Natalie Wood Resurfaces

Sorry about the headline, but given the circumstances surrounding yesterday’s news that the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department is reopening the investigation into Natalie Wood’s 1981 drowning off Catalina Island, a tasteless joke seems appropriate.

The announcement coincides with the publication of “Vanity Fair: Hollywood Scandal, Sex, and Obsession” which features the Wood case on the cover.

As part of the Conde Nast’s marketing strategy, the magazine and the case will also appear on Saturday’s broadcast of CBS’ “48 Hours.”

(The show will also discuss the stabbing death of Lana Turner’s boyfriend, Johnny Stompanato, by Turner’s daughter, Cheryl Crane; and Miranda, the woman who enchanted by phone Warren Beatty, Robert DeNiro, Richard Gere, Billy Joel, Bono and others.)

Mind you, I’m not knocking Vanity Fair or CBS. The magazine under Graydon Carter has written exemplary articles about the film industry’s past, such as Cary Grant’s experiments with LSD; Oleg Cassini’s seductive life and estate fights; and a great profile of Ali MacGraw. It regularly looks back at rarely discussed movies such as “Ishtar,” “The V.I.P.s” (Burton and Taylor! Orson Welles!) and “The Best of Everything” (which got me to watch, and appreciate, the film).

No, if I start knocking them for printing old news, I’d have to get out of the business myself. It’s this paragraph from the Times’ story on the case that caught my eye:

A law enforcement source added that the department recently received a letter from an unidentified “third party” who said the captain had “new recollections” about the case. The source spoke on the condition of anonymity because the case was ongoing.

The captain, Dennis Davern, was one of four people on the “Splendour” that fatal weekend, along with Natalie; her husband, Robert Wagner; and Christopher Walken, Wood’s co-star on the movie “Brainstorm” (then in production and nearly scuttled after her death). Since then, he has made a living off her death, giving interviews for money and co-writing a book. Not surprisingly, he’ll also appear on the “48 Hours” special.

Again, I don’t begrudge him mining his memories of Natalie Wood to make a living. It’s this coy game of “what do I know” that’s disgusting to watch, especially when it now leads police — who must spend taxpayers’ dollars to investigate possible leads even if they suspect it’s bullshit — to reopen a 30-year-old investigation. It’s a shabby, amoral attempt to gin up interest in a woman’s tragic death, solely for the purpose of self-aggrandizement and money.

In other words, it’s Hollywood, Jake.

For those late to the game, here’s a summary of the facts, drawn from Natasha: The Biography of Natalie Wood by Suzanne Finstad. Gavin Lambert’s biography also provided some details.

The known-knowns and the known-unknowns

* On Friday, Nov. 27, 1981, Christopher Walken boarded “Splendour” at Marina del Rey to spend the weekend with the Wagners. Walken had been working with Natalie on “Brainstorm,” and during a break in filming agreed to the brief getaway. There were rumors that the two might have been having an affair. While it was never confirmed, it’s possible that Wagner thought so. The result was a tense undercurrent that affected everyone’s behavior that tragic weekend.

With Walken on board, Davern sailed the boat 22 miles to Catalina Island and dropped anchor at about 3 p.m. offshore from Avalon, the island’s tourist center, where 85 percent of the island’s population of 3,696 (2000 census) live. While the skipper prepared dinner, Natalie, Wagner and Walken went ashore, shopped and went to a bar where they drank margaritas with beer chasers until 9 p.m.

When they returned to the pier, it was dark and cold, and the island’s notoriously choppy waters scared Natalie. She argued against returning to the boat in those conditions, but Wagner insisted and she gave in.

On the boat, they ate dinner and argued over whether “Splendour” should be moved closer to shore. Walken, his seasickness probably not helped by the alcohol, retired to his room. Natalie, possibly upset over the arguing, told Davern to take her ashore in the dinghy, and she booked rooms for them at the Pavilion Lodge motel. Davern spent the night on the floor of Natalie’s room, due to her longtime inability to be alone.

* On Saturday, Nov. 28, Natalie called a friend, Josh Donen, and left a message indicating her disoriented state of mind: “Have you heard from RJ? I’m here [at the Pavilion Lodge] with Dennis. I don’t know what happened. I’m lost.” (She recovered her senses later when she called another friend and admitted that she had “a terrible fight” with Robert and had spent the night at the motel. She decided to return to the boat “and make one more attempt to talk sense into RJ”).

That day, the boat was moved to Two Harbors in Isthmus Cove, population 298, on the other side of the island. They reached the cove by 1 p.m., and everyone took a nap. Natalie and Walken woke up first and went ashore in the dinghy, leaving a note for Wagner. They spent two hours drinking at Two Harbors’ only restaurant, and were joined by Wagner and Davern at 4 p.m., continued drinking until seven and then ate dinner, helped along by more alcohol (at least two bottles of wine and two bottles of Champagne, plus drinks sent over by the other diners; Walken also smoked at least one joint outside).

By 10 p.m., they were so visibly blitzed that the manager, on his own, called the Harbor Patrol office and asked them to keep an eye on the foursome. Back onboard the “Splendour,” there was more drinking while Natalie and Wagner argued. The subject was her belief that she needed to be totally focused on her career (influenced apparently by Walken, who had talked to Natalie about this and even took her side), with an undercurrent of Wagner’s jealously over the possibility of Natalie having an affair with Walken. The argument grew so vehement that Wagner broke a wine bottle on the table.

Here, the accounts grow confused. Probably around 10:45 p.m., Walken went on deck, in the cold night to cool off, and Natalie left for bed. Whether before or after Walken went on deck is not known for sure, but she did go to bed and Walken did retire to his room, leaving Davern and Wagner.

In Davern’s statement to police (which he recanted today) he said that he and Wagner “sat up drinking until one-thirty in the morning.”

Natalie prepared for bed, putting on her flannel nightgown and slipper socks and removing her bracelet that she always wore during the day. For some reason, she put on her red down jacket and went out on deck. This much we can assume for certain, because that’s what she was wearing when her body was found the next day.

At some point, Wagner went to their bedroom and found Natalie missing. At 1:30 a.m., Wagner broadcast on the ship’s radio: “This is the “Splendour,” we need help. Somebody’s missing in a dinghy.” The manager at the restaurant heard this mayday, as well as a restaurant worker staying at the Two Harbors campground. A search was launched, but it wasn’t until daylight that Natalie’s body was found.

The skipper’s new story

So, now that 30 years has passed, and with it, numerous opportunities to tell his side of the story, Davern decided to say that he’s lied all along and that he saw Natalie and Wagner arguing on the deck near where she fell in.

A few minutes later, Davern said, he could hear the couple fighting. Embarrassed, Davern said he turned up the volume on his stereo. At one point, Davern recalled, he glanced out of the pilot house window and saw both Wagner and Wood on the yacht’s aft deck. “They’d moved their fight outside … you could tell from their animated gestures they were still arguing,” he said.

A short time later, Wagner, appearing to be distraught, told Davern he couldn’t find Wood. Davern searched the boat but couldn’t find her. He noticed the rubber dinghy also was missing.

Wagner shrugged and poured them both drinks, Davern said. He suggested his wife had probably gone off in a temper.

Now, lets try and tie this in to the established record. If Davern heard them fighting in their stateroom, it would have been sometime after 10:45 p.m. So we’re expected to believe that, between, say, 11 p.m. — the “short time later” (his words) — when Wagner told him Natalie was missing, and 1:30 a.m. (when Wagner raised the alarm), they, what, sat around and played pinochle? Watched TV?

What did Davern do during this time, after he’s told that the woman he’s inordinately fond of — enough to write a book titled “Goodbye Natalie . . .” — is told not only that she’s missing, but possibly gone in a dinghy, when he knows that she is scared of water?

If he had concluded that Natalie was in the water, why didn’t he use the radio to call for help? Wouldn’t that make him just as responsible for Natalie’s death?

So we are right back where we started. With an accidental death, caused by too much alcohol and one too many bad choices. A tragedy. But not a crime.

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