Natalie Wood Death: Christopher Walken Radio Interview a Hoax

On Friday, a news report  saying Christopher Walken had called in to Washington, D.C. sports radio station, ESPN980 to comment on the case of actress Natalie Wood's 1981 death being re-opened, quickly went viral. 

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•Natalie Wood

STORY: Natalie Wood Investigators to Examine Boat in Hawaii; Robert Wagner Not a Suspect

Only, he didn't. The station has aired a weekly segment, in which on-air personality and producer Marc Sterne impersonates the actor while providing fantasy football advice, for years. 

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Since Walken was one of the last people to see actress Natalie Wood (with whom he co-starred in the film Brainstorm) before she mysteriously died in 1981, they aired a bit where Sterne commented on the case. 

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"Everyone that listens to our station knows it's not real," executive producer Chuck Sapienza tells The Hollywood Reporter, adding that no one called to confirm before publishing the Walken story. 

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The actor, along with Wood and her husband Robert Wagner were all aboard a boat off the coast of Catalina Island in Southern California when Wood disappeared and was later found dead (her body badly bruised) in the ocean. 

PHOTOS: Hollywood's Biggest Deaths and Surprises

Sterne (as Walken)  said in the segment that he went to bed and awoke to learn of Wood's death. He claimed there was drinking and shouting on the boat and that then "there was tragedy." 

THR reported exclusively Friday that Walken, who has avoided commenting on the incident, which happened 30 years ago this weekend, has hired lawyer Mathew Rosengart, a day after the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department announced its plans to reopen the case. 

STORY: Robert Wagner Responds to Natalie Wood Investigation

The boat's captain, Dennis Davern also spoke out Friday, appearing on both the Today show and CNN. 

Investigators also held a press conference saying they planned to re-examine the boat, named Splendour, which was carrying Wood, Wagner and Walken that fateful night. 

Watch the trailer for Wood and Walken's film Brainstorm below.