The unsinkable Natalie Wood resurfaces thirty years after her drowning in Hollywood Gone Wild. In 1981, so the official story goes, she died from hypothermia after falling into the water in the middle of the night of the yacht she shared with her husband, Robert Wagner. The circumstances of her death off Catalina Island are known — the heavy drinking indulged in by the couple, their guest the actor Christopher Walken and the captain Dennis Davern; the arguments over her career and her possible affair with Walken (of whom Wagner was jealous) — but the question of what motivated a woman who was deathly afraid of dark water to try to leave the boat by climbing down a slick ladder and into a smaller boat, has continued to tantalize her fans and family members.  

While Walken and Wagner have said little, Davern has over the years changed his story. He published a book saying that Wagner and Wood argued on deck before her death, and has hinted that he knows more. His changing story and his quest for money has damaged his reputation, leaving Natalie to remain an unsolved mystery. I continue blathering on about Woods’ death at Planetpeschel.