Thursday, June 27, 2013

Natalie Wood's most erotic scene

A lot of you yesterday wanted me to post some Natalie Wood pictures.  For new readers, whenever I can't find an appropriate visual I post Natalie Wood photos.  She's been my all-time favorite since the first time I saw her in THE GREAT RACE.  I was at that impressionable age when... well, my hormones were exploding.  13 year-old Kenny sat in the Pantages Theater thinking " Holy God!  What is THIS?"

And it turns out she was a good actress too.  What a bonus for me.

I saw her only once, shortly before she died.  It was at the MGM commissary during lunch and I almost passed out.

Needless to say I've seen all of her movies and read quite a few books about her.  I went to Catalina to retrace her last steps.  But there's nothing obsessive about that.  All casual fans do the same thing, right?

Anyway, by request,  here are a couple of Natalie Wood photos and something more.  So much of eroticism is in the mind.  Seeing what we're forbidden to see is what makes something stimulating.  And I'm going to show you Natalie Wood's most erotic scene.  But it's not sexy for the reason you expect.

It's the famous bathtub scene in SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS. You're thinking -- oh sure, it's erotic because she's naked in a bathtub.  Other than her bare back you don't really see anything.  Still, you're saying -- just the suggestion that she's naked is exciting.   Nope.  That's not it.

When Natalie was 9 she fell into a river during a movie shoot and broke her arm.  It was not set properly and she was left with a permanently weakened left wrist and a slight bone protrusion.  She was self-conscious about it and for the rest of her life wore large bracelets on her left wrist.  You'll see this in every movie and every photograph of her.

So back to SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS.  There was this scene in the bathtub.  It would look unnatural for someone to be naked except for a bracelet and so somehow director Elia Kazan convinced her to remove it.

So that's what erotic!  Not to turn this blog into X-rated porn, but in the following scene you actually see Natalie Wood's left wrist.   Is that a giant turn-on or what?

29 comments :

normadesmond said...

my corgi's name is deeny.

Catholic Conservative said...

I fell in love with Nataile Wood first n West Side Story but it was actually Brainstorm when I realized how beautiful she was.

Charles H. Bryan said...

I will not rest until the straw boater makes a comeback. Hipsters, ditch those fedoras and get on this now.

Mike Botula said...

Wow!

Scooter Schechtman said...

As for me I have nooo problem with Wood as she appeared in "Bob & Carol..." whether in miniskirt or bikini or just frolicking with Bob Culp in her nighty.

Roger Owen Green said...

Now WE are spoiled! Thanks, Ken.

Ed said...

I'm sweating. A lot. And not because it's 97 degrees where I am right now.

Howard Hoffman said...

Yes. The freakout. The hallmark of all the girls I dated who looked like Natalie Wood. Hot.

Mac said...

That's how discussions about sex went in those days. If you liked a girl you invited her back to your place for a good spoiling.

CSL said...

That was a fabulous 1/10 of a second. Thanks!!

DBenson said...

Someday I'll have to get all the way through Splendor in the Grass. I always come away with the idea the Great Depression was somehow caused by Natalie and Warren repressing their urges.

Ziggy said...

I always loved Natalie Wood! She was the one who helped me get over my one-sided affair with Hayley Mills.

AlaskaRay said...

Oh my God. You're right. I could just catch a glimps of her ulnar styloid. Wow. Where's the hand lotion?

Anonymous said...

You see her left wrist also in this silent home movie made by Roddy McDowall, at the ten-second point.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAi8tPFqJEc

john said...

thank you. great article. please write more about natalie. she is my all time favorite actress. if i had to pick natalie's most erotic scene it would have to be any moment she is on screen in this property is condemned ... but for the usual reasons!

James said...

I loved her in [b]The Great Race[/b](and not just because of my avatar). I saw it as a kid and just liked the movie. As a teen I saw it with her running around in that petticoat... oh my.

That's one of those movies where they did everything to make her look beautiful--costumes, hair, makeup, lighting. And they didn't have to shoot her through a stocking to smooth out her skin.

Pete medina said...

Bob and Carol And Ted and Alice, my favorite of hers, super sexy.

Pete medina said...

Her and Dyan Cannon in bed, wonder if Robert Culp enjoyed doing that scene.

Anonymous said...

Nothing sexier than full blown borderline personality disorder.

velvet goldmine said...

I saw a documentary recently in which it was noted that she was especially hysterical in that scene because of the water. Even though it was just a bathtub, that river dousing made her terrified of prolonged contact with water. (Obviously, that is always gut-wrenching to think about.)

Steve Morris said...

Wow. I've also always enjoyed the "Sex and the Single Girl" Scene with Tony Curtis on the couch. She's trying not to respond, but, well, the girl can't help it.

Paul Duca said...

"Have you ever seen a woman's leg in a black silk stocking?"

"How dare you ask such an intimate question!"

Anonymous said...

I didn't like her as she got older. By the time she did west side story, her eyes started bugging out like she had a thyroid problem. And I don't like that.

Jeffro said...

Summary: A slight bone protrusion in Natalie Wood's left wrist gave Ken a massive bone protrusion in the pants.

barbara meyers said...

doesn't anyone remember her as
gypsy roe lee in "gypsy". she was beautiful then. and ken remember who played dainty june = ann "nauseda" jillian. ann just finished that part when we met her in mr. Lucy's class.
signed Barbara meyers

DAS-Machina said...

Sorry but her Defiance in the Pottsdorf Dungeon was always the sexiest. singing and trusting her bosom at a red hot poker!
http://images.marketplaceadvisor.channeladvisor.com/hi/78/77942/the_great_race_1002_9.jpg

anonymous said...

i think she was adorable as a child star. she was a great and talented actress. she did appear nude being topless when she was 7 pictured her holding a cat in her arms and giving the cat milk from a bowl while seating outside on the grass in a published article and press photo from life magazine nov.26 1945

appollomsays said...

She was crazy in that scene!

Jeffrey nelson said...

She had me in love with proper stranger, so beautifull & sexy too