--- title: Natalie Wood Death Ruled Suspicious: What Happened to Her? description: The actor's mysterious 1981 drowning is back in the news. Here's what to know about her career, her relationships and her tragic death. canonical: https://time.com/5131096/natalie-wood-robert-wagner/ author: Aric Jenkins article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-02-02T20:54:31.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:58:09.855Z article:section: History og:title: Natalie Wood Death Ruled Suspicious: What Happened to Her? og:description: Here's what to know about her career, her relationships and her tragic death og:url: https://time.com/5131096/natalie-wood-robert-wagner/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta2b921b799edae93/6988fa664ee26212f2310b82/natalie-wood-robert-wagner-3.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3758 og:image:height: 2114 og:image:alt: Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Natalie Wood Death Ruled Suspicious: What Happened to Her? twitter:description: Here's what to know about her career, her relationships and her tragic death twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta2b921b799edae93/6988fa664ee26212f2310b82/natalie-wood-robert-wagner-3.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Natalie Wood's Death Has Been Ruled Suspicious. Here’s What to Know About the Actor’s Mysterious Drowning > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Subscription: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME is a general-interest news organization founded in 1923, reporting on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world. A TIME subscription provides full access to that journalism in print and digital, from $20 a year, and can be cancelled at any time. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. by [Aric Jenkins](https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/) ## Aric Jenkins Feb 2, 2018 8:54 PM UTC  Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood circa 1981 in Los Angeles, California. Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood circa 1981 in Los Angeles, California.Images Press—Getty Images by [Aric Jenkins](https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/) ## Aric Jenkins Feb 2, 2018 8:54 PM UTC More than 35 years after the mysterious death of Hollywood star [Natalie Wood](http://time.com/5128512/robert-wood-natalie-wagner-48-hours/), the actor’s 1981 drowning has returned to headlines. On Thursday, responding to interest generated by [an upcoming _48 Hours_ report](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/natalie-wood-death-robert-wagner-person-of-interest-says-investigator/) on the matter, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles sheriff [confirmed](http://time.com/5130231/natalie-wood-death-suspicious/) that new witnesses who have come forward since the case was reopened in 2011 have provided investigators with a different story of what happened during Wood’s final hours. The witnesses’ accounts have prompted Los Angeles Country officials to deem the actor’s death “suspicious” and name her 87-year-old former husband Robert Wagner as a “person of interest.” ## Who was Natalie Wood?  Natalie Wood circa 1980 in Los Angeles, California. Images Press—Getty Images Wood was an actor who rose to prominence during her childhood with a co-starring role in the classic 1947 Christmas film _Miracle on 34th Street_. She then transitioned into more mature work at 16 years old with an Academy Award-nominated performance in _Rebel Without a Cause_, alongside James Dean. She went on to achieve stardom in two musical films, _West Side Story_ and _Gypsy_, before going on to Oscar nominations for her performances in _Splendor in the Grass_ and _Love with the Proper Stranger_. In total, she earned three acting nominations by 1963, when she was just 25 years old. Thanks to her acclaimed performances and stunning beauty, Wood was one of the most admired actresses of her day. [In a 1961 profile](http://time.com/vault/issue/1961-09-22/page/60/), TIME wrote, “Natalie Wood has every reason to feel exhilarated… she is just about the raciest filly to come down the Hollywood sound track since Liz Taylor.” By that point, her marriage to fellow actor Wagner was already troubled. (They had [married](http://time.com/vault/issue/1958-01-06/page/74/) in 1957, when she was just 19; he was about eight years her senior.) The highly-publicized couple would divorce by 1962 before resuming their relationship in 1972, resulting in another marriage later that year. They remained married until Wood’s sudden death in 1981. ## How did Natalie Wood die? On the evening of Nov. 28, 1981, Wood was out with Wagner and her co-star of the film _Brainstorm_, Christopher Walken, during a boating trip to Santa Catalina Island off the coast of Southern California. What happened next has remained unclear for decades, but the following morning Wood’s body was found by authorities. The cause of death was ruled an accidental drowning, but an autopsy report revealed that the actress had bruises on her body and a significant amount of alcohol in her system, prompting speculation about the true nature of her death. “In a matter of hours, shock turned to pity and then to conjecture,” TIME [reported](http://time.com/vault/issue/1981-12-14/page/54/) in the immediate aftermath. “Exactly why did Natalie Wood die? When a gorgeous movie star full of wine stumbles off a quarter-million-dollar yacht in her nightgown and drowns, while her actor-husband sits oblivious with her film co-star a few yards away, people will talk. And wonder.” “I’m frightened to death of the water,” the story quoted her as having recently told a reporter. “I can swim a little bit, but I’m afraid of water that is dark.” The case remained classified as an accident until 2011, when it was reopened. At the time, officials [specified](http://time.com/vault/issue/2011-12-05/page/24/) that Wagner was not a suspect. The following year, the coroner’s office changed Wood’s death certificate to read “drowning and other undetermined factors.” ### LIFE With Natalie Wood: Portraits of a Legend  Not published in LIFE. Natalie Wood in 1963. © Bill Ray  Caption from LIFE. "Cool and comfortable, Natalie plays a game. Friends name something, she acts it out. Here is 'slightly sensuous.'" © Bill Ray  Not published in LIFE. Natalie Wood in 1963. © Bill Ray  Caption from LIFE. "The woman who guided Natalie to stardom was her mother, Russian-born Mrs. Maria Gurdin (center). Stern, shrewd, she scrutinized scripts, haggled over fees, dressed her child in prim clothes when competitors wore sexy ones." © Bill Ray  Natalie Wood learns to play billiards with Tony Curtis, 1963. © Bill Ray  Not published in LIFE. Natalie Wood in 1963. © Bill Ray  Natalie Wood gets a piggyback ride from producer Arthur Loew, Jr., who stops when Paul Newman invites them to go go-cart racing, 1963. © Bill Ray  Caption from LIFE. "Gowned in satin, bathed by spots, fussed over by attendants, Natalie glows with the glamor that a true star, and the movies themselves, has never lost." © Bill Ray  Caption from LIFE. "Natalie, a shrewd businesswoman, enjoys presiding over her high-powered cabinet. These veterans find that Natalie, a veteran herself, is as knowledgeable as they are." © Bill Ray  Caption from LIFE. "Natalie's big brown-black eyes grow larger with delight seeing costumes sketched by Edith Head for Sex and the Single Girl." © Bill Ray  Caption from LIFE. "Natalie is preparing for two other films and taking singing lessons from producer Herb Greene. He stretches her slim throat to get the belting voice needed for Inside Daisy Clover." © Bill Ray  Not published in LIFE. Natalie Wood in 1963. © Bill Ray  Caption from LIFE. "Natalie Wood and Arthur Loew Jr., 1963." © Bill Ray  Not published in LIFE. Natalie Wood with her father, Nick, a film prop maker, and her sister Lana, in 1963. © Bill Ray  Not published in LIFE. Natalie Wood chats with Edward G. Robinson, who calls her by her real name, Natasha, in 1963. © Bill Ray  Not published in LIFE. Natalie Wood in 1963. © Bill Ray  Not published in LIFE. Michael Caine sweeps Natalie Wood off her feet, 1963. © Bill Ray  Not published in LIFE. Natalie Wood, 1963. © Bill Ray  Not published in LIFE. Natalie Wood in 1963. © Bill Ray  Not published in LIFE. Natalie Wood and friends, 1963. © Bill Ray  Not published in LIFE. Natalie Wood in 1963. © Bill Ray ## Why is Robert Wagner now a person of interest? According to Los Angeles Country Sheriff’s investigators, new witnesses have come forward with enough information to deem Wood’s case as a “suspicious death.” Officials are curious if Wagner played a role because his accounts of what happened that night have shifted, signaling a red flag to detectives, according to CBS. “As we’ve investigated the case over the last six years, I think he’s more of a person of interest now,” Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Lieutenant John Corina says in an interview with _48 Hours_, CBS reports. “I mean, we know now that he was the last person to be with Natalie before she disappeared. “I haven’t seen him tell the details that match … all the other witnesses in this case,” Corina adds. “I think he’s constantly … he’s changed the — his story a little bit… and his version of events just don’t add up.” ## What has Robert Wagner said?  American actors Robert Wagner and his wife Natalie Wood (1938 - 1981), circa 1970. Silver Screen Collection—Getty Images In a statement to TIME, a rep for Wagner said that “_48 Hours_ had run similar claims in the past.” Los Angeles Country Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Nicole Nishida also downplayed the show’s interview, according to the Associated Press, and said that there weren’t any new details in the case. In a 2008 memoir, Wagner wrote that he and Walken had an argument the night Wood disappeared and that Walken went to bed first. It was a while later, after he had calmed down, that Wagner noticed that Wood and the yacht’s dinghy were both missing. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5131096/natalie-wood-robert-wagner/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5131096/natalie-wood-robert-wagner/"},"headline":"Natalie Wood's Death Has Been Ruled Suspicious. 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