Natalie Wood: Reflections on a Legendary Life (Turner Classic Movies)

I bought the book without even looking at preview pages, and thought I would have to return it, but kept it because of so many photos included with well written summary of her life. Many of these photos are not available through online web searches and come from Ms Wood's own collection. Apparently, Natalie Wood kept every memento & photo about herself from childhood and throughout her adult life. Sounds very narcissistic, but a treasure trove for history and given her untimely demise. The tone of the book is more flattering than unflattering. It's not a particularly gossipy book, but there are plenty of books if you want to wade in tabloid trivia and minutia. I feel transported into post WWII, feel-good, golden age of Hollywood looking at the photos and ephemera of her life. If you are nostalgic for that period, this book will fill that need. As an actor, I feel NW was a better actor as a child than as an adult. She was definitely precocious for her age and could act on cue at an age that would terrify most kids being on display. Although she had a brief life, she accomplished more than most people in 2 lifetimes and was fortunate enough to be in a good number of iconic or classic movies that most actors could only dream of. She will be a legend forever based on those roles. This remembrance will only add luster to that cultured image of glamour, youth and beauty.

For Natalie Wood Fans or just fans of the old Hollywood stars, you will love every page in this book. Manoah Bowman and Natasha Gregson Wagner have covered Natalie's life in the most breathtakingly beautiful photos I have ever seen of Natalie. I have quite a collection of Movie Books, but nothing like this TCM book. There are photos upon photos that I have never seen anywhere. Even though this is a huge coffee table book full of gorgeous large photos, there is just enough reading material inside to answer some questions about Natalie's wonderful life. There is a Foreword by Robert Wagner and an Afterword by Robert Redford. From childhood photos, family photos, personal photos to photos from her childhood career to photos covering her many movies- every photo is a true gem. Like so many of the newer books of recent years (like Sharon Tate, Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor) covering the beautiful stars of the 50's and 60's Hollywood, you see that these breathtakingly beautiful stars were born this way. The baby Natasha takes your breath away with such a perfect face. I have a love of all 60's movies and seeing some photos from Penelope and Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice was a real joy. I personally have always thought that Natalie never looked more beautiful than in her 60's films and she is over 30 in these. If you only buy one book on Natalie- this is the one- every photo is a 5 STAR treasure!

So before ordering this book I decided to read all the reviews first as there is no book store near me carrying it. Perusing through GoodReads, Barnes & Noble and Amazon I was struck by the overflowing positivity and placed my order. During the interim I noticed that customers on both Amazon and GoodReads added a couple of less favorable reviews albeit for completely opposite reasons. As far as I can tell no major outlets or sites have reviewed the book officially. The book arrived and after having a chance to thoroughly study it from cover to cover I thought I'd take the time to weigh in on the perceived shortcomings and positives of this fascinating work. Firstly, there seems to be some confusion as to what the book is supposed to be. It is first and foremost a "coffee table" book. "Coffee table" books are not meant to be biographies. Anyone buying a "coffee table" book expecting a biography is barking up the wrong tree. Amazon's blurb calls it a "family-authorized photographic study" -- This would not indicate a biography in any sense of the word. These kind of books are usually meant to be placed out in the open to be looked at and enjoyed for their imagery. That being said, there is a lot more text than usual in a book of this kind. However, one should note that the text is spread out in a non-narrative way. Basically, the author/contributors have placed different pieces throughout the length of it to lend a shorthand type approach to Natalie Wood's life. I found the text to be well researched and surprisingly informational. Text in books like this tend to border on the pedantic and at their worst more akin to a wikipedia entry. There is a touching foreword by RJ Wagner, followed by a well constructed introduction which should be read by everyone before writing a review, an engrossing essay explaining Natalie's journey from child star to movie star, a very long autobiographical piece written by Natalie about her life up until 1966, an extremely moving remembrance by Natasha Wagner (Natalie's first child), an extended interview with Natalie's private photographer and friend Michael Childers, a family album with captions by second child, Courtney Wagner, and finally a very short and odd afterword by film legend and Natalie co-star, Robert Redford. In between are light film synopsis and commentary about all the movies she made from "Rebel Without a Cause" to "Bob, Carol, Ted and Alice". Another reviewer pointed out a lack of psychological insight inherent within the text and my only comment is that this is not a biography AND it is family authorized. I'm not sure why anyone would look to a "coffee table" book for insight and authorized books are notorious for leaving out any detrimental facts about their subjects. This isn't to say there is no insight in the book. Natalie's autobiographical piece has some. However, even that feels edited for length and obviously only goes up to 1966. The rest of the book outside of the family contributions feels more informational and less probing. In the end I believe that this book serves as a tribute. Of which there have never been any others to choose from. From that perspective is succeeds brilliantly. Moving on...It's a photo book so how does it look? It looks sensational. The quality is top rate throughout. Having been a collector on Natalie for years I'm aware of what is rare and what is not. There are more common photos than there are rare ones for ones in the know. However, most fans probably don't obsess over digital online images the way the super-fans do. I noticed some amazing images pop up on pinterest in the past few months and was surprised when I got the book that they had actually been scanned out of there. Nowadays, nothing stays rare for long once it's published. So maybe my view of the book was hindered slightly by the fact that a lot of the "new" never before seen shots were no longer "new" by the time the book arrived. Obviously the creators of the book had access to original negatives and transparencies as the quality of the imagery in most examples is superb and first rate. So many Running Press books look like garbage in comparison. Their Vivien Leigh book was all over the place image wise. Low quality copy photos or images seemingly taken directly from the Internet interspersed with high quality agency photos gave that book a schizophrenic feel. The size and page count of this book is definitely an issue. I'll still give the book 5 stars because it truly is a special one of a kind work but the publishers should be shot for blowing it in the size department. A couple of later sections feel cramped and we hardly get any TV photos or "on the town" candids. Natalie loved the public spotlight but this book is too small to include it all. Virtually all of her 70s output is on about 6 pages. For fans that grew up during those years this feels like a major oversight. However, I can tell the author tried their best to put in as much as possible while still making the layouts elegant. No easy task when relegated to 300 or so pages. Another reviewer quibbled about the size of a lot of the imagery. He mentioned contact sheets specifically. They are run bigger in the book than they appear in real life so I didn't take umbrage to that. However, all the grids in the later sections put me off a bit because some stellar shots were run much smaller when placed in groups on a page. This boils down to page count and size so for the super-fans that may be a bit of an issue. For me personally, I have been waiting for years for a book like this and it is much better than expected. I wish that any high end publisher besides Running Press had been behind it because their "star" books are often dreadful. Who can forget their terrible Bette Davis tome? This is a masterpiece by comparison. If only Taschen, Abrams or Harper Collins had done this I think everyone would be even more impressed. I imagine Running Press, TCM and their "brand" had a lot to do with all of this books shortcomings. That being said, it is amazing in spite of them. Bravo to all involved. This will be a book fondly collected and remembered for years to come. There has never been a movie star book quite like it.

It’s Natalie Wood! What a charming, delightful actress, that we were blessed to have entertain us for all too short of a time. It’s a shame. She died so young and she had such promise. We miss her and it’s wonderful to be able to peruse this book with such beautiful pictures of her, and that we may be thankful for the time that she was here

This book is absolutely fantastic! It is a treasure trove of photos and remembrances and an amazing tribute to this great actress! From her early childhood and days as a child star, through her years as an ingenue and leading lady, to her life as wife and mother, this richly illustrated book touches on virtually every aspect of her life. Especially touching are the segments contributed by her family: a foreword by her husband Robert Wagner, a beautiful essay penned by daughter Natasha Gregson Wagner, and the personal photos and captions contributed by daughter Courtney Wagner. This is the wonderful tribute to Natalie Wood's life that diehard fans, such as myself, have been waiting for. Honestly, 5 stars are not enough to describe how marvelous this book is!!! Highly recommended!!!

This is the definitive book for any Natalie Wood fan. An absolute must. The pictures are perfect. Nothing more to add.

It’s still hard to believe the tragic events that led up to Natalie’s death, but as a young man I was struck by her natural beauty and personality and this book brought the lady to life.

This book really surprised me! I honestly wasn't expecting it to blow me away as much as it did (and this is based solely on appearances because I haven't had a chance yet to read through the entire thing). The book is thick, glossy and was obviously made with a lot of love. It's jam-packed with high quality photos - some of which I'd never even seen before! If you're a fan of classic film and of Natalie Wood I would definitely recommend you check this one out! It would make a lovely gift as well, considering how close it is to Christmas!

Un libro que cubre la vida completa de una bella e infortunada actriz. La gran cantidad de fotos bellamente impresas nos muestran lo mismo fotos de su infancia, adolescencia y amores así como todas y cada una de sus películas. Una pieza infaltable para todo aquel admirador de Natalie Wood y para todo aquel fanático del cine y de las estrellas mas bellas e interesantes de Hollywood.

Hollywoodlegende Natalie Wood wird mit diesem Buch ein Denkmal gesetzt. Die Aufmachung ist edel, die zahlreichen, größtenteils bislang unveröffentlichten Hochglanzfotos sind von beeindruckender Qualität. Das sehr persönliche Vorwort wurde von Robert Wagner geschrieben, mit dem sie zweimal verheiratet war. Im Folgenden geht es zunächst um Woods Entwicklung zum Kinderstar, ihre rebellische und wilde Jugend, ihr Übergang zum erwachsenen Superstar. Ihre bedeutendsten Filme: "Denn sie wissen nicht was sie tun", "Fieber im Blut", "Westside Story" sowie "Das große Rennen rund um die Welt" werden dabei besonders ausführlich gewürdigt. Mit einem autobiografischen Text aus dem Jahr 1966 kommt Natalie Wood posthum in diesem Buch sogar selbst zu Wort und schildert ihre Sicht auf ihre Karriere und Privatleben. Tochter Natasha Gregson Wagner teilt in einem weiteren Kapitel ihre Erinnerungen an ihre Kindheit und analysiert ihr Verhältnis zu ihrer Mutter. Neben dem frühen, tragischen Tod ihrer Mutter, litt sie vor allem sehr unter der Sensationspresse, den zahlreichen widersprüchlichen Spekulationen zu dem Tod ihrer Mutter und betont, dass ihr Stiefvater Robert Wagner für sie immer wie ein Vater gewesen sei. Auch Courtney Wagner, die jüngste gemeinsame Tochter der Wagner/Wood Familie, steuert kommentierte Familienfotos bei. In diesem Buch geht es hauptsächlich um das Leben und nicht um den tragischen Tod eines Superstars.