It’s been nearly thirty-nine years since actress Natalie Wooden drowned in 1981 whereas on a weekend boat journey to Catalina Island.
Her daughter, Natasha Gregson Wagner, who was 11 years previous on the time of her mom’s tragic demise, is remembering her in a brand new HBO particular, Natalie Wooden: What Stays Behind, releasing on Could 5, 2020, the week of Mom’s Day.
Natasha Gregson Wagner’s HBO particular
The lack of her mom has been a grief that Wagner, an actress as effectively, has lived with since that very younger age. Airing Could 5, the HBO documentary is offering her the chance to indicate the world the mom that she remembers and misses.
Along with the trauma of shedding her mom, Natasha and her household additionally needed to take care of the ache of unsubstantiated rumors about her stepfather, Robert Wagner, and his alleged function in Wooden’s demise.
From testimony from the boat’s captain that he heard the couple arguing that night time to rumors of an explosive argument between Wagner and actor Christopher Walken, who was additionally on Wagner’s yacht, Splendour, it’s tough to know if the reality of what occurred to the actress will ever actually be revealed.
What is thought is cloud of suspicion and hypothesis has been over Robert Wagner all these years.
The case was reopened thirty years later in 2011, at which era the yacht’s captain acknowledged in an interview with NBC that after the lads realized that Wooden was lacking, “We didn’t take any steps to see if we might find her. It was a matter of don’t look too laborious, don’t activate search mild, don’t name anybody.”
Christopher Walken’s model of occasions
Walken had been engaged on a movie, Brainstorm, with Natalie Wooden on the time of her demise. In any case these years, nobody might fault the actor if he wished he had by no means gone on board the Splendour that night in 1981. He wouldn’t converse of what transpired that night time till 1997, in an interview with Playboy.
“Anyone there noticed the logistics — of the boat, the night time, the place we have been, that it was raining — and would know precisely what occurred. . . What occurred that night time solely she is aware of, as a result of she was alone,” the actor stated.
The now 77-year-old actor revealed at the moment what he thinks might have introduced Wooden out of her room so late after going to mattress.
“She had gone to mattress earlier than us, and her room was on the again,” he recalled. “A dinghy was bouncing in opposition to the facet of the boat, and I believe she went out to maneuver it. There was a ski ramp that was partially within the water. It was slippery – I had walked on it myself. She had instructed me she couldn’t swim; in actual fact, they needed to reduce a swimming scene from [Brainstorm]. She was in all probability half asleep, and he or she was carrying a coat.”
‘He would have given his life for her’
Natasha was raised by Robert Wagner, despite the fact that her father is British movie producer and screenwriter Richard Gregson. As a result of she had been residing along with her mom on the time of her demise, Gregson felt it was finest to not deliver much more instability to his daughter’s life by transferring her again with him. And so, he allowed her to develop up with Wagner, who Natasha calls “dad,” and her two sisters.
The 49-year-old writes in an excerpt from her new memoir, Extra Than Love, which is publishing as effectively on Could 5, “It’s outrageous and fully unacceptable that others have created this narrative about my dad and the night time my mother died. I do know that if my mother had been in any sort of misery he would have given his life for her. I do know that in addition to I do know my identify.”
Her HBO documentary about her mom’s life is a chance to have fun who her mom was and her legacy as an actress, a mom, sister, and spouse.
A press launch forward of the particular releasing in time for Mom’s Day states, “Archival interviews with Wooden over time reveal an clever, maturing lady, embracing motherhood and her ever-evolving appearing profession.”