She recalled, ‘When David told me, I couldn’t speak. I don’t know how it seemed to him. I probably just seemed like I always did. But I was so stunned. It’s hard to remember everything clearly. I had become so drunk most of the time that much of it is a haze.’ On 18 November 1981 David’s sister Joyce died, aged 81. Every Christmas for many years, David had sent Joyce and Grizel generous cheques. He’d never forgotten to take care of his sisters. Now there was only he and Grizel left from the family. Two weeks later he heard the news that Natalie Wood had drowned at sea off Santa Catalina. He had remained friends with Natalie’s husband Robert Wagner, and he called Wagner every day, desperate to help him through the tragedy. He told Wagner to come to Switzerland as soon as he could. Wagner arrived with his children in a snow storm to be greeted personally by David who had organised a chalet for them to stay in. In February 1982 he sent his old friend Trubshawe a cheque for £2,000.
