At nearly every stage of Natalie Wood’s career — the early days as a cute studio-contract moppet; her teenage Method experiments inspired by her work in Rebel Without a Cause; and her emergence as a powerful leading lady who could more than hold her own with Warren Beatty and Steve McQueen — LIFE’s photographers were there, capturing Wood’s talent and beauty as they blossomed over the years.
But not every picture from those many rolls of film could make it to print, of course. Here, LIFE.com presents a selection of the best photos of the late, radiant star which were not originally published in LIFE magazine.
Natalie Wood died, far too young, in 1981. She was just 43 years old. She drowned near Santa Catalina Island, off the coast of California. In 2012, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner reclassified the cause of her death as “drowning and other undetermined factors.”
Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter @lizabethronk.
Natalie Wood and Steve McQueen, 1963.John Dominis—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesNatalie Wood, 1945.Martha Holmes—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesNatalie Wood, 1945.Martha Holmes—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesNatalie Wood practices as her 16-year-old sister Olga plays a Chopin waltz, 1945. Martha Holmes—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesNatalie Wood, 1945.Martha Holmes—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesNatalie Wood waters the lawn as her mother, Maria Gurdin, supervises, 1945.Martha Holmes—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesNatalie Wood, age 18, sits poolside at her brand-new Laurel Canyon home in 1956. Ralph Crane—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesNatalie Wood, Dennis Hopper and Nick Adams make dinner in 1956.Ralph Crane—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesDennis Hopper (lying on sofa) and Nick Adams listen intently as Natalie Wood reads aloud from Thomas Wolfe's The Hills Beyond in 1956. Ralph Crane—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesDennis Hopper, Nick Adams and Natalie Wood, 1956.Ralph Crane—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesNatalie Wood (with Nick Adams and a partly hidden Dennis Hopper above), 1956.Ralph Crane—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesNatalie Wood takes a call while sitting on her bed at home in 1956. Ralph Crane—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesNatalie Wood and actor friends, Los Angeles, 1956.Ralph Crane—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesTwenty-two-year-old Natalie Wood, 1960, at Beverly Hills home she shared with husband Robert Wagner. Allan Grant—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesNatalie Wood and Warren Beatty, 1961.Eliot Elisofon—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesNatalie Wood and Warren Beatty, 1961.Eliot Elisofon—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesNatalie Wood beams as assistants help her get glam for the Academy Awards on April 9, 1962. Allan Grant—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesNatalie Wood before the Academy Awards in April 1962.Allan Grant—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesNatalie Wood before the Academy Awards in April 1962.Allan Grant—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesNatalie Wood waves as a stylist reinforces her updo with hairspray before the Academy Awards in April 1962.Allan Grant—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesAn assistant helps Natalie Wood into a showstopping, skin-baring number in April 1962.Allan Grant—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesNatalie Wood smiles beside her date for the 1962 Oscars, Warren Beatty, inside the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium.Allan Grant—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesSteve McQueen kisses Natalie Wood's hand as the actors meet to discuss their new project, 1963's Love With the Proper Stranger. John Dominis—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesNatalie Wood, 1963.John Dominis—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesNatalie Wood and Steve McQueen in 1963.John Dominis—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
