A24- Wednesday, December 2, 1981 - North Shore News

DIED

) vent lees AFTER ARGUMENT }

By VERNON SCOTT
UPI Hollywood Reporter

LOS ANGELES—An intoxicated Natalie Wood
apparently slipped while trying to board a small
dinghy following an argument on her yacht and
drowned in a panic, the country coroner said

Monday.

“There is no evidence of
foul play or any cause of
death other than accidental
drowning,” coroner .Thomas
Noguchi said following an
autopsy.

Noguchi said Miss Wood
left the boat anchored off
Santa Catalina Island
following an argument
between her husband, actor
Robert Wagner, and actor
friend Christopher Walken.

The coroner said it was
“not my impression” that the
argument had become
violent or that Miss Wood
was personally involved.

He also disclosed that-the
movie star's blood alcohol
level at the time of her death
was .14 and said her in-
toxication was “one of the
factors involved in the fact
that she was not able to
respond to the emergency.”

He said the dinghy was

untied when Miss Wood.

tried to climb into it. He said
she scraped her left cheek
and possibly banged her
head in the fall. He said it
was also “quite possible” that
after she hit the water and
bumped her head, she
panicked in the dark.
Noguchi said the actress
“tragically perished” when

Job.
security
gets the
boot

OTTAWA (UPC)—Industry
Minister Herb Gray refused
Monday to guarantee
current employment levels
in the Canadian footwear
industry, but said any job
loss would not be a result of
the government's new im-

port policies.
New Democratic Party
MP Lorne Nystrom

demanded Gray guarantee
jobs would not be lost
because of changes in the
import quotas in the Icather
footwear industry, but Gray
refused.

“Our view is that our
policy will not bring about
the decline in employment
my honorable friend has
said,” Gray replied. “what
he is asking for does not fit in
with the reality of the
dynamics of the markct-
place.”

Gray noted consumer
demand for shoes has
dropped from four to three
pairs per person since 1972
and productivity has
changed since the in-
troduction of the now
-“équipment

Our purpose is to
stabilize cmployment and
strongthen the industry,” he
said.

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Asked if he knew why she
was trying to get into the
dinghy in the middle of the
night, Noguchi replied, “A
person under the influence
could perhaps be going for a
ride.”

In California;
level of intoxication is .10. |

Asked if he was‘ pursuing

the legal

the investigation, he said, “I
don't intend to drop it.” He
said standard toxicology and
laboratory tests were still
being conducted, but noted
that all evidence so far is
“totally consistent” with an
accidental drowning.

Miss Wood's body, clad in
a blue nightgown, red down

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2 BRAN

jacket and socks, was found
shortly after dawn Sunday,
floating just beneath the
surface about one mile from
the boat and 200 yards from

the isthmus of the resort -

island off the southern
California coast. t
The 10-foot inflatable

Zodiac dinghy was found

beached near the body.

The three-time Oscar
nominee had been spending
the weekend with Wagner
and Walken, with whom she
was making the film
“Brainstorm.” They arrived

_at the island Friday aboard
‘the Wagners’ 55-foot yacht,

“Splendour.”

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