- Born
- Birth nameRobert John Wagner
- Nicknames
- RJ
- The Brylcreem Kid
- Height5′ 11″ (1.80 m)
- R.J. Wagner was born 1930 in Detroit, the son of a steel executive. His family moved to L.A. when he was six. Always wanting to be an actor, he held a variety of jobs (including one as a golf caddy for Clark Gable) while pursuing his goal, but it was while dining with his parents at a Beverly Hills restaurant that he was discovered by a talent scout. After making his uncredited screen debut in The Happy Years (1950), Wagner was signed by 20th Century Fox, which carefully built him up toward stardom. He played romantic leads with ease, but it was not until he essayed the two-scene role of a shell-shocked war veteran in With a Song in My Heart (1952) that studio executives recognized his potential as a dramatic actor. He went on to play the title roles in Prince Valiant (1954) and The True Story of Jesse James (1957), and portrayed a cold-blooded murderer in A Kiss Before Dying (1956). In the mid-'60s, however, his film career skidded to a stop after The Pink Panther (1963). Several years of unemployment followed before Wagner made a respectable transition to television as star of the lighthearted espionage series It Takes a Thief (1968). He also starred on the police series Switch (1975), but Wagner's greatest success was opposite Stefanie Powers on the internationally popular Hart to Hart (1979), which ran from 1979 through 1984 and has since been sporadically revived in TV-movie form (another series, Lime Street (1985), was quickly canceled due to the tragic death of Wagner's young co-star, Samantha Smith). Considered one of Hollywood's nicest citizens, Robert Wagner has continued to successfully pursue a leading man career; he has also launched a latter-day stage career, touring with Stefanie Powers in the readers' theater presentation "Love Letters". He found success playing Number Two, a henchman to Dr. Evil in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997) and its sequels, and in 2007, he began playing Teddy Leopold, a recurring role on the CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men (2003). Wagner is married to Jill St. John and lives in Aspen.- IMDb Mini Biography By: A. Nonymous
- SpousesJill St. John(May 26, 1990 - present)Natalie Wood(July 16, 1972 - November 29, 1981) (her death, 1 child)Marion Marshall(July 21, 1963 - October 14, 1971) (divorced, 1 child)Natalie Wood(December 28, 1957 - April 27, 1962) (divorced)
- Children
- ParentsThelma Hazel Alverad Wagner (Boe)Robert John Wagner
- RelativesMary Wagner(Sibling)
- Often plays millionaire roles
- Rich mellifluous voice
- Is portrayed by Michael Weatherly in The Mystery of Natalie Wood (2004). He later portrayed Anthony DiNozzo Sr., the father of Weatherly's character Tony DiNozzo, on NCIS (2003).
- His wife Jill St. John, his deceased former wife Natalie Wood, and his Hart to Hart (1979) co-star Stefanie Powers attended ballet classes together as youngsters.
- After being submerged at one point in an industrial-strength foaming agent during the bathtub scene in The Pink Panther (1963), he went blind for four weeks. The studio wanted him replaced, but director Blake Edwards stuck by him and he finished the picture.
- For many years, his bungalow at Universal Studios was a stop on their tour. He was an important star at the studio with a successful run of three television series. Lucille Ball, another star with a long run of success on television had the same bungalow and tour stop before Wagner.
- His wife Jill St. John starred in the James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever (1971), which also featured his late former wife's real-life sister, Lana Wood. During a Bond girl reunion photo shoot in September 1999 for Vanity Fair magazine, an altercation occurred between Wood and St. John when photographer Annie Leibovitz asked for a picture of them together. Reportedly, St. John was so adamantly opposed to the idea that it made Wood cry. However, the couple's publicist Alan Nierob said it was he who vetoed the photo because Wagner would prefer his present wife not be shot with his ex-sister-in-law.
- Life isn't full of 'what ifs'. Only 'what is'.
- [on wife Jill St. John] She's always been magical with me.
- [on his daily routine with wife Jill St. John] We get up in the morning. I feed the birds. My wife feeds me. Together, we feed the animals.
- My wife was a Bond Girl, so I play James Bond in real life every day.
- When I can't sleep, I'll start thinking about how many shows I've done, count up the number of television shows and movies.
- The Towering Inferno (1974) - $60,000
- All the Fine Young Cannibals (1960) - $75,000
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