Product Description

She spent her life in the movies. Her childhood is still there to see in Miracle on 34th Street. Her adolescence in Rebel Without a Cause. Her coming of age? Still playing in Splendour in the Grass and West Side Story. From the moment Natalie Wood made her debut aged seven in 1946, to her shocking, untimely death in 1981, the decades of her life are marked by movies that summed up America's dreams. Now Gavin Lambert, whose twenty-year friendship with Natalie Wood began when she wanted to star in the movie adaptation of his novel Inside Daisy Clover, tells her extraordinary story: her parents, her marriages and divorces and love affairs, her suicide attempt at twenty-six, the birth of her children, her friendships, her struggles as an actress, and her tragic death by drowning (she was always terrified of water) at forty-three.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #229395 in Books
• Published on: 2005-07-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Review
"'The astonishing life of the screen legend from a man who knew her for twenty years.' Tatler; 'Lambert is the ultimate Hollywood insider/outsider... the biography, although obviously affectionate, does not flinch from the emotional and romantic debris of her life... a very readable and well-crafted biography.' Independent; 'An irresistible portrait of Natalie's genorosity, spirit and fun... I fell in love with Natalie Wood all over again.' Mail on Sunday; 'This biography is stunning... sceptical, elegant, generous, exact' Observer"

Sunday Telegraph
'This authoritative and highly readable biography tells readers all they could possibly want to know about her.'

The Times
'Lambert's biography is a fond portrait of a friend, and someone who, whatever her acting skills, was a star.'

Customer Reviews

Sanitised and dull
Anyone wanting to get an insight into Natalie Wood's life, leave this one alone. It skips over many details, and sanitises many others. It doesn't go into great detail in many areas. As someone who became a friend of Natalie Wood's, Lambert seems reluctant to touch on anything unsavoury. For example, he refers to a car crash involving Dennis Hopper and Natalie as an accident caused by some routine traffic incident. In truth, they had been drinking for a while and Hopper was very drunk. The studio cleaned it all up. Lambert promises Robert Wagner's truth about her last night. Nothing.

If you want a really good warts and all biography, with an extremely detailed account of her last hours, read the biography by Suzanne Finstad. Excellent read - amazing research.