NATALIE WOOD AND MARILYN MONROE--SO MANY PARALLELS

     While I readily admit that I don't give a hoot about the manic comings and goings of today's purported "celebs" many of them in the news one day then forgotten the next, I must admit that some of the really "big" and lasting Hollywood celebrities of the past still fascinate me.
     When I awoke this morning, I was suddenly immersed in a flurry of media activity concerning the fact that the police are planning to reopen the closed investigation of the drowning death of superstar Natalie Wood.  I immediately found myself having total recall of the details of that event.  At the time, an aura of "suspicion" seemed to loom over what was ultimately termed to be "an accidental drowning."  There was a great deal of "buzz" concerning whether she actually fell overboard on her own yacht or, in the alternative, did she meet with foul play on that fateful night.  On the yacht with her were her husband, Robert Wagner, and the up-and-coming future star, Christopher Walken.  In a nutshell, the story, as told at the time, never seemed satisfactory to most of the people that I spoke with way back then.
     Few would dispute that Natalie Wood was both beautiful and talented.  Even before her famous adult roles in Rebel Without a Cause, West Side Story, Splendor in the Grass, and other unforgettable films, she played the adorable little girl who so desperately wanted to believe in Santa in the vintage film, Miracle on 34th Street.
      I can't help but see the parallel that seems to exist with Natalie's death, and that of film legend Marilyn Monroe.  Although she died back in the '60's, mystery still surrounds the circumstances of her death--accidental overdose of booze and pills?  Suicide?  Or murder committed to save careers, or to hide secrets known to Marilyn.
      These two deaths seldom make the rolls of "famous Hollywood murders."  But should they perhaps head the list of such crimes--right up there with the Black Dahlia?  While the death of the infamous Black Dahlia was so obviously a brutal murder, perhaps Natalia Wood, and Marilyn before her, also fell victim to murder.