Happy Land.
1943. Directed by Irving Pichel
Happy Land stars Don Ameche and Frances Dee, and features Natalie in her first screen appearance as a small girl who drops an ice cream cone. A World War II home-front drama told from the perspective of a small-town pharmacist whose son died in the war, the film was based on a novel by MacKinlay Kantor.
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Tomorrow Is Forever.
1946. Directed by Irving Pichel
Tomorrow Is Forever features Natalie in her first major acting role. This romantic drama starring Claudette Colbert, Orson Welles and George Brent costars Natalie as Margaret Ludwig, the eight-year-old adopted daughter of a returning war hero. Natalie received the Most Talented Young Actress Award from Box Office magazine for her performance.
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The Bride Wore Boots.
1946. Directed by Irving Pichel
A light romantic comedy set on a horse farm, The Bride Wore Boots stars Barbara Stanwyck in the title role (in her last comedy film), playing opposite Robert Cummings. Natalie plays their daughter, Carol.
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The Ghost and Mrs. Muir.
1947. Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir is a supernatural romance starring Gene Tierney and Rex Harrison, and featuring Natalie as the childhood version of the titular character's daughter, Anna Muir. The film was based on a 1945 novel written by Josephine Leslie under the pseudonym of R. A. Dick, and tells the story of a widow who moves into a haunted house.
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Miracle on 34th Street.
1947. Directed by George Seaton
The Christmas-themed classic Miracle on 34th Street is perhaps Natalie's best known childhood role. Based on a story by Valentine Davies, this heartwarming comedy-drama stars Maureen O'Hara, John Payne, Edmund Gwenn, and Natalie as Susan, the little girl who suspects that a department store Santa Claus might be the real Kris Kringle.
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Father Was a Fullback.
1949. Directed by John M. Stahl
Father Was a Fullback is a family comedy based on a play by Clifford Goldsmith. Natalie plays Ellen, the precocious youngest daughter of Fred MacMurray and Maureen O'Hara. Betty Lynn also stars as their teenage girl. As a college football coach, MacMurray juggles gridiron problems with household complications.
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The Star.
1952. Directed by Stuart Heisler
Bette Davis received her ninth Oscar nomination for playing a washed-up actress desperate to revive her career in The Star. Natalie is featured as Davis's daughter, Gretchen, who tries to ease her mother's transition into an average life.
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The Silver Chalice.
1954. Directed by Victor Saville
Based on Thomas B. Costain's 1952 novel of the same name, The Silver Chalice is notable as director Saville's last film, and as the acting debut of Paul Newman. This biblical epic depicts the creation of a silver chalice to house the Holy Grail. Natalie plays the young slave Helena; the adult Helena is embodied by Virginia Mayo.
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Rebel Without a Cause.
1955. Directed by Nicholas Ray
Rebel Without a Cause marks Natalie's transition to young adult roles, and it made her a major movie star. Nicholas Ray's acclaimed drama about emotionally confused middle-class teenagers stars James Dean as Jim and a sixteen-year-old Natalie as his girlfriend, Judy. The film garnered Natalie her first Academy Award nomination as well as a Golden Globe Award win.
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All the Fine Young Cannibals.
1960. Directed by Michael Anderson
All the Fine Young Cannibals is a Southern Gothic drama based on the novel by Rosamond Marshall, and starring Natalie Wood, Robert Wagner, Susan Kohner, George Hamilton, and Pearl Bailey. It was Wood and Wagner's first film as a married couple, and concerns the melodramatic antics of two couples and an illegitimate child.
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Splendor in the Grass.
1961. Directed by Elia Kazan
Elia Kazan's Splendor in the Grass stars Natalie as Deanie Loomis, a small-town girl navigating feelings of sexual repression, passion, and heartbreak as she struggles to regain her mental health and accept the harsh realities of life. In his first movie, Warren Beatty costars as Deanie's football hero boyfriend, Bud. Natalie's emotionally charged performance earned her a second Academy Award nomination (her first for Best Actress), a Golden Globe nomination, and a BAFTA nomination.
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West Side Story.
1961. Directed by Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise
Adapted from the hit Broadway musical of the same name, West Side Story stars Natalie as Maria alongside Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn, Rita Moreno, and George Chakiris. This winner of ten Academy Awards follows a Romeo and Juliet-inspired story of love between teenagers from rival New York City gangs.
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Gypsy.
1962. Directed by Mervyn LeRoy
Gypsy earned Natalie yet another Golden Globe nomination, and was another box-office success. This comedy-drama-musical was based on the stage musical Gypsy: A Musical Fable by Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents, and costars Rosalind Russell as Mama Rose. As the title character, Natalie is a child performer who becomes the famous burlesque entertainer, Gypsy Rose Lee.
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Love with the Proper Stranger.
1963. Directed by Robert Mulligan
Steve McQueen is paired with Natalie in Robert Mulligan's romantic comedy-drama Love with the Proper Stranger. As a Macy's sales clerk romanced and impregnated by a musician, Natalie earned her third Academy Award nomination and a Golden Globe nomination, and won the Mar del Plata International Film Festival Best Actress Award.
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Sex and the Single Girl.
1964. Directed by Richard Quine
The non-fiction book Sex and the Single Girl by Helen Gurley Brown inspired this sexy comic farce starring Natalie, Tony Curtis, Henry Fonda, Lauren Bacall, and Mel Ferrer. Natalie plays sex advice author Dr. Helen, who becomes involved with the editor of a scandal magazine after he "outs" her by claiming she is a virgin.
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The Great Race.
1965. Directed by Blake Edwards
Blake Edwards's epic The Great Race was inspired by the actual 1908 New York to Paris Race. With Tony Curtis as the hero, Jack Lemmon as the villain, and Natalie as the feisty reporter Maggie DuBois, this comedy went on to become a beloved classic of the slapstick genre.
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Inside Daisy Clover.
1966. Directed by Robert Mulligan
Inside Daisy Clover stars Natalie as the eponymous tomboy who becomes a Hollywood actress and singer. This wry comment on show business was based on Gavin Lambert's novel, and costars Christopher Plummer, Ruth Gordon, and Robert Redford in his first major movie. Natalie was nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance, and won a Golden Globe the same year when she was voted World Film Favorite.
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This Property Is Condemned.
1966. Directed by Sydney Pollack
Natalie scored yet another Golden Globe nomination for her performance as Alva Starr in This Property Is Condemned, directed by Sydney Pollack and adapted from a Tennessee Williams play. Also starring Robert Redford, Kate Reid, Charles Bronson, Robert Blake, and Mary Badham, this drama concerns Alva's attempt to escape her Depression-era Mississippi railroad town.
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Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice.
1969. Directed by Paul Mazursky
Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice stars Natalie as the titular Carol alongside Robert Culp, Elliott Gould, and Dyan Cannon. This topical comedy by Paul Mazursky follows the commitments and infidelities of two California couples in the late 1960s.
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The Last Married Couple in America.
1980. Directed by Gilbert Cates
A 1970s California couple struggle to maintain their "happily married" status as all their friends get divorced in The Last Married Couple in America. This comedy stars George Segal as Jeff and Natalie as his wife, Mari, in the last theatrical release she completed before her passing.
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Brainstorm.
1983. Directed by Douglas Trumbull
Brainstorm is a science fiction drama featuring Natalie in her final role as Karen, the wife of a scientist played by Christopher Walken. Louise Fletcher and Cliff Robertson also star. The story follows a research team developing a system that records the sensory and emotional feelings of a subject. The film was dedicated to Natalie, and she received a posthumous Golden Globe nomination.
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Television.
The Affair.
1973. Directed by Gilbert Cates
The TV movie The Affair gave Natalie her first acting assignment since Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, and her second chance to work with husband Robert Wagner. In this romance, Natalie plays a thirty-two-year-old disabled songwriter falling in love for the first time.
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Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
1976. Directed by Robert Moore
A TV movie based on the famous Tennessee Williams play, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof was produced by Laurence Olivier, who also costars. The steamy tale examines the intense relationships among members of a Southern plantation owner's family, primarily between his son Brick, played by Robert Wagner, and Brick's wife, Maggie “The Cat", played by Natalie.
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From Here to Eternity.
1979. Directed by NBC
From Here to Eternity is a three-part TV miniseries based on the novel by James Jones that recounts events leading up to the bombing of Pearl Harbor. William Devane star alongside Natalie, who won her final Golden Globe for her performance as the wife of an army commanding officer, and Devane's love interest.
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The Cracker Factory.
1979. Directed by Burt Brinckerhoff
A television drama based on the best-selling novel by Joyce Rebeta-Burditt, The Cracker Factory stars Natalie as alcoholic Cleveland housewife Cassie Barrett. When Cassie experiences a nervous breakdown in the supermarket, she is institutionalized in a psychiatric ward where she receives therapy and finds romance.
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This is a selected film biography, and not Natalie Wood’s complete body of work.