Robert Wagner is confronted by the sister of his late wife Natalie Wood

'Why won't you speak to the police?': Robert Wagner is confronted by the sister of his late wife Natalie Wood who drowned in mysterious circumstances after a party on his yacht 35 years ago

Robert Wagner confronted by sister of wife Natalie Wood who died in 1981

Actor, 86, seen talking to Lana Wood at a hotel in Palm Springs, California

Natalie Wood, 43, drowned after going overboard the 60ft yacht Splendour

Published: 08:22 EST, 3 March 2016 | Updated: 14:07 EST, 3 March 2016

This is the moment Robert Wagner was confronted by the sister of his late wife Natalie Wood who died in mysterious circumstances in 1981.

Lana Wood has spent years demanding the one-time Hollywood heartthrob talk to detectives investigating the Hollywood star's drowning off the California coast during a Thanksgiving yachting trip 35 years ago.

She came face to face with the 86-year-old Hart to Hart star at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Palm Springs in California, where he was attending a lunch event honoring his wife and former Bond girl Jill St. John.

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Pictures show the moment Robert Wagner was confronted by the sister of his late wife Natalie Wood who died in mysterious circumstances in 1981

Lana Wood came face to face with the 86-year-old at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Palm Springs, where he was attending a lunch event honoring his wife Jill St. John

In footage of the meeting, Lana, 69, asks Wagner: 'Why won't you speak to the detectives? They're super guys.'

He responds: 'Lana, why would you even bring up anything like that?

As the confrontation continues, he says: 'I have talked to everybody. You have accused me. You have accused me of murdering her. I can't believe you'd do something like that.'

Wagner eventually walked off after saying: 'I have stopped and said (to you) what happened.'

Wagner’s lawyer, Blair Berk, has said the actor has 'fully cooperated' with police and has vehemently denied any wrongdoing.

The former Hart to Hart star was on his 60-foot yacht Splendour with his Hollywood star wife, the boat's skipper, Dennis Davern and Oscar-winner Christopher Walken, on the fateful night off Santa Catalina island, a rocky island off the coast of California, 22 miles from Los Angeles.

The couple had brought along Christopher Walken, Wood's newest co-star, to celebrate their successful completion of filming for 'Brainstorm,' a science fiction thriller.

Wood, Wagner and Walken departed the yacht and rode a dingy to shore, where they had dinner at Harbor Reef Restaurant on the island. Waitresses reported that all three Hollywood actors drank heavily - mostly champagne - and were rude and boisterous.

Witnesses say all three were very intoxicated about 10.15pm when they piloted the dingy back to the yacht, which was anchored offshore.

Wood's body was found floating in the water about a mile from the yacht about 8am the following morning and the coroner determined that she had died of a combination of drowning and hypothermia.

Her blood alcohol level at the time was 0.14 per cent - nearly twice the legal limit for driving. She also had motion sickness medication and painkillers in her system, which likely increased her level of intoxication.

In footage of the meeting, Lana, 69, asks Wagner: 'Why won't you speak to the detectives? They're super guys'

Lana Wood has spent years demanding the one-time Hollywood heartthrob talk to detectives investigating Natalie's drowning off the California coast

FACTS OF THE CASE: MORE CLUES INTO MYSTERY OF THE STAR'S DEATH

The scene: On November 28, 1981, the 60-foot yacht Splendour set out for Santa Catalina Island, a rocky island off the coast of California, 22 miles from Los Angeles. Aboard were Robert Wagner, Natalie Wood and the boat's skipper, Dennis Davern. The couple also brought Wood's newest costar, Christopher Walken, to celebrate their successful completion of filming for 'Brainstorm,' a science fiction thriller.

Wood, Wagner and Walken departed the yacht and rode a dingy to shore, where they had dinner at Harbor Reef Resultant on the island. Waitresses reported that all three Hollywood actors drank heavily - mostly champagne - and were rude and boisterous.

Witnesses say all three were very intoxicated about 10.15pm when they piloted the dingy back to the yacht, which was anchored offshore.

Her body was discovered by authorities at 8am on November 29, one mile away from the boat with a small inflatable boat found beached nearby.

After nine months of investigation, Los Angeles County Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Lakshmanan Sathyavagiswaran changed the cause of her demise from accidental drowning to ‘drowning and other undetermined factors’ on her death certificate.

In September 2012 audiotapes which had never been heard before, of her younger sister Lana Wood discussing her sister’s death, were released by CBS News.

The recordings were collected by author Suzanne Finstad as research for her 2001 book, 'Natasha: The Biography of Natalie Wood.'

In the recordings Lana says that Mr Davern called her while he was in a state of intoxication and claimed that Mr Wagner (nicknamed ‘RJ’) hadn’t helped his wife after he accidentally pushed her overboard.

Lana says on the tapes: 'He said it appeared to him as though RJ shoved her away and she went overboard. Dennis panicked and RJ said, "Leave her there. Teach her a lesson."

A new coroner's report published in 2013 revealed that Wood sustained bruises to her face and other parts of her body before she went overboard and drowned.

The National Enquirer claimed to have uncovered documentation - an official lifeguard log - which suggests Wagner and Walken had engaged in a sexual act and that Wood may have walked in on them and set off the chain of events which lead to her untimely and still unexplained death.

Wagner maintains he had nothing to do with her death, though said he feels personally responsible for not looking after her.

The tragedy: Natalie Wood's body was discovered by authorities at 8am on November 29, one mile away from the yacht with a small inflatable boat found beached nearby. The coroner determined that she had died of a combination of drowning and hypothermia.

The time of death is estimated at about midnight at on November 29.

'The fact that her stomach contained 500 cc of partially digested food material supports that opinion of that time of death being around midnight, especially given the information that dinner was consumed between 8 and 9pm', according to a report.

However, Wood was not reported missing until 1.30am - fully 90 minutes after she went overboard, according to an interview with the manager of the restaurant on shore.

A small inflatable boat (pictured) was examined after being found beached near to where her body was found

Ms Woods death was initially ruled an accidental drowning, caused by her slipping and falling from the dinghy, but authorities reopened the case in 2011 after the captain of the yacht, Dennis Davern, claimed he had originally lied to the authorities.

A new coroner's report published in 2013 revealed that Wood sustained bruises to her face and other parts of her body before she went overboard and drowned.

Wagner maintains he had nothing to do with her death, though said he feels personally responsible for not looking after her.

In his 2009 autobiography Pieces of My Heart he recounted the final time he saw his wife, who he had married twice.

‘Chris (Walken) began talking about his 'total pursuit of a career', which he admitted was more important to him than his personal life. He clearly thought Natalie should live like that, too.

'I got angry. "Why don't you stay out of her career?" I said. "She's got enough people telling her what to do without you."'

As the argument escalated, Natalie left for bed.

'The last time I saw my wife she was fixing her hair in the bathroom while I was arguing with Chris,' he said. 'I saw her shut the door. She was going to bed.'

Confrontation: Wagner eventually walked off after saying: 'I have stopped and said (to you) what happened'

The former Hart To Hart star has always maintained Wood, 43, accidentally slipped and drowned as she drunkenly tried to tie up a dinghy against the boat. The couple are pictured together here aboard Splendour two weeks before she died

Natalie Woods is pictured here with Wagner at the helm and skipper Dennis Davern to the right two weeks before she died. Skipper Davern was also with the couple and Walken during the tragic trip in November 1981

Natalie Wood and Christopher Walken pictured together in sci-fi thriller Brainstorm. Walken joined Wagner and Wood's aboard Splendour to celebrate the successful completion of the the film

The yacht Splendour is pictured here moored in a harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii one day after investigators reopened the case into Natalie Wood's mysterious death. The 43-year-old actress was aboard the 60ft boat on Thanksgiving weekend in 1981 when she died after a night of heavy drinking

Ms Woods death was initially ruled an accidental drowning, caused by her slipping and falling from the dinghy when they returned to the yacht from a nearby restaurant but authorities reopened the case in 2011 after the captain of the yacht, Dennis Davern, claimed he had originally lied to the authorities

He described how he and Walken moved up to the deck as 'things were threatening to get physical' and they were calmed by the fresh sea air.

He said he waited up a little longer before going to bed – but his wife was not there.

'Yes, I blamed myself,' the actor wrote. 'If I'd been there, I could have done something. I wasn't, but ultimately, a man is responsible for his loved one.

'I would have done anything in the world to protect her. Anything. I lost a woman I loved with all my heart and I will never completely come to terms with that.'

After being shown a video of the confrontation, top body-language expert Susan Constantine told Radar that Wagner is 'concealing information' by refusing to answer Lana’s questions.

Constantine claimed Wagner referring to Natalie as 'her' when he complained about being accused of 'murdering her' was a red flag.

'In all of my investigative training, what we have found is that when a person has murdered their spouse or child, they will call them ‘her’ or ‘him,'” she explained.

'They don’t name them by their name as if to distance themselves from the person'.

The police have stated that Wagner is not a suspect in the case.

Wood burst into child stardom in 1947 playing little Susie, the girl who didn't believe in Santa Claus, in 'Miracle on 34th Street.'

Wood later starred as Maria in 1961's 'West Side Story' and was nominated for an Oscar for her role opposite James Dean in 'Rebel Without a Cause.'

Robert Wagner is pictured here with his actress wife Jill St. John in 2014. Jill St. She is an American actress perhaps best known for her role as Bond girl Tiffany Case in Diamonds Are Forever

FROM ONE OF HOLLYWOOD'S MOST SUCCESSFUL CHILD STARS TO A MYSTERIOUS YACHTING DEATH AT 43 AS CONSPIRACY THEORIES WHIRL...

From Miracle on 34th St, to Rebel Without a Cause and West Side Story, Natalie Wood was one of Hollywood's most successful child to adult stars.

Working since the age of four, she had received three Academy Award nominations before she was 25 years old and continued to star in some of Hollywood's most revered films until her sudden death at age 43.

Wood, born Natalia Nikolaevna Zacharenko to Russian immigrant parents in San Fransisco, was later given the name 'Natalie Wood' by studio executives at RKO Radio Pictures.

Her mother, Maria, had dreamed of becoming an actress or ballet dancer herself, and transferred those ambitions onto her daughter taking her to the movies as often as she could because they were unable to afford acting classes.

The actress once said: 'My mother used to tell me that the cameraman who pointed his lens out at the audience at the end of the Paramount newsreel was taking my picture.

'I'd pose and smile like he was going to make me famous or something. I believed everything my mother told me.'

After Wood was noticed during a film shoot in downtown Santa Rosa at age four, her first major break came in the form of the 1947 Christmas classic Miracle on 34th St, making her one of the top child stars in Hollywood.

She went on to star in over 20 films as a child, before blossoming into one of the most prominent Hollywood ingenues of her time.

At age 16 she co-starred with James Dean the 1955 hit in Rebel Without a Cause, about teenage rebellion.

She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, and followed this successful role with a part in John Ford's 1956 western The Searchers, which starred John Wayne.

She was then cast in the female lead for Elia Kazan's 1961 Splendor in the Grass, opposite Warren Beatty, which earned her a Best Actress Nominationa at the Academy Awards, Golden Globes and BAFTA Awards.

That same year she premiered one of her most iconic movie roles, playing Maria in the big-screen version of West Side Story.

Although the singing parts were sung by Marni Nixon, West Side Story is still regarded as one of Wood's best films. She got the chance to test our her musical talents a year later, however when she starred in the 1962 film, Gypsy.

She went on to star alongside Robert Redford in Inside Daisy Clover and This Property Is Condemned, which brought subsequent Golden Globe nominations for Best Actress.

However after the release of the films, she suffered emotionally and sought professional therapy.

It was during this time that she turned down the Faye Dunaway role in Bonnie and Clyde, one of many 'greats' she declined to play - after becoming pregnant with her first child, Natasha Gregson, in 1970, Wood went into semi-retirement.

Although Wood never took on the same iconic status of Marilyn Monroe or Audrey Hepburn, she quite possibly could have eclipsed them both if she had accepted the roles she ended up turning down during her career hiatus - these includedparts that went to Ali MacGraw in Goodbye, Columbus; Mia Farrow in The Great Gatsby; and Faye Dunaway in The Towering Inferno.

At the time of her death, Wood was filming the 1983 science fiction film Brainstorm, co-starring Christopher Walken.

It was on Thanksgiving weekend of 198 that the Oscar-nominated actress boarded a boat off the coast of Catalina Island, California with her husband Robert Wagner and co-star Mr Walken.

At the time, her death was labelled an accident after no one admitted to seeing how she entered the water on the night she drowned - which is still shrouded in mystery.

Her body was discovered by authorities at 8am on November 29, one mile away from the boat with a small inflatable boat found beached nearby.

However the case was reopened in November 2011 after the captain of the boat, Dennis Davern, told NBC News that he lied to police during the initial investigation, and that a fight between Wood and Wagner had led to her death.

In September 2012 audiotapes which had never been heard before, of her younger sister Lana Wood discussing her sister’s death, were released by CBS News.

The recordings were collected by author Suzanne Finstad as research for her 2001 book, 'Natasha: The Biography of Natalie Wood.'

Lana says on the tapes: 'He said it appeared to him as though RJ shoved her away and she went overboard. Dennis panicked and RJ said, "Leave her there. Teach her a lesson."

'Dennis said he was very panicky, that he was sitting, and RJ kept drinking and kept drinking.

'And he’d say, "Come on, let’s get her." And he said RJ was in such a foul mood, at that point, that he then shut up and was waiting for when, when are they gonna go to her rescue, until all the sound stopped.'