Natalie Wood: accusations against Kirk Douglas by sister Lana Wood explained - and who was Robert Wagner?

Sister of actress Natalie Wood, Lana Wood, has accused actor Kirk Douglas of sexual assault in her new book, due to be released Tuesday 9 November.

The late Hollywood star Natalie Wood was known for her roles in films like Miracle on 34th Street, Rebel Without a Cause and West Side Story.

This is everything you need to know.

What has Kirk Douglas been accused of?

In her new memoir, Little Sister, Lana Wood has accused Hollywood actor Kirk Douglas of sexually assaulting Natalie Wood.

According to the book, Douglas allegedly attacked her in the summer of 1955 whilst she was shooting feature film The Searchers.

In her book, Lana explains that her mother, Maria Zakharenko, arranged for Natalie and Douglas to meet at the famed Chateau Marmont hotel.

Zakharenko thought that the meeting would see “many doors might be thrown open for [Natalie], with just a nod of his famous, handsome head on her behalf”.

She wrote: “It seemed like a long time passed before Natalie got back into the car and woke me up when she slammed the door shut.

“She looked awful. She was very dishevelled and very upset, and she and Mom started urgently whispering to each other. I couldn’t really hear them or make out what they were saying.

“Something bad had apparently happened to my sister, but whatever it was, I was apparently too young to be told about it.”

It wasn’t until the two were adults that Natalie told Lana what had happened on that night, saying “he hurt me, Lana”.

It was their mother who told Natalie not to say anything about the alleged incident, claiming it would ruin both of their careers.

Douglas had long been suspected as the assailant who assaulted Natalie, with the rumours so prevalent that when he died in 2020, at the age of 103, Natalie Wood’s name trended alongside his own on Twitter.

Who is Robert Wagner?

Robert Wagner is an American actor, best known for roles in films like the Austin Powers trilogy, The Towering Inferno, The Pink Panther and A Kiss Before Dying.

In 1956, the 26 year old Wagner became involved with the 18-year-old Natalie Wood, and the following year they were married for the first time.

In 1961 they announced their separation and in 1962 they were divorced.

Speaking to the NY Post, Lana said that their divorced was sparked by Natalie walking in on Wagner “in a compromising position” with his butler.

The pair went on to have relationships with others, with Wanger marrying actress Marion Marshall in 1963 before divorcing in 1971, and Natalie marrying Richard Gregson in 1969 before also divorcing in 1972.

Newly single, the pair got back together in 1971, and remarried that same year.

When it was revealed that Wagner and Natalie were to be married once again, Lana was very confused, given the supposed reason for their initial breakup.

Natalie apparently told Lana: “Sometimes the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t know.”

Lana said: “I would have really liked to hear, “I love him dearly and I can’t live without him”, or something like that.

“But to give me a quote about devils? It really didn’t sit well.”

When did Natalie Wood die?

Natalie died at the age of 43 under mysterious circumstances whilst on a weekend boat trip with her husband Robert Wagner in 1981.

Prior to her death, she, Wagner, Christopher Walken and Dennis Davern had dinner together at restaurant Doug’s Harbor Reef in Catalina before re-boarding Wagner’s boat.

Night manager of the restaurant, Don Whiting, later said that he was concerned that they were all too intoxicated to make it back to the boat in the dinghy after their meal.

At around 11:05pm, the passengers of the boat realised that Wood was missing and began looking for her. They discovered that the dinghy had gone missing as well. It wasn’t until 8am the next morning that her body was found in the water.

Her death was ruled as an accident when the deputy medical examiner concluded that the bruises on her arms, legs and face, and her blood alcohol levels, were consistent with a fall overboard.

In 2011, 30 years after he death, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department reopened the investigation after they received additional information from anonymous sources.

That same year, Davern confessed to lying about Natalie’s death when questioned by police in an interview with NBC’s Today. He claimed that Wagner was actually responsible.

Davern also said in his 2009 book, Goodbye Natalie, Goodbye Splendour, that he had heard Natalie and Wagner arguing before she disappeared.

In 2013, her cause of death was then changed from accidental drowning to “drowning and other undetermined factors”.

Wager was then officially named as a person of interest in regards to Wood’s death in 2018. The case remains open.

Lana’s new memoir focuses largely on the death of her sister, with its full title being Little Sister: My Investigation into the Mysterious Death of Natalie Wood.

Speaking to the NY Post, she said “of course” Wagner killed Natalie.

“I don’t believe it was premeditated,” Lana said, “But that doesn’t mean I don’t think he did it: of course he did!”

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