Actress Natalie Wood, born Natalia Nikolaevna Zacharenko in 1938 to Russian immigrant parents, received much critical acclaim during her acting career. Her performance alongside James Dean in the 1955 classic Rebel Without a Cause earned her an Oscar Nomination, as did her role in Splendor in the Grass five years later.

Despite her illustrious career, however, the thing most remembered about Natalie Wood is her untimely death. At the age of 43, Wood drowned while sailing near Santa Catalina Island, California. At the time, the death was ruled an accident, but on November 17, 2011, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department announced a re-opening of the investigation based on new statements from witnesses.