Natalie's miracle

I watched a black and white of Miracle on 34th Street last night. The little girl is just precious in her practicality and wonder - such a mixture in a child. Now remembering that intriguing face, I look up the little actress only to find she was one of my favorites! (duh?) I never knew Natalie Wood was the little girl. Wow!

This wasn't her first movie; her 4th. I always thought she was one of the classiest actresses around and emanated a rare warmth. Apparently that wide-eyed innocence as a child never left her face. I thought the coupling of her and her 'R.J.' special too. You get rare connections like these - Bogie and Bacall, Tracy and Hepburn, Gable and Lombard - I saw the movie.

December 28th, 1957 Natalie married the love of her life 'Robert Wagner' (R.J. as Natalie called him). They divorced in 1962, later to remarry. Natalie once commented about their divorce saying they were both scared, insecure and listened to others that their marriage wouldn't work....R.J. and Natalie married on June 16th, 1972. In 1974 R.J. and Natalie had a daughter Courtney Brooke. They lived happily as husband and wife until tragically, while sailing on their yacht 'Splendour', Natalie had an accident trying to board the dinghy belonging to the boat, fell into the water and, while trying to recover, drowned. _{from http://imdb.com/name/nm0000081/bio}

Some of my favorite Natalie movies are Splendor in the Grass, West Side Story. Other notables are her last, Brainstorm, with Wagner, and Rebel Without a Cause - I wouldn't limit them to this, but I am simply too young to know all of them ;-). Some of her later roles her character's names were similar to her own original, Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko (family name later changed to Gurdin, even in a Hart to Hart 1979 TV cameo appearance as Natasha Gurdin.

Maybe one of her earliest films says something - No Sad Songs for Me. Here's to you Natalie!