Product Description

In this moving memoir, Robert J. Wagner opens his heart to share the romances, the drama, and the humor of an incredible life

He grew up in Bel Air next door to a golf course that changed his life. As a young boy, he saw a foursome playing one morning featuring none other than Fred Astaire, Clark Gable, Randolph Scott, and Cary Grant. Seeing these giants of the silver screen awed him and fueled his dreams of becoming a movie star. Battling a revolving door of boarding schools and a father who wanted him to forget Hollywood and join the family business, sixteen-year-old Wagner started like any naïve kid would—walking along Sunset Boulevard, hoping that a producer or director would notice him.

Under the mentorship of stars like Spencer Tracy, he would become a salaried actor in Hollywood's studio system among other hot actors of the moment such as his friends Rock Hudson and Tony Curtis. Working with studio mogul Darryl Zanuck, Wagner began to appear in a number of films alongside the most beautiful starlets—but his first love was Barbara Stanwyck, an actress twice his age. As his career blossomed, and after he separated from Stanwyck, he met the woman who would change his life forever, Natalie Wood. They fell instantly and deeply in love and stayed together until the stress of their careers—hers marching upward, his inexplicably deflating—drove them to divorce.

Trying to forget the pain, he made more movies and spent his time in Europe with the likes of Steve McQueen, Sophia Loren, Peter Sellers, Laurence Olivier, David Niven, Liz Taylor, and Joan Collins. He would meet and marry the beautiful former model and actress Marion Marshall. Together they had a daughter and made their way back to America, where he found himself at the beginning of a new era in Hollywood—the blossoming of television. Lew Wasserman and later Aaron Spelling would work with Wagner as he produced and starred in some of the most successful programs in history.

Despite his newfound success, his marriage to Marion fell apart. He looked no further than Natalie Wood, for whom he still pined. To the world's surprise, they fell in love all over again, this time more deeply and with maturity. As she settled into a domestic life, raising their own daughter, Courtney, as well as their children from previous marriages, Wagner became the sole provider, reaping the riches of television success. Their life together was cut tragically short, though, when Wood died after falling from their yacht.

For the first time, Wagner writes about that tremendously painful time. After a serious bout with depression, he finally resurfaced and eventually married Jill St. John, who helped keep his family and his fractured heart together.

With color photographs and never-before-told stories, this is a quintessentially American story of one of the great sons of Hollywood.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #82657 in Books
• Published on: 2008-10-01
• Released on: 2008-09-23
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 336 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780061373312
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
Actor and producer Wagner begins this engaging memoir by recalling his childhood fascination with movies and the Hollywood community. Determined to become a part of that world, in 1942, at age 12, he worked as a golf caddy, struggling to make contact with those who could help him. As an 18-year-old Fox contract player, he got a foothold with minor roles: I wasn't very good in this period, but I was diligent. Soon he scored with Prince Valiant in 1954, and A Kiss Before Dying, thus beginning a six-decade career in theater, television series and more than 100 movies. His rule of thumb: Find smart people and listen to them. Along the way, he realized friends and family were equally as important as show business, and he writes with fondness and humor about his close friendships with David Niven and others while painting a backdrop of Hollywood in transition. As for the women in Wagner's life, he details one-night stands, his four-year affair with Barbara Stanwyck (who was twice his age) and his four marriages (twice to Natalie Wood). His love for Wood threads throughout, and his memory of her last night is chilling as he leads the reader step-by-step through her 1981 disappearance from their boat and the search for her body. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review
"Mesmerizing" (Kirkus Reviews )

"Pieces of My Heart is a treasure. . . . Wagner's portrait of [Natalie] Wood is adoring and poignant. . . . With admirable strength and honest self-awareness, Wagner makes plain that there's much more to him than his handsome face." (Washington Post )

"Engaging" (Publishers Weekly )

About the Author

Robert J. Wagner has been active in Hollywood for more than five decades and has starred in such films as A Kiss Before Dying, The Longest Day, The Pink Panther, and, most recently, the Austin Powers movies. On television, Wagner also starred in three long-running series, It Takes a Thief (with Fred Astaire), Switch (with Eddie Albert and Sharon Gless), and Hart to Hart (with Stefanie Powers). He is currently featured on Two and a Half Men. Wagner is married to actress Jill St. John and lives in Los Angeles.

Customer Reviews

Oh, RJ -- be still my heart.
I initially purchased Robert Wagner's autobiography because his late wife, Natalie Wood, is my favorite movie star. I wanted more insight into her personality. The book does have quite a bit about his two marriages with Natalie, and about the fading studio system in Hollywood in the fifties which brought them together. It also chronicles the devastation brought on by her untimely death by drowning. But this book is a surprisingly compelling portrait of a handsome, charismatic, approachable leading man who has been in the limelight for most of his life.

I really didn't know much about Robert Wagner when I started reading this book. I had seen most of his movies, and I liked his old television series "Hart to Hart" with Stefanie Powers. But I knew nothing of his personal life, or about his background. The depiction of his journey from young rebel to solid leading man to Hollywood icon is told here with great charm and in-depth self-examination.

Of course the big surprise is the revelation of his early romance with the much older Barbara Stanwyck when Wagner was first starting off in Hollywood -- she was twice his age and the relationship lasted four years! But there is fascinating information all through the book about Wagner's love affairs, his co-stars and his friendships with other Hollywood legends. He is especially lovely when writing about his current wife, Jill St. John, herself a sex symbol and Bond girl, who helped him get over Natalie Wood's death. I also like that he writes warmly about his close relationship with his children.

I recommend this book highly to film buffs and those who enjoy movie star biographies and memoirs. Robert Wagner comes across as a wonderful man, and one who is still sexy as all get-out.

UPDATE: This memoir mentions that Wagner and Wood travelled to London in 1976 to do Tennessee Williams' "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" for Laurence Olivier. Natalie Wood played Maggie, Wagner played Brick and Olivier played Big Daddy. Wagner calls the production his "professional high point."

I just discovered that the production, along with four other plays directed by Olivier, is available on DVD in a collection called Laurence Olivier Presents. So for Natalie Wood fans who are longing to see her in something new, or for Wagner fans who would like to see him in a truly pithy dramatic role, here's your chance.

An inside view from an insider
What a worthwhile book! Mr. Wagner has mentally stored a mountain-full of memories that he now shares with us. Wonderful details spanning many years give insight and humanity to people who, for many of us, have always seemed to be on another planet. There are surprises, for sure. I came away from the book "liking" most of these folks, and Mr. Wagner's love and respect for his cohorts is obvious. For those few for which he held disdain, it was for very good reasons. The fame and fortune gleaned from a lifetime in the film business do not seem to be his most treasured prizes at all -- but rather the friendships he amassed.

I found the workings of the Hollywood studio system as well as his transition to television -- and the differences between the two, to be quite interesting. He certainly was well established in both arenas.

The telling of his life story indicates to me that Mr. Wagner is a man of principle, a man with admirable values and a man of deep emotion. I am definitely not star struck, a groupie, or an autograph collector. But I think I would just like to be Robert Wagner's next door neighbor.

I encourage you to read this book. It's the old "I couldn't put it down" thing.

So readable and genuine
I had to give this a 5 star because it seemed so honest and genuinely
moving. At the end of the book, I have to say I LIKED Robert Wagner.
I think people he calls a friend are very lucky indeed. He seems to have
real values. Anyone who likes "star" bios will certainly not be disappointed with this book.