Natalie Wood

If there was ever a true natural beauty, it was Natalie Wood. One of those effortlessly beautiful girls - the type that wakes up in the morning looking perfectly exquisite. Unlike moi, who needs a good hour of preening to rid myself of the just-been-punched-in-both-eyes look.

The case surrounding her 'accidental drowning' (surely one of the top googled stories of late) is being re-opened after 30 years. Regardless of the outcome, it is tragic that she died so young. In 1981, she famously remarked: "I've always been terrified, still am, of water - dark water or sea water, or river water or whatever."

Here are some touchingly candid, unpublished photos of Wood, as a child and later while shooting films like Splendor in the Grass and Rebel Without A Cause...

At 6 years old

Note - a photograph of Orson Welles on the piano

Photo by Ralph Crane

With Dennis Hopper and Nick Adams

Reading to Hopper and Adams

Inside a gallery at Warner Bros.

Hopper and Adams in the rafters

Possibly talking to Elvis...

Unrecognized in a skid row eatery, LA

1960, Beverly Hills

Getting ready for the Academy Awards, 1962

She was nominated for an Oscar for Splendor in the Grass

With Warren Beatty at the Oscars

1963, With Steve McQueen

Lighting up with Steve McQueen

With Warren Beatty, 1961

All images from LIFE