Throughout her career, Natalie Wood teetered precariously on the edge of greatness. Trained in the classical Hollywood studio style, but best mentored by Method directors, Wood was the ideal actress for roles depicting shifting perceptions of American womanhood. Nonetheless, while many of her films are considered classics of mid-twentieth century American cinema, she is less remembered for her acting than she is for her mysterious and tragic death.

Rebecca Sullivan's lucid and engaging study of Natalie Wood's career sheds new light on her enormous, albeit uneven, contributions to American cinema. This persuasive text argues for renewed appreciation of Natalie Wood by situating her enigmatic performances in the context of a transforming star industry and revolutionary, post-war sexual politics.

About the Author
REBECCA SULLIVAN is Professor and Coordinator of the Women's Studies program at the University of Calgary, Canada. She is the author of Visual Habits: Nuns, Feminism and Postwar American Popular Culture (2005) and Bonnie Sherr Klein's 'Not a Love Story' (2014), and co-author of Pornography: Structures, Agency and Performance (2015).


Book Information
ISBN 9781844576371
Author Rebecca Sullivan
Format Paperback
Page Count 160
Imprint BFI Publishing
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC