life:

Hopper (lying on sofa) and Adams listen intently as Wood reads aloud from Thomas Wolfe’s The Hills Beyond in 1956. “Natalie does the majority of the reading at these soirees, but they take turns,” LIFE’s reporter wrote in notes discovered in the magazine’s archives. “Natalie says she has read every word Wolfe has ever written. They also read plays, by such authors as Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, Sidney Kingsley, Carson McCullers. Natalie’s favorite book is The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery.”

Happy Birthday, Natalie Wood.