Natalie Wood Quotes

1. The only time a woman really succeeds in changing a man is when he is a baby.


2. Almost every girl falls in love with the wrong man, I suppose it's part of growing up.


3. At night, when the sky is full of stars and the sea is still you get the wonderful sensation that you are floating in space.

4. I've been terrified of the water, and yet it seems I'm forced to go into in on every movie that I make.

5. I never saw film stars at home. We had no maid, no cook, no swimming pool.

6. I never knew motherhood could be so truly gratifying until I had Natasha.

7. A lot changed when I had Natasha. I'm a survivor.

8. When I get married it will be for keeps.


9. We were descended from royalty.

10. We all wanted to copy Vivien Leigh.


11. Warren and I are friends, but working with him had been difficult.

12. Today's films are so technological that an actor becomes starved for roles that deal with human relationships.

13. There are certain stars who are not actors. I don't want to be that type.

14. The times that I have done something that I didn't respond to emotionally right away, it's generally not worked out too well.

15. Stardom is only a by-product of acting. I don't think being a movie star is a good enough reason for existing.

16. Sometimes when I visit my sister and her two children, I wonder if she missed a lot by getting married. Right now, nothing could be further from my mind than getting married.




17. Not even analysis, by itself, can transform you. You must still do the changing yourself.

18. My mother used to tell me: "No matter what they ask you, always say yes. You can learn later."

19. My friends seem much more excited about my doing Anastasia than Brainstorm... and to tell you the truth, I feel the same way.

20. If I didn't believe in what I'm doing, I'd rather go to work in a dime store.

21. The constant attention is what is so difficult.


22. I'm not very bright about money. I'm not domestic either. If I don't learn how to cook, maybe I won't have to.


23. I'm just going to have to grow old, because I'm too terrified to have anything done.

24. I was so young, and making movies, going to the studio every morning at dawn was magic.

25. I was so overprotected, I used to think I was as delicate as people said I was.

26. I thought it was a wonderful line - right on the cutting room floor.

27. I saw my parents as gods whose every wish must be obeyed or I would suffer the penalty of anguish and guilt.

28. I didn't like children. I didn't think of myself as a child. I didn't like any of the things other children were interested in.

29. I didn't know who the hell I was. I was whoever they wanted me to be.


30. I couldn't even go to the bathroom alone. My mother or a social worker always went with me.

31. From ages 10 to 12 or so, I barely remember anything.

32. For the first time I feel an inner emotional security. There is reality and dependability. My life revolves around Richard and the baby.

33. You get tough in this business, until you get big enough to hire people to get tough for you. Then you can sit back and be a lady.

34. In so many ways I think it's a bore to be sorry you were a child actor - so many people feel sorry for you automatically. At the time I wasn't aware of the things I missed, so why should I think of them in retrospect? Everybody misses something or other. (in 1961)

35. I felt a little funny when we were going to do the bed scene, all four of us, in Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969). I'm open to suggestions, I'm no prude, but four is a crowd in my book. Fortunately, Dyan Cannon was there. The thought of another woman being in there in the bed helped get me through it. It's not like it sounds. It's just that I don't think I could have done it if it had been me and three men.

36. I spent practically all my time in the company of adults. I was very withdrawn, very shy, I did what I was told and I tried not to disappoint anybody. I knew I had a duty to perform, and I was trained to follow orders. (on being a child actor)

37. You know what I want? I want yesterday. (shortly before her death)

38. Elvis was so square, we'd go . . . for hot fudge sundaes. He didn't drink, he didn't swear, he didn't even smoke. It was like having the date that I never had in high school. (on dating Elvis Presley)

39. I'm not going to those parties where they put out the line of cocaine and stuff.





40. Emotion memory is recalling something sad when you have a sad scene to do. Very early on I used to get myself in the right mood by thinking of a pet dog that died.

41. How do you expect me to be normal when I learned that the most attention I could get was the harder I cried?

42. I always cherished that early marriage of ours. My memories of it were beautiful, and sad.

43. I couldn't stand it any more. I got my parents to sit down and I told them how funny it felt to be different from the other kids.

44. I didn't feel synthetic, but a lot of the stories were made up... there was so much invention.





45. I didn't know how I would feel, coming back to work after having not worked for two years. What if I forgot how to do it?

46. I don't know how to make endless decisions any more. Richard assumes most of the burdens that were once mine.

47. I don't need work as a security blanket any more.

48. I don't want to hurt my mother, but I want to stop hurting.

49. I had never thought about furniture and things like that. All I'd thought about was acting.

50. I had no conception about money whatsoever. I just knew that whenever I got a part I got a present.


51. I had to have two years of just living.


52. I hadn't been around anyone who was religious. Elvis felt he had been given this gift, this talent, by God. He didn't take it for granted.

53. I just had the most boring evening. Please don't let me do that again. I can't sit through those Warner Brothers things.

54. I loved the feeling of beginning at the beginning and going through to the end.

55. I really didn't know what pleased me. I sort of had to figure all that out.

56. I want to contribute something of myself.

57. I was a complete wreck by the time I had to leap into the water. The director told me: Just jump. If you get scared, just scream.

58. I was driving way too fast in my desire to get home, and I got into a terrible car crash.

59. I was in labor, but the baby wasn't falling. I was so scared. And physically, I was a wreck.

60. I was in my hotel room, crying my eyes out.

61. I was only 8 years old, but I remember very clearly that at Fox, they were doing many, many pictures.

62. I was small and skinny and wore quite a bit of lipstick and tried to look much older.

63. I would want my children to be unafraid and feel free enough to express themselves.

64. I've decided to go on instinct a lot, rather than following a lot of advice.

65. If there were no publicity and acting was your only job, I don't think anybody would get into very much emotional trouble.




66. It looks so dark down there, and I'm scared of fish. I sort of thought when the boat went along, the fish would swim away from it.

67. It was a mystery to me. I loved my husband, we were healthy, we were desirable according to the press, but all I felt was torment.

68. It was like we were playing house with play money. And when it ran out, that was it.

69. My mother never got to know the neighbors. She had no sense of community.

70. Nobody told me whom I should date when I was a teenager. It wouldn't have worked anyway. I was very rebellious in those days.

71. Studio changed my name, and my screen name is Natalie Wood. I am collecting all my publicity.



72. The marriage sank like a ship going down for the last time.


73. The studio wanted me to stay looking young. That was the image.

74. There's a scene where I imply that I've sort of been around, that I'm not really pure.

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