Audrey Hepburn: Style Icon. Natalie Wood: Mysterious Death. Two recent documentaries remind us that these two women should not be primarily known for a little black dress and drowning off Catalina Island. Family members greatly informed both docs and archival footage and interviews bring them to life. Both films are part standard bio-doc fare, part authentic inside looks at their subjects that only close friends and family can provide.
Audrey
Audrey Hepburn is my wife’s favorite. Thanks to her, I have watched the classic Roman Holiday, as well as much of her other work. There are several Breakfast at Tiffany’s-themed articles around the house. So, we were looking forward to the 2020 Netflix documentary simply called Audrey.
I had no idea about her childhood and had forgotten about her life’s work after the acting career. She was abandoned by her father at age six and raised in harrowing conditions while the Nazis occupied the Netherlands during WWII. She spent the last five years of her life traveling the world as a UNICEF ambassador working to feed hungry children in Africa, Asia, and South America.
Her performing began with ballet in London (the film weaves in ballerinas dancing at three stages in Audrey’s life to represent…what, I’m not sure. (These artsy interludes did not work for me or relate to the storyline.) Her first significant role was on Broadway in Gigi. After numerous small roles on the screen came Roman Holiday. The 1953 film co-starring Gregory Peck and directed by William Wyler, catapulted her to stardom. She swept the Best Actress awards winning the Academy Award, BAFTA (British version), and Golden Globe; becoming the first to do so. Sabrina, co-starring Humphrey Bogart and directed by Billy Wilder, followed the next year.
As the film continues focusing on her major roles, it’s time for Holly Golightly in the little black dress in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. The word iconic gets overused (shoot, I probably have already on my website), but with Audrey Hepburn you know it’s the only word. The clothes, the style, the facial expression; penetrating, inviting, and a little mischievous. Call it fashion, style, or Hollywood, she’s an icon.
My Fair Lady is also an interesting back story. Her nervousness of replacing Julie Andrews, who had played Eliza Doolittle on Broadway, and the reception to her voice being dubbed on the musical numbers. Despite these fears, the film was a critically-acclaimed box office hit.
The film spends a good amount of time on Audrey’s love of family, her role with UNICEF, and her relationships. Her first husband, Mel Ferrer, was temperamental and controlling and her second husband, Andrea Dotti, blatantly cheated on her (Audrey was also unfaithful during the marriage). She referred to her final relationship of 13 years with Robert Wolders as the happiest years of her life. She died of appendiceal cancer in 1993 at the age of 63.
As a result of looking at other aspects of her life, the filmography focuses on the famous movies, at the expense of lesser known films or overlooked gems in her career. I’ve always liked Wait Until Dark, the 1967 film where she plays a blind woman being terrorized in her home. All in all, the film succeeds is heralding her classic films and shining a light on her life at home and worldwide humanitarian efforts. She was more than a fashion icon. She was one of the last legends of the Golden Age in Hollywood and a mother, wife, and volunteer.
D² Rating ◼◼◼◩☐
Trivia ? – Who did Audrey Hepburn co-star with in her first musical, Funny Face?
Answer: Fred Astaire
Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind
What’s your first thought when you hear the name Natalie Wood? Rebel Without a Cause or West Side Story? Maybe. Mysterious drowning death? Probably. Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind is an act of love by her daughter, Natasha Wagner, and based on her memoir. The HBO film (streaming now on HBO Max, Amazon Prime video, and Hulu) covers her lifetime in acting and attempts to shed some truth on her mother’s death, particularly regarding the involvement of her stepfather, Robert Wagner. For, as this movie can’t escape, the night of November 28, 1981 continues to overshadow her life. (I just happened to be on a day trip to Catalina that day.)
Natalie Wood was a child actress! First appearing at age seven in Tomorrow is Forever as a post-WWII orphan with Orson Welles and Claudette Colbert, followed a year later with Miracle on 34th Street. She played the daughter of characters played by Fred MacMurray, Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart, Bette Davis, among many others.
Natalie Wood became a star in 1955, with the teenage rebellion movie, Rebel Without a Cause, co-starring James Dean and Sal Mineo. Another Academy Award nomination came in 1961 when she played a high schooler navigating love in Splendor in the Grass. She played Maria in the hit musical, West Side Story, also in 1961. She had more success in the 1970s with television, culminating in 1979 with a Golden Globe for the remake of From Here to Eternity.
Of course, Robert Wagner has a lot of screen time, both in archival footage of their years together (they were twice married to each other, in 1957 and again in 1972) and a current interview of him recounting the events of that fateful night. We know she was on Wagner’s yacht, Splendour, with him and actor Christopher Walken, with whom she was filming the movie Brainstorm at the time. Captain Dennis Davern was the only other person on board. It’s been confirmed that there was lots of alcohol consumed and that Wagner and Walken had an argument. After that it’s all speculation, and as time went on, more and more theories abounded including affairs with every possible combination of the three. Natasha thinks her mother went outside on deck to tie the dingy to the boat, because it was knocking against it and preventing her from sleeping. She fell, hit her head, and drowned. The official cause of death was “accidental drowning.” The L.A. County Sheriff reopened the case in 2011 and shortly thereafter the cause of death was changed to “drowning and other undetermined factors.” Robert Wagner was named a person of interest (not a suspect) later in the ongoing investigation.
The film puts a nice spotlight on her remarkable film and television career and intersects that with family photos and interviews from those who knew her. She also did something quite admirable, particularly for the time period; taking control of her career, on her terms, and pushing back against the male-dominated studios. The documentary cannot answer what happened that night. The fact that Walken and Davern refused to partake, as did Natalie’s sister, actress Lana Wood, who puts her mother’s death on Wagner, only keeps the speculation spinning. The film is a delightful tribute to a full life of 43 years and a sorrowful reminder of dying way too young, how we’ll never know.
D² Rating ◼◼◼◩☐
Trivia ? – Who was Natalie Wood’s co-star in Splendor in the Grass?
Answer: Warren Beatty