The former child star was at the heighth of her adult fame with three hits just behind her (Splendor in the Grass, West Side Story and Gypsy) and another opening at Christmas: Love with the Proper Stranger.
Time capsule: In the summer of '63 --let's pretend it was summer but it's Malibu you never know-- Cleopatra and Hud were playing in movie theaters. Liz Taylor, her main rival for 60s female starpower, was dazzling in eyeliner in the former. Paul Newman, one of Wood's earliest co-stars, was delivering a magnificent performance in the latter. Newman and Wood were both nominated for an Oscar the following February, Liz was not but she ended up with the only Best Picture nominee between them. Tell me again how Cleopatra is greater than Hud? AAAaaaaargh.The summer's biggest hits on the radio? The immortal "It's My Party" -Lesley Gore, "I Will Follow Him" -Little Peggy March (Hi Sister Act!) and the great and silly "If You Wanna Be Happy" -Jimmy Soul --remember when Cher, Christina Ricci and Winona Ryder danced to that in Mermaids (1990)? Good times.
Speaking of good times: President John F Kennedy and Martin Luther King were both championing civil rights and delivering famous speeches in the hot months this year.
