken for back-up? Even if he believed Natalie was just being left out there to teach her a lesson and was not going to die, what a betrayal to her, knowing as he did her fear of water.

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[emoji122] awesome post. Totally agree.


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[Deleted member 158085]

Where was Walken's wife during all this? Wasn't it a holiday weekend?

Same wife he's always had. She also works in the industry.

There were two other people invited who canceled.

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[Only4Justice]

I have always had the amateur opinion and speculation that Walken knows exactly what happened that night, but has kept quiet to avoid personal embarrassment, and to avoid any legal entanglements. I don’t think he can prove what he knows, and I don’t believe the courts could beyond a reasonable doubt.

The widower is an old man who will be facing his maker. Whatever atonement is necessary, if necessary, will have to transpire in the afterlife.

She was so beautiful, and by all accounts was an incredible mother. Gone too soon.

All amateur opinion and speculation.

Well said! I agree.


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[MaryG12]

Where was Walken's wife during all this? Wasn't it a holiday weekend?

Maybe I am missing something here, when RW or NW initially invited CW on the boat did CW ever ask them if his wife could come along?

It just seems weird to me if he was that devoted to Georgianna, he would never think of going on an outing with another married couple. Just for appearances, you know?

 

[Mickie Mouse]

"Investigators say Robert Wagner's story on Natalie Wood's death doesn't 'add up'":

https://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/ce...add-up/ar-BBIK3dz?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=mailsignout

 

[Deleted member 158085]

Maybe I am missing something here, when RW or NW initially invited CW on the boat did CW ever ask them if his wife could come along?

It just seems weird to me if he was that devoted to Georgianna, he would never think of going on an outing with another married couple. Just for appearances, you know?

We don't know. But if she is like me, she would have stayed on dry land and read a book and told him to go without her. I don't think she's an insecure women, and Natalie was with her husband. She actually was on this set at times and had a small part in it, although her career is casting director.

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[redheadedgal]

from rulli's book, chapter 22, re: walken and his wife and that weekend

 

[neesaki]

from rulli's book, chapter 22, re: walken and his wife and that weekend

That seems a little strange, no?

 

[redheadedgal]

from rulli's book, chapter 22, re: walken's previous account of that night in an interview

 

[redheadedgal]

why was walken aboard the splendour @ marti rulli

http://martirulli.blogspot.ca/2010/09/why-was-christopher-walken-aboard.html

(i trust this is an acceptable link considering she's the author of the book we're discussing and it's her own website and blog)

 

[neesaki]

why was walken aboard the splendour @ marti rulli

http://martirulli.blogspot.ca/2010/09/why-was-christopher-walken-aboard.html

(i trust this is an acceptable link considering she's the author of the book we're discussing and it's her own website and blog)

Interesting, and I certainly agree with one of the comments, “Hollywood has always been a dirty bed”. IMO, Wagner knowingly let his wife drown, after physically assaulting her. He probably pushed her in, knowing how fearful she was of the water. And Walken was in it too, he was there and did nothing, why? Did Wagner have something to hold over his head ? They’re both in this up to their eyebrows as far as I’m concerned, and they both make me sick.

Poor Natalee, she was too good for them, and she was too good for sleazy dirty Hollywood too, JMO.

 

[BeachSky]

why was walken aboard the splendour @ marti rulli

http://martirulli.blogspot.ca/2010/09/why-was-christopher-walken-aboard.html

(i trust this is an acceptable link considering she's the author of the book we're discussing and it's her own website and blog)

Thanks. The comments are interesting also...

 

[redheadedgal]

oh, if you click on "home" at the bottom of the blog entry i linked ^^ you will be directed to her last blog entry, and every entry before that. i haven't read thru any of the rest so pls post any interesting info y'all come across!!

 

[Deleted member 158085]

why was walken aboard the splendour @ marti rulli

http://martirulli.blogspot.ca/2010/09/why-was-christopher-walken-aboard.html

(i trust this is an acceptable link considering she's the author of the book we're discussing and it's her own website and blog)

From that link:
"Natalie, however,*could be influenced to a degree, but only from or by someone she respected and was willing to*allow*influence her... Natalie allowed Christopher Walken to influence her ideas about work because she liked his ideas. He was an Oscar winning movie actor whose career was on the brink of wonderful things when she and Walken crossed paths at a time she was trying to turn her career in a new direction. Natalie admired Walken and thought she could learn some of the "new tricks in the film business" from him.

...But, when a script is poorly executed, problems can and will arise and those problems existed within Brainstorm. It got to the point where the lead actors just wanted to get it over with.

... it was a weekend in-between finalizing scenes on Brainstorn. Work on Brainstorm was not yet completed and Natalie and Christopher had work to finish at the studio the following week.

Natalie had liked working with Walken, was glad to have met him, so keeping Walken as a family friend was not a bad idea in her opinion. She thought RJ would like him as well if only there was time to get to know him. Christopher took his work seriously but was also a personable friend. He liked to joke and laugh and he, too, wouldn't have minded befriending RJ as he had Natalie. He had set no designs on Natalie. Natalie wanted RJ to get to know Christopher, as people in their particular fields of work normally do. Where better than aboard the Splendour to help develop a relationship with this new family friend? THAT was Natalie's purpose in having invited Christopher for a holiday shopping weekend cruise. She wanted RJ to like him, too. Decades later, RJ finally admits that he does."

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[Betty P]

That seems a little strange, no?

Why? It doesn't seem relevant to the investigation into NW's death. Just salacious gossip. But, yeah, it does serve the purpose of moving the discussion away from finding out what happened, how NW ended up drowning.

 

[Deleted member 158085]

Why? It doesn't seem relevant to the investigation into NW's death. Just salacious gossip. But, yeah, it does serve the purpose of moving the discussion away from finding out what happened, how NW ended up drowning.

I agree. To me, the most obvious reasons for Walken's presence without his wife are being ignored.

The notion that Natalie would invite a man she was having an affair with, or whom she wanted to have an affair with, for a weekend in a small enclosed space with her husband is nuts (unless one wants to make a case that Natalie was manipulative and mean and wanted to cuckold her husband in that way for kicks, which seems absurd to me)!

Likewise, the notion that Walken would go for a weekend trip in a small enclosed space with Natalie and her husband if his goal was to get in her pants is equally absurd.

This yacht looks extremely small to me. It wasn't a carnival cruise size yacht. So the idea of anyone pursuing an extramarital affair with any of the players aboard just seems crazy to me.

AFAIK, none of the main players have a history of being so reckless in this regard that it would even cross their minds.

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