Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Screen actress of Russian parentage.
On the island
Eight records
My mother's uh favorite song, which I've ... learned to play on the piano very early on when I took piano lessons.
My father plays the balalaika, which is an old-time Russian instrument. ... this was one of his favorite songs, Kalinka.
The Ambrosian Children's Choir
I love this song because when Robert Wagner and I were married the very first time, this song was played at our wedding.
Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Op. 27, No. 2 "Moonlight"
I don't really know why I I like this so well. It's a well, I love Beethoven. It's the moonlight sonata, which I think is very beautiful.
I just love Bog Dylan, everything of his, but um I particularly like this one, it's uh just like a woman.
American PieFavourite
American pie always makes me think of [when Robert and I got back together again and we were talking about getting married for the second time].
Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band
I played this album All during the time I was filming on um The Last Married Couple in America. I particularly like this song, We've Got Tonight.
I just love the record. I play it all the time, and I think it's got a lovely philosophy.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:36Could you endure loneliness for a long time?
When I was a child and as I was being brought up I had very overly protective parents who never thought I should be left alone even for a moment. ... consequently I developed a sort of phobia about being alone. ... So then, uh as we tend to do in America, I went into analysis and um discovered ... that I quite enjoyed being by myself and that I was pretty good company and all that. So I enjoyed being by myself for a few years, but now I'm married, you see, and I've got kids and uh even though I feel quite happy being on my own, I'm hardly ever on my own because there isn't time.
Presenter asks
3:04Why did they want you to change [your name]?
Well, actually my my original real name was Natalia Nikolaevna Zaharinko. Zaharinko was was always being mispronounced. ... So when I was five years old and William Goetz put me into my first film with Orson Welles and Claudac Colbert, he thought that that that Gordon was not a good name. ... So he chose Natalie, and then he chose Wood in honor of his friend Sam Wood.
Presenter asks
3:50Why did [your parents] go to Hollywood?
Well, they didn't go in that direction. Actually, they both left when they were uh uh very young. ... during the Revolution ... my mother's family left and went to China ... And my father's family went to Vancouver. And eventually they wound up in San Francisco, and that's where my parents met. ... and got married, and that's where I was born, in San Francisco.
The keepsakes
The book
E. E. Cummings
Well, then I think a book of poetry would be good. Um perhaps the EE Cummings would be very, very nice.
The luxury
I enjoy playing the piano, because then I could play some other songs, you know, I could play the ones that I wasn't allowed to bring.
Presenter asks
5:58Did you not feel that you were missing a lot of the fun of being a child?
Well, I wasn't aware of it at the time, you know. I mean, I guess I wasn't aware that uh other kids did other things. ... I started going to a regular school in between jobs. And I I did feel a bit of a misfit then during that period because I I was so comfortable with adults and rather uncomfortable with kids, having not been around very many.
Presenter asks
9:21How do you remember [James Dean]?
Well, I remember him very sweetly. I don't see him as this sort of um doomed, self destructive figure that that many people see him as ... He didn't s he seemed introspective and quiet, but he was always very accessible and and friendly and uh he he was always very uh considerate of other people.
Presenter asks
18:57Who's the most difficult performer that you worked with?
Well, I guess I'd rather not say.
“I developed a sort of phobia about being alone. I was rather frightened to be alone. I didn't know what on earth would happen, you know, but it s seemed like something awful would happen.”
“I think luck plays a great part in in being able to make the transitions. I think in any kind of career that goes on for a bit it's terribly important to be able to make the transitions.”
“I'm a fairly good swimmer, although I must admit I don't like to swim in the ocean because I'm afraid of the fish.”