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11938: A Young Natalia
The actress was born Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko on July 20, 1938. Both her parents were Russian immigrants living in San Francisco, California.
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21943: Her First Role
Wood's first acting jobs were uncredited roles in the 1943 films The Moon Is Down and Happy Land. It was her performance in the latter, however, that caught the attention of director Irving Pichel, setting the four-year-old actress up for success.
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31945: Becoming Natalie Wood
In 1945, Wood's mother moved the family to Los Angeles on the advice of Irving Pichel, who took an interest in the child star. It was Pichel who suggested that the young actress adopt the Americanized version of her name, Natalie, and change her surname to Wood, after director Sam Wood.
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41946: A Child Actress
Wood made a big splash in her first major film role as Margaret Ludwig in Tomorrow Is Forever. She starred opposite Orson Welles who referred to the young actress as "so good, she was terrifying." She followed her speaking-role debut with multiple films that year and in 1947.
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51947: Her Biggest Role Yet
Wood delivered one of her most popular performances as Susan Walker in Miracle on 34th Street, starring opposite Maureen O'Hara. At the age of eight, Wood's fate in Hollywood had been set.
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61947: A Studio Contract
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71949: An Accident on Set
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81954: Becoming a Teenager
Throughout the early '50s, Wood struggled to convince studios that she could transition from child star to screen siren. As a result, she was mostly stuck with roles on television.
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91955: A Breakthrough Role
Wood proved her talents at the age of 16, when she starred in her first mature movie role as Judy in Rebel Without a Cause, alongside James Dean. The actress was nominated for her first Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the performance.
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101955: A Warner Brothers Deal
After Warner Bros. cast Wood in Rebel Without a Cause, they also signed the former child star to a $400 a week seven-year contract.
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111955: A Complicated Relationship
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121956: Studio Constraints
Over the years, Wood expressed her frustration with the studio system in Hollywood (stars weren't allowed to choose the movies they appeared in, as studios had all the power). With the momentum from Rebel Without a Cause, Warner Bros. lined up a number of films, including The Searchers, which was Wood's least favorite role, as she felt she wasn't properly cast.
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131956: A Brief Romance
At the age of 17, Wood was a regular fixture in the gossip columns for her romantic interests, including a romance with Elvis Presley. However, the relationship ended shortly after it began.
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141956: A True Hollywood Star
Wood appears among Hollywood's elite at the 1956 Modern Screen Awards, with the likes of Doris Day, Debbie Reynolds, Janet Leigh, Tony Curtis, and Kirk Douglas.
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151957: Getting Married
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161959: A Studio Suspension
Wood was placed on suspension by Warner Bros. after she refused roles in both The Miracle and A Summer Place, and then failed to appear on the set of The Young Philadelphians in protest of another role she was not interested in. The star's stance against studio head Jack Warner paid off in her favor: She was given permission to choose one of the movies she was in every year.
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171960: Tabloid Magnets
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181961: A Big Role
More than five years after transitioning from child actor to legit screen star, Wood captivated audiences in West Side Story. Starring as love-torn teenager Maria, Wood did all her own dancing for the musical—although her voice was dubbed with Broadway star Marni Nixon's.
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191962: Getting Divorced
After five years of marriage, Wood and Wagner ended their marriage. Separating in 1961, Wood became involved with her Splendor in the Grass costar, Warren Beatty.
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201962: A New Romance
Beatty and Wood's relationship had its ups and downs, mainly due to Beatty's rumored infidelity. Two years after they started dating on the set of Splendor in the Grass, they parted ways.
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