Robert Wagner
Encyclopedia
Robert John Wagner is an American actor of stage, screen, and television.

A veteran of many films in the 1950s and 1960s, Wagner gained prominence in three American television series that spanned three decades: It Takes a Thief (1968–70), Switch
Switch (TV series)
Switch is an American action-adventure, tongue-in-cheek detective series starring Eddie Albert and Robert Wagner, who worked as private eyes, for a deceptive sting operation...

 (1975–78), and Hart to Hart
Hart to Hart
Hart to Hart is an American television series, starring Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers as Jonathan and Jennifer Hart, a wealthy couple who also moonlighted as amateur detectives. The series was created by writer Sidney Sheldon and produced by Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg...

 (1979–84). In movies, Wagner is known for his role as Number Two
Number 2 (Austin Powers)
Number 2 is a fictional character in the Austin Powers franchise. He is played by Robert Wagner in all three movies, while his younger self is played by Rob Lowe in The Spy Who Shagged Me. He briefly appears as a teenager in a flashback in Austin Powers in Goldmember, portrayed by Evan Farmer...

 in the Austin Powers films
Austin Powers (film series)
The Austin Powers series is a series of action-comedy films written by and starring Mike Myers as the title character, directed by Jay Roach and distributed by New Line Cinema...

 (1997, 1999, 2002). He also had a recurring role as Teddy Leopold on the TV sitcom Two and a Half Men
Two and a Half Men
Two and a Half Men is an American television sitcom that premiered on CBS on September 22, 2003. Starring Charlie Sheen, Jon Cryer, and Angus T. Jones, the show was originally about a hedonistic jingle writer, Charlie Harper; his uptight brother, Alan; and Alan's growing son, Jake...

.

Wagner's autobiography, Pieces of My Heart: A Life, written with author Scott Eyman
Scott Eyman
Scott Eyman is an American author and book editor of the Palm Beach Post and contributor for The New York Observer. His books specialize in the Golden Age of Hollywood. He is the author of Empire of Dreams: The Epic Life of Cecil B. DeMille, , Louis B...

, was published on September 23, 2008.

Early life and career

Wagner was born in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Hazel Alvera (née Boe), a telephone operator, and Robert John Wagner, a traveling salesman who worked for the Ford Motor Company. His paternal grandparents were born in Germany. Wagner made his film debut in The Happy Years (1950). He was signed by agent Henry Willson
Henry Willson
Henry Willson was an American Hollywood talent agent who played a large role in popularizing the beefcake craze of the 1950s. He was known for his stable of young, attractive clients, including Rock Hudson, Tab Hunter, Robert Wagner, Nick Adams, Guy Madison, Troy Donahue, Rory Calhoun, Clint...

 and put under contract with 20th Century-Fox, where he gained attention with a small but showy part as a shellshocked soldier in With a Song in My Heart
With a Song in My Heart (film)
With a Song in My Heart is a 1952 biographical film which tells the story of actress and singer Jane Froman, who was crippled by an airplane crash on February 22, 1943, when the Boeing 314 Pan American Clipper flying boat she was on suffered a crash landing in the Tagus River near Lisbon, Portugal....

 (1952). This led to star roles in a series of films including Beneath the 12-Mile Reef
Beneath the 12-Mile Reef
Beneath the 12-Mile Reef is a 1953 American adventure film directed by Robert D. Webb. The screenplay by A. I. Bezzerides was inspired by Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare...

 (1953) and Prince Valiant
Prince Valiant (1954 film)
Prince Valiant is a 1954 adventure film in Technicolor and Cinemascope, based on the comic strip of the same name by Hal Foster. A young man seeks to join the Knights of the Round Table in order to restore his father to his own kingship, and uncovers a plot against King Arthur.-Plot summary:The...

 (1954), and White Feather
White Feather (1955 film)
White Feather is a 1955 Technicolor western film directed by Robert D. Webb and starring Robert Wagner. The movie was filmed in Durango, Mexico. The story is based in fact, however, great artistic license is used and none of the characters are real....

 (1955, with Debra Paget
Debra Paget
Debra Paget is an American actress and entertainer who rose to prominence in the 1950s and early 1960s in a variety of feature films including Cecil B. DeMille's epic The Ten Commandments and Love Me Tender, the film début of Elvis Presley.-Early life and career:Paget was born in Denver, Colorado...

 and Jeffrey Hunter
Jeffrey Hunter
Jeffrey Hunter was an American film and television actor. His most famous roles are as Jesus in the film King of Kings, as Martin Pawley in The Searchers, and as Capt...

), A Kiss Before Dying
A Kiss Before Dying (1956 film)
A Kiss Before Dying is a 1956 American color film noir, directed by Gerd Oswald. The screenplay was written by Lawrence Roman, based on Ira Levin's 1953 novel of the same name, which won the 1954 Edgar Award for "Best First Novel." The drama stars Robert Wagner, Jeffrey Hunter, Virginia Leith,...

 (1956, a rare villainous role) and Between Heaven and Hell
Between Heaven and Hell (film)
Between Heaven and Hell is a 1956 20th Century Fox Cinemascope colour war film based on the novel The Day the Century Ended by Francis Gwaltney that the film follows closely...

 (1956).

Wagner appeared with veteran actor Clifton Webb
Clifton Webb
Clifton Webb was an American actor, dancer, and singer known for his Oscar-nominated roles in such films as Laura, The Razor's Edge, and Sitting Pretty...

 in Stars and Stripes Forever
Stars and Stripes Forever (film)
Stars and Stripes Forever is a 1952 American biographical film about late 19th/early 20th Century composer John Philip Sousa, played by Clifton Webb...

 (1952) and Titanic
Titanic (1953 film)
Titanic is a 1953 American drama film directed by Jean Negulesco. Its plot centers on an estranged couple sailing on the maiden voyage of the , which took place in April 1912.-Plot:...

 (1953). Wagner starred opposite Steve McQueen
Steve McQueen
Terrence Steven "Steve" McQueen was an American movie actor. He was nicknamed "The King of Cool." His "anti-hero" persona, which he developed at the height of the Vietnam counterculture, made him one of the top box-office draws of the 1960s and 1970s. McQueen received an Academy Award nomination...

 in The War Lover
The War Lover
The War Lover is a 1962 British black-and-white war film directed by Philip Leacock and written by Howard Koch loosely based on the 1959 novel, The War Lover by John Hersey, altering the names of characters and events but retaining its basic framework...

 (1962). Roles soon followed in The Condemned of Altona
The Condemned of Altona
The Condemned of Altona is a play written by Jean-Paul Sartre, known in Great Britain as Loser Wins. It was first produced in 1959 at the Théâtre de la Renaissance in Paris. It was one of the last plays Sartre wrote, followed only by his adaptation of Euripides' The Trojan Women...

 and The Pink Panther
The Pink Panther (1963 film)
The Pink Panther is a 1963 American comedy film directed by Blake Edwards and co-written by Edwards and Maurice Richlin, starring David Niven, Peter Sellers, Robert Wagner, Capucine, and Claudia Cardinale...

.

Career rise

In 1967, Wagner signed with Universal Studios
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....

. In 1968, Lew Wasserman
Lew Wasserman
Lewis Robert "Lew" Wasserman was an American talent agent and studio executive, sometimes credited with creating and later taking apart the studio system in a career spanning more than six decades...

 convinced Wagner to make his television series debut in It Takes a Thief. While the success of The Pink Panther and Harper began Wagner's comeback, the successful two and a half seasons of his first TV series completed it. In this series, he acted with Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire was an American film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer and actor. His stage and subsequent film career spanned a total of 76 years, during which he made 31 musical films. He was named the fifth Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute...

, who played his father. Wagner was a long-time friend of Astaire's, having gone to school with Astaire's eldest son, Peter. Wagner was suggested to play James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...

 after On Her Majesty's Secret Service
On Her Majesty's Secret Service (film)
On Her Majesty's Secret Service is the sixth spy film in the James Bond series, based on the 1963 novel of the same name by Ian Fleming. Following the decision of Sean Connery to retire from the role after You Only Live Twice, Eon Productions selected an unknown actor and model, George Lazenby...

 was released.

In 1972, he produced and cast himself opposite Bette Davis
Bette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...

 in the television movie Madame Sin
Madame Sin
Madame Sin is a 1972 British thriller film directed by David Greene and starring Bette Davis, Robert Wagner, Denholm Elliot and Gordon Jackson. The screenplay was written by Greene and Barry Oringer.-Plot summary:...

, which was released in foreign markets as a feature film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...

. and was a regular in the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

/Universal World War II prisoner-of-war drama Colditz
Colditz (TV series)
Colditz is a British television series co-produced by the BBC and Universal Studios and screened between 1972 and 1974.The series deals with Allied prisoners of war imprisoned at the supposedly escape-proof Colditz Castle when designated Oflag IV-C during World War II, and their many attempts to...

 until its end in 1974. He reunited with McQueen, along with Paul Newman
Paul Newman
Paul Leonard Newman was an American actor, film director, entrepreneur, humanitarian, professional racing driver and auto racing enthusiast...

 and Faye Dunaway
Faye Dunaway
Faye Dunaway is an American actress.Dunaway won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Network after receiving previous nominations for the critically acclaimed films Bonnie and Clyde and Chinatown...

, in the disaster film
Disaster film
A disaster film is a film genre that has an impending or ongoing disaster as its subject...

 The Towering Inferno
The Towering Inferno
The Towering Inferno is a 1974 American action disaster film produced by Irwin Allen featuring an all-star cast led by Steve McQueen and Paul Newman.A co-production between Twentieth Century-Fox and Warner Bros...

 released in the same year.

By the mid-1970s, Wagner's television career was at its peak with the television series Switch
Switch (TV series)
Switch is an American action-adventure, tongue-in-cheek detective series starring Eddie Albert and Robert Wagner, who worked as private eyes, for a deceptive sting operation...

 opposite Eddie Albert
Eddie Albert
Edward Albert Heimberger , known professionally as Eddie Albert, was an American actor and activist. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1954 for his performance in Roman Holiday, and in 1973 for The Heartbreak Kid.Other well-known screen roles of his include Bing...

, after re-signing a contract with Universal Studios in 1974. Before Switch, Albert was a childhood hero of Wagner's, after he watched the movie Brother Rat
Brother Rat
Brother Rat is a 1938 film about cadets at Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia, directed by William Keighley and starring Priscilla Lane and Wayne Morris....

 along with a few others. The friendship started in the early 1960s, where he also co-starred in a couple of Albert's movies. After the series' end, the two remained friends until Albert's death on May 26, 2005. Wagner spoke at his funeral, and gave a testimonial about his longtime friendship with him.

In part payment for starring together in the Aaron Spelling
Aaron Spelling
Aaron Spelling was an American film and television producer. As of 2009, Spelling's eponymous production company Spelling Television holds the record as the most prolific television writer, with 218 producer and executive producer credits...

 and Leonard Goldberg
Leonard Goldberg
Leonard J. Goldberg is an American film producer and television producer. He has his own production company, Mandy Films. He served as head of programming for ABC, and was president of 20th Century Fox...

 production of the TV movie The Affair, Wagner and Natalie Wood
Natalie Wood
Natalie Wood, born Natalia Nikolaevna Zacharenko was an American film and television actress. After first working in films as a child, Wood became a successful Hollywood star as a young adult, receiving three Academy Award nominations before she was 25 years old.Wood began acting in movies at the...

 were given a share in three TV series that the producers were developing for ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

. Only one reached the screen, the very successful TV series Charlie's Angels
Charlie's Angels
Charlie's Angels is a television series about three women who work for a private investigation agency, and is one of the first shows to showcase women in roles traditionally reserved for men...

, for which Wagner and Wood had a 50% share, though Wagner was to spend many years in court arguing with Spelling and Goldberg over what was defined as profit.

Wagner and Wood acted with Sir Laurence Olivier in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is a play by Tennessee Williams. One of Williams's best-known works and his personal favorite, the play won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1955...

 (as part of Olivier's UK television series Laurence Olivier Presents
Laurence Olivier Presents
Laurence Olivier Presents is a British television series made by Granada Television which ran from 1976 to 1978.The plays, with the exception of Hindle Wakes, all starred Laurence Olivier. Some of the plays were based on productions staged at the National Theatre during the period when Olivier was...

). Wood also made a small cameo appearance in the pilot episode of Wagner's own television series, Hart to Hart
Hart to Hart
Hart to Hart is an American television series, starring Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers as Jonathan and Jennifer Hart, a wealthy couple who also moonlighted as amateur detectives. The series was created by writer Sidney Sheldon and produced by Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg...

.

His third successful series was Hart to Hart
Hart to Hart
Hart to Hart is an American television series, starring Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers as Jonathan and Jennifer Hart, a wealthy couple who also moonlighted as amateur detectives. The series was created by writer Sidney Sheldon and produced by Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg...

, which co-starred Stefanie Powers
Stefanie Powers
Stefanie Powers is an American actress best known for her role as Jennifer Hart in the 1980s television series Hart to Hart.-Early life:...

. Before those roles, Wagner also made guest appearances in the pilot episode of The Streets of San Francisco
The Streets of San Francisco
The Streets of San Francisco is a 1970s television police drama filmed on location in San Francisco, California, and produced by Quinn Martin Productions, with the first season produced in association with Warner Bros...

. He would later be nominated for an Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...

 for Best TV Actor for his performance in It Takes a Thief and for four Golden Globe awards for his role as Jonathan Hart in Hart to Hart
Hart to Hart
Hart to Hart is an American television series, starring Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers as Jonathan and Jennifer Hart, a wealthy couple who also moonlighted as amateur detectives. The series was created by writer Sidney Sheldon and produced by Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg...

.

Return to film and television

Wagner's film career received a revival after his role in the Austin Powers series of spy spoofs starring Mike Myers
Mike Myers (actor)
Michael John "Mike" Myers is a Canadian actor, comedian, screenwriter, and film producer of British parentage...

. Wagner played Dr. Evil
Dr. Evil
Dr. Evil is a fictional character, played by Mike Myers in the Austin Powers film series. He is the antagonist of the movies, and Austin Powers' nemesis. He is a parody of James Bond villains, primarily Donald Pleasence's Ernst Stavro Blofeld . Dr...

's henchman Number 2
Number 2 (Austin Powers)
Number 2 is a fictional character in the Austin Powers franchise. He is played by Robert Wagner in all three movies, while his younger self is played by Rob Lowe in The Spy Who Shagged Me. He briefly appears as a teenager in a flashback in Austin Powers in Goldmember, portrayed by Evan Farmer...

 in all three films: Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery is a 1997 American science fiction/action-comedy film and the first film of the Austin Powers series. It was directed by Jay Roach and written by Mike Myers who also stars in the title role. Myers also plays Dr. Evil, Austin Powers' arch-enemy...

 (1997), Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, released in 1999, is the second film in the Austin Powers series that began with 1997's Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery and continued with Austin Powers in Goldmember. The film was directed by Jay Roach, co-written by Mike Myers and screenwriter...

 (1999) and Austin Powers in Goldmember
Austin Powers in Goldmember
Austin Powers in Goldmember is a 2002 American spy comedy film and the third installment of the Austin Powers series starring Mike Myers in the title role. The movie was directed by Jay Roach, and co-written by Mike Myers and Michael McCullers. Myers also plays the roles of Dr. Evil, Goldmember,...

 (2002).

He also became the host of Fox Movie Channel
Fox Movie Channel
The Fox Movie Channel is a channel which shows movies uncut and commercial-free.-Overview:Movie content consists mainly of selections from 20th Century Fox's library of releases through the 1990s and movies produced exclusively for television. Widescreen versions are shown whenever available....

's Hour of Stars, featuring original television episodes of The 20th Century-Fox Hour (1955), a series which Wagner had appeared on in his early days with the studio.

In 2005, Wagner became the television spokesman for the Senior Lending Network, a reverse mortgage
Reverse mortgage
A remortgage is a form of equity release available in the United States. It is a loan available to seniors aged 62 or older, under a Federal program administered by HUD. It enables eligible homeowners to access a portion of their equity...

 lender and in 2010 began as a spokesman for the Guardian First Funding Group, also a reverse mortgage lender. As of June 2011, Guardian First Funding was acquired by Urban Financial Group, who continue to use Mr. Wagner as their spokesperson.

In 2007, Wagner had a role in the BBC/AMC series Hustle
Hustle (TV series)
Hustle is a British television drama series made by Kudos Film and Television for BBC One in the United Kingdom. Created by Tony Jordan and first broadcast in 2004, the series follows a group of con artists who specialise in "long cons" – extended deceptions which require greater commitment, but...

. In season four's premiere, Wagner played a crooked Texan being taken for half a million dollars. As Wagner is considered "a suave icon of American caper television, including It Takes a Thief and Hart to Hart", Robert Glenister
Robert Glenister
Robert Lewis Glenister is a British actor known for his roles as con man Ash "Three Socks" Morgan in the British TV series Hustle, and Nicholas Blake in the BBC spy drama Spooks.-Career:...

 (Hustles fixer
Confidence trick
A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group by gaining their confidence. A confidence artist is an individual working alone or in concert with others who exploits characteristics of the human psyche such as dishonesty and honesty, vanity, compassion, credulity, irresponsibility,...

, Ash Morgan
Ashley Morgan (Hustle)
Ashley Morgan is one of the five lead characters in the popular BBC television series Hustle. He is played by Robert Glenister.Ashley Morgan, known simply as Ash to his own crew, and “Three Socks” Morgan to the wider grifting circle, is a seasoned grifter, and the team's "fixer"...

) commented that "to have one of the icons of that period involved is a great bonus for all of us".

Wagner also played the pivotal role of President James Garfield
James Garfield
James Abram Garfield served as the 20th President of the United States, after completing nine consecutive terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. Garfield's accomplishments as President included a controversial resurgence of Presidential authority above Senatorial courtesy in executive...

 in the comedy/horror film Netherbeast Incorporated
Netherbeast Incorporated
Netherbeast Incorporated is an independent film directed by Dean Ronalds and written by Bruce Dellis. It is an undead office comedy concerning a telephone company in Arizona staffed entirely by flesh-eating, vampire-like employees who refer to themselves as "Netherfolk." Historical figures such as...

 (2007). The role was written with Wagner in mind. He had a recurring role of a rich suitor to the main characters' mother on the sitcom Two and a Half Men
Two and a Half Men
Two and a Half Men is an American television sitcom that premiered on CBS on September 22, 2003. Starring Charlie Sheen, Jon Cryer, and Angus T. Jones, the show was originally about a hedonistic jingle writer, Charlie Harper; his uptight brother, Alan; and Alan's growing son, Jake...

. His most recent appearances on the show were in May 2008.

Wagner's radio and television career was recognized by the Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters on January 30, 2009, when they presented him with their Art Gilmore Career Achievement Award.

Wagner has guest-starred as Tony's father, Anthony DiNozzo Sr., in three episodes of NCIS
NCIS (TV series)
NCIS, formerly known as NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service, is an American police procedural drama television series revolving around a fictional team of special agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which conducts criminal investigations involving the U.S...

: "Flesh and Blood" (2010), "Broken Arrow" (2010), and "Sins of the Father" (2011).

Wagner was set to star as Charlie in the 2011 reboot of Charlie's Angels
Charlie's Angels (2011 TV series)
Charlie's Angels is an American reboot television series developed by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar for ABC, based upon the 1976 series of the same name created by Ivan Goff, and Ben Roberts. The series ran on ABC from September 22, 2011 to November 10, 2011.Charlie's Angels was canceled on October...

, but due to scheduling conflicts, had to exit the project.

Personal life

In his memoirs, Wagner claims to have had affairs with Yvonne de Carlo
Yvonne De Carlo
Yvonne De Carlo was a Canadian-born American actress of film and television. During her six-decade career, her most frequent appearances in film came in the 1940s and 1950s and included her best-known film roles, such as of Anna Marie in Salome Where She Danced ; Anna in Criss Cross ; Sephora the...

, Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford , born Lucille Fay LeSueur, was an American actress in film, television and theatre....

, Elizabeth Taylor
Elizabeth Taylor
Dame Elizabeth Rosemond "Liz" Taylor, DBE was a British-American actress. From her early years as a child star with MGM, she became one of the great screen actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age...

, Anita Ekberg
Anita Ekberg
Kerstin Anita Marianne Ekberg is a Swedish model, actress and cult sex symbol. She is best known for her role as Sylvia in the 1960 Federico Fellini film La Dolce Vita which features the legendary scene of her cavorting in Trevi Fountain alongside Marcello Mastroianni.-Biography:Ekberg was born in...

, Shirley Ann Field and Joan Collins
Joan Collins
Joan Henrietta Collins, OBE , is an English actress, author, and columnist. Born in Paddington and raised in Maida Vale, Collins grew up during the Second World War. At the age of nine, she made her stage debut in A Doll's House and after attending school, she was classically trained as an actress...

. He had a four-year romantic relationship with Barbara Stanwyck
Barbara Stanwyck
Barbara Stanwyck was an American actress. She was a film and television star, known during her 60-year career as a consummate and versatile professional with a strong screen presence, and a favorite of directors including Cecil B. DeMille, Fritz Lang and Frank Capra...

 after they acted together in the movie Titanic
Titanic (1953 film)
Titanic is a 1953 American drama film directed by Jean Negulesco. Its plot centers on an estranged couple sailing on the maiden voyage of the , which took place in April 1912.-Plot:...

. Because of the age difference – he was 22, she was 45 – they kept the affair secret to avoid damage to their careers.

At 27, Wagner became involved with teenage actress Natalie Wood
Natalie Wood
Natalie Wood, born Natalia Nikolaevna Zacharenko was an American film and television actress. After first working in films as a child, Wood became a successful Hollywood star as a young adult, receiving three Academy Award nominations before she was 25 years old.Wood began acting in movies at the...

 and married her on December 28, 1957. The couple soon became involved in financial troubles. At Fox, Wagner's career was slowly being overtaken by actors such as Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando, Jr. was an American movie star and political activist. "Unchallenged as the most important actor in modern American Cinema" according to the St...

 and Paul Newman
Paul Newman
Paul Leonard Newman was an American actor, film director, entrepreneur, humanitarian, professional racing driver and auto racing enthusiast...

. Wagner and Wood separated in September 1961 and divorced on April 27, 1962. Wagner, with his career stalled because of a lack of studio support, broke his studio contract with 20th Century Fox and moved to Europe in search of better film roles.

While in Europe he met an old friend, actress Marion Marshall
Marion Marshall (actress)
Marion Marshall is an American actress.Marshall's first film appearances were in the 20th Century Fox films Gentleman's Agreement and Daisy Kenyon in 1947...

. In the spring of 1963, after a brief courtship, Wagner, Marshall, and her two children from her marriage to Stanley Donen
Stanley Donen
Stanley Donen ; is an American film director and choreographer whose most celebrated works are Singin' in the Rain and On the Town, both of which he co-directed with Gene Kelly. His other noteworthy films include Royal Wedding, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Funny Face, Indiscreet, Damn...

 moved back to America. Wagner and Marshall married on July 22, 1963, in the Bronx Courthouse. Soon after, they had a daughter, Katie Wagner
Katie Wagner
Katharine "Katie" Wagner is a television personality and Hollywood reporter. She was named after actress and family friend Katharine Hepburn. Her parents are actress Marion Marshall and veteran actor Robert Wagner...

 (born May 11, 1964). The two were together for nearly nine years before they separated in late 1970. They were divorced on April 26, 1971. Wagner then had a relationship with Tina Sinatra
Tina Sinatra
Christina "Tina" Sinatra is the youngest child of Frank Sinatra and his first wife, Nancy Barbato Sinatra. Christina's parents divorced when she was three years old...

 in 1971.

Wagner kept in contact with Natalie Wood, whose short-lived marriage to Richard Gregson ended in early 1972. Wagner remarried her on July 16, 1972. Their only child, Courtney Wagner, was born on March 9, 1974. On November 29, 1981, Natalie Wood drowned near their yacht Splendour while it was moored near Catalina Island
Santa Catalina Island, California
Santa Catalina Island, often called Catalina Island, or just Catalina, is a rocky island off the coast of the U.S. state of California. The island is long and across at its greatest width. The island is located about south-southwest of Los Angeles, California. The highest point on the island is...

; also on board were Wagner and Christopher Walken
Christopher Walken
Christopher Walken is an American stage and screen actor. He has appeared in more than 100 movies and television shows, including Joe Dirt, Annie Hall, The Deer Hunter, The Prophecy trilogy, The Dogs of War, Sleepy Hollow, Brainstorm, The Dead Zone, A View to a Kill, At Close Range, King of New...

, who was co-starring with her in the motion picture Brainstorm
Brainstorm (1983 film)
Brainstorm is a 1983 science fiction film directed by Douglas Trumbull and starring Christopher Walken and Natalie Wood...

. Wagner subsequently became the legal guardian of Wood's daughter Natasha Gregson. He is estranged from Natalie Wood's sister Lana Wood
Lana Wood
Lana Wood is an American actress and producer. She was born to Russian émigré parents, Nikolai and Maria Zakharenko, and is the younger sister of the late actress Natalie Wood. Her first major role was at age 9 in the John Wayne western The Searchers. She was a regular on the soap opera Peyton Place...

, who claims Wagner refused to let her see her nieces after Natalie Wood's death. In November 2011, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is a local county law enforcement agency that serves Los Angeles County, California. It is the fourth largest local policing agency in the United States, with the New York City Police Department being the first. The second largest is the Chicago Police...

 reopened its investigation into Wood's death. Wagner is not considered a suspect.

In early 1982, Wagner began a relationship with actress Jill St. John
Jill St. John
Jill St. John is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Tiffany Case, the lead Bond girl in Diamonds Are Forever.-Early life:...

, who coincidentally was a childhood acquaintance of Natalie Wood and Wagner's Hart to Hart
Hart to Hart
Hart to Hart is an American television series, starring Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers as Jonathan and Jennifer Hart, a wealthy couple who also moonlighted as amateur detectives. The series was created by writer Sidney Sheldon and produced by Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg...

 co-star Stefanie Powers
Stefanie Powers
Stefanie Powers is an American actress best known for her role as Jennifer Hart in the 1980s television series Hart to Hart.-Early life:...

, as well as starring alongside Natalie's sister Lana Wood
Lana Wood
Lana Wood is an American actress and producer. She was born to Russian émigré parents, Nikolai and Maria Zakharenko, and is the younger sister of the late actress Natalie Wood. Her first major role was at age 9 in the John Wayne western The Searchers. She was a regular on the soap opera Peyton Place...

 in Diamonds Are Forever
Diamonds Are Forever (film)
Diamonds Are Forever is the seventh spy film in the Eon Productions James Bond series, and the sixth and final Eon Productions film to star Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film is based on Ian Fleming's 1956 novel of the same name, and is the second of four James Bond films...

. The couple had first met years earlier on a film set when St. John was a teenager. After an eight-year courtship, they were married on May 26, 1990. On September 21, 2006, he became a first time grandfather when his daughter, Katie, gave birth to a son, Riley Wagner-Lewis.

Movies

  • 1951: Halls of Montezuma
    Halls of Montezuma (film)
    Halls of Montezuma is a 1951 World War II war film starring Richard Widmark, Jack Palance and Karl Malden. The film, which is about U.S. marines fighting on a Japanese-held island, was directed by academy-award winner Lewis Milestone. It also starred Robert Wagner in his first credited screen role...

     as Pvt. Coffman
  • 1951: Let's Make It Legal
    Let's Make It Legal
    Let's Make It Legal is a 1951 comedy film made by Twentieth Century-Fox, directed by Richard Sale and produced by Robert Bassler from a screenplay by I.A.L. Diamond and F. Hugh Herbert, based on a story by Mortimer Braus entitled "My Mother-in-Law, Miriam". The music was by Cyril J...

     as Jerry Denham
  • 1952: With A Song In My Heart
    With a Song in My Heart
    With a Song in My Heart may refer to:*With a Song in My Heart , a 1952 movie biography of Jane Froman, starring Susan Hayward*""With a Song in My Heart" , a 1929 popular song by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, revived in 1948...

     as GI Paratrooper
  • 1952: Stars and Stripes Forever
    Stars and Stripes Forever (film)
    Stars and Stripes Forever is a 1952 American biographical film about late 19th/early 20th Century composer John Philip Sousa, played by Clifton Webb...

     as Willie Little
  • 1952: What Price Glory?
    What Price Glory? (1952 film)
    What Price Glory is a 1952 World War I film based on a 1924 play by Maxwell Anderson and Laurence Stallings, though it used virtually none of Anderson's dialogue. Originally intended as a musical, it was filmed as a straight comedy, directed by John Ford and released by 20th Century Fox on 22...

    ’’ as Private Lewisohn
  • 1953: Beneath the 12-Mile Reef
    Beneath the 12-Mile Reef
    Beneath the 12-Mile Reef is a 1953 American adventure film directed by Robert D. Webb. The screenplay by A. I. Bezzerides was inspired by Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare...

     as Tony Petrakis
  • 1953: Titanic
    Titanic (1953 film)
    Titanic is a 1953 American drama film directed by Jean Negulesco. Its plot centers on an estranged couple sailing on the maiden voyage of the , which took place in April 1912.-Plot:...

     as Gifford "Giff" Rogers
  • 1954: Broken Lance
    Broken Lance
    Broken Lance is a 1954 Western film made by Twentieth Century-Fox, directed by Edward Dmytryk and produced by Sol C. Siegel. The movie stars Spencer Tracy and features Katy Jurado, Richard Widmark, Robert Wagner, Jean Peters, Eduard Franz, Hugh O'Brian and Earl Holliman.Shot in color and...

     as Joe Devereaux
  • 1954: Prince Valiant
    Prince Valiant (1954 film)
    Prince Valiant is a 1954 adventure film in Technicolor and Cinemascope, based on the comic strip of the same name by Hal Foster. A young man seeks to join the Knights of the Round Table in order to restore his father to his own kingship, and uncovers a plot against King Arthur.-Plot summary:The...

     as Prince Valiant
  • 1955: White Feather
    White Feather (1955 film)
    White Feather is a 1955 Technicolor western film directed by Robert D. Webb and starring Robert Wagner. The movie was filmed in Durango, Mexico. The story is based in fact, however, great artistic license is used and none of the characters are real....

      as Josh Tanner
  • 1956: A Kiss Before Dying
    A Kiss Before Dying (1956 film)
    A Kiss Before Dying is a 1956 American color film noir, directed by Gerd Oswald. The screenplay was written by Lawrence Roman, based on Ira Levin's 1953 novel of the same name, which won the 1954 Edgar Award for "Best First Novel." The drama stars Robert Wagner, Jeffrey Hunter, Virginia Leith,...

      as Bud Corliss
  • 1956: Between Heaven and Hell
    Between Heaven and Hell (film)
    Between Heaven and Hell is a 1956 20th Century Fox Cinemascope colour war film based on the novel The Day the Century Ended by Francis Gwaltney that the film follows closely...

     as Sam Gifford
  • 1956: The Mountain
    The Mountain (1956 film)
    The Mountain is a 1956 dramatic film starring Spencer Tracy and Robert Wagner. The supporting cast included Claire Trevor, Richard Arlen, William Demarest, and Anna Kashfi...

     as Christopher Teller
  • 1957: The True Story of Jesse James, directed by Nicholas Ray
    Nicholas Ray
    Nicholas Ray was an American film director best known for the movie Rebel Without a Cause....

     as Jesse James
    Jesse James
    Jesse Woodson James was an American outlaw, gang leader, bank robber, train robber, and murderer from the state of Missouri and the most famous member of the James-Younger Gang. He also faked his own death and was known as J.M James. Already a celebrity when he was alive, he became a legendary...

  • 1958: The Hunters as Lt. Pell
  • 1958: In Love and War
    In Love and War (1958 film)
    In Love and War is a 1958 Cinemascope film based on a novel called The Big War by Anton Myrer and directed by Philip Dunne.-Plot summary:The film traces the progress of three Marines on shore leave during WWII, in the Pacific...

     as Frank "Frankie" O'Neill
  • 1958: Mardi Gras (cameo)
  • 1959: Say One for Me
    Say One for Me
    Say One For Me is a film directed by Frank Tashlin and starring Bing Crosby and Debbie Reynolds.-Cast:*Bing Crosby as Father Conroy*Debbie Reynolds as Holly LeMaise aka Conroy*Robert Wagner as Tony Vincent*Ray Walston as Phil Stanley...

     as Tony Vincent
  • 1960: All the Fine Young Cannibals
    All the Fine Young Cannibals
    All The Fine Young Cannibals is a 1960 film directed by Michael Anderson, based on the novel by Rosamond Marshall starring Robert Wagner, Natalie Wood, Susan Kohner, George Hamilton, and Pearl Bailey....

     as Chad Bixby (based on Chet Baker
    Chet Baker
    Chesney Henry "Chet" Baker, Jr. was an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist and singer.Though his music earned him a large following , Baker's popularity was due in part to his "matinee idol-beauty" and "well-publicized drug habit."He died in 1988 in Amsterdam, the...

    )
  • 1962: The War Lover
    The War Lover
    The War Lover is a 1962 British black-and-white war film directed by Philip Leacock and written by Howard Koch loosely based on the 1959 novel, The War Lover by John Hersey, altering the names of characters and events but retaining its basic framework...

     as Lt Ed Boland
  • 1963: The Pink Panther
    The Pink Panther (1963 film)
    The Pink Panther is a 1963 American comedy film directed by Blake Edwards and co-written by Edwards and Maurice Richlin, starring David Niven, Peter Sellers, Robert Wagner, Capucine, and Claudia Cardinale...

     as George Lytton
  • 1966: Harper
    Harper (film)
    Harper is a 1966 film written by William Goldman from a novel by Ross Macdonald. The movie starred Paul Newman as the eponymous Lew Harper . The original music score was composed by Johnny Mandel. Goldman received a 1967 Edgar Award for Best Motion Picture Screenplay...

     as Allan Taggert
  • 1967: Banning
    Banning (film)
    Banning is 1967 film directed by Ron Winston and starring Robert Wagner, Jill St. John, Gene Hackman, Guy Stockwell and James Farentino. Quincy Jones and Bob Russell were nominated for an Academy Award for the song, "The Eyes of Love."-Plot:...

     as Mike Banning
  • 1969: Winning
    Winning
    Winning is a 1969 American motion picture starring Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. A number of racecar drivers and people associated with racing appear in the film, including Bobby Unser, Tony Hulman, Bobby Grim, Dan Gurney, Roger McCluskey, and Bruce Walkup.-Plot summary:The film centers on...

     as Luther Erding
  • 1974: The Towering Inferno
    The Towering Inferno
    The Towering Inferno is a 1974 American action disaster film produced by Irwin Allen featuring an all-star cast led by Steve McQueen and Paul Newman.A co-production between Twentieth Century-Fox and Warner Bros...

     as Dan Bigelow
  • 1976: Laurence Olivier Presents
    Laurence Olivier Presents
    Laurence Olivier Presents is a British television series made by Granada Television which ran from 1976 to 1978.The plays, with the exception of Hindle Wakes, all starred Laurence Olivier. Some of the plays were based on productions staged at the National Theatre during the period when Olivier was...

    : Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
    Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
    Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is a play by Tennessee Williams. One of Williams's best-known works and his personal favorite, the play won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1955...

     as Brick Pollitt (with then wife Natalie Wood
    Natalie Wood
    Natalie Wood, born Natalia Nikolaevna Zacharenko was an American film and television actress. After first working in films as a child, Wood became a successful Hollywood star as a young adult, receiving three Academy Award nominations before she was 25 years old.Wood began acting in movies at the...

     and Laurence Olivier
    Laurence Olivier
    Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...

    )
  • 1976: Midway
    Midway (film)
    Midway is a 1976 war film directed by Jack Smight and produced byWalter Mirisch from a screenplay by Donald S. Sanford. The music score was by John Williams and the cinematography by Harry Stradling, Jr...

     as Lieutenant Commander
    Lieutenant Commander
    Lieutenant Commander is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander...

     Ernest L. Blake
  • 1979: The Concorde ... Airport '79 as Kevin Harrison
  • 1983: Curse of the Pink Panther
    Curse of the Pink Panther
    Curse of the Pink Panther is a 1983 comedy film, the eighth installment of the The Pink Panther series of films started by Blake Edwards in the early 1960s....

     as George Lytton
  • 1987: Love Among Thieves
    Love Among Thieves
    Love Among Thieves is a made-for-television romantic-adventure motion picture that was produced by the ABC network in 1987.The film starred Audrey Hepburn as the Baroness and concert pianist Caroline DuLac, who steals three jewel-encrusted Fabergé eggs from a San Francisco museum. The eggs were...

     as Mike Chambers
  • 1988: Windmills of the Gods
    Windmills of the Gods
    Windmills of the Gods is a 1987 thriller novel by American writer Sidney Sheldon.-Plot summary:Mary Ashley, a professor at Kansas State University, is offered an ambassadorship by Paul Ellison, the US president. She rejects the offer because her husband, Dr. Edward Ashley, does not want to leave...

     as Mike Slade
  • 1991: Delirious
    Delirious (film)
    Delirious is a romantic comedy film starring John Candy, Mariel Hemingway, Emma Samms and Raymond Burr . It was released in 1991, but it did not achieve commercial success at the box offices.-Plot:...

     as Jack Gates (uncredited)
  • 1993: Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story
    Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story
    Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story is a 1993 American semi fictionalized biographical martial arts action film telling the story of actor and martial arts expert Bruce Lee, starring Jason Scott Lee as Bruce Lee, Lauren Holly and Robert Wagner...

     as Bill Krieger
  • 1997, 1999, 2002: the Austin Powers
    Austin Powers (film series)
    The Austin Powers series is a series of action-comedy films written by and starring Mike Myers as the title character, directed by Jay Roach and distributed by New Line Cinema...

     movies as Number Two
  • 1998: Wild Things
    Wild Things
    Wild Things is a 1998 erotic thriller film starring Matt Dillon, Neve Campbell, Kevin Bacon, Denise Richards, Theresa Russell and Bill Murray. It was directed by John McNaughton. In some countries the film was released as Sex Crimes...

     as Tom Baxter
  • 1999: Fatal Error as Albert Teal
  • 2001: Sol Goode
    Sol Goode
    Sol Goode is a 2001 American romantic comedy film directed by Danny Comden. The lead role of Sol Goode is played by Balthazar Getty; other cast include Katharine Towne, Jamie Kennedy, Danny Comden, and Cheri Oteri...

     as Sol's Dad
  • 2005: Man of Faith as Amos
  • 2007: Netherbeast Incorporated
    Netherbeast Incorporated
    Netherbeast Incorporated is an independent film directed by Dean Ronalds and written by Bruce Dellis. It is an undead office comedy concerning a telephone company in Arizona staffed entirely by flesh-eating, vampire-like employees who refer to themselves as "Netherfolk." Historical figures such as...

      as President James Garfield
    James Garfield
    James Abram Garfield served as the 20th President of the United States, after completing nine consecutive terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. Garfield's accomplishments as President included a controversial resurgence of Presidential authority above Senatorial courtesy in executive...

  • 2007: A Dennis the Menace Christmas as Mr. Wilson

Selected television appearances

  • 1953: Jukebox Jury
    Jukebox Jury
    Jukebox Jury was an hour-long television series hosted by disc jockey Peter Potter which aired in the 1953-54 season on the American Broadcasting Company. It was thereafter syndicated in 1959....

     as himself
  • 1963: The Eleventh Hour
    The Eleventh Hour (1962 TV series)
    The Eleventh Hour is an American medical drama about psychiatry starring Wendell Corey, Jack Ging, and Ralph Bellamy, which aired sixty-two new episodes plus selected rebroadcasts on NBC from October 3, 1962, to September 9, 1964.-Series premise:...

    , episode: "And God Created Vanity" as Kenny Walsh
  • 1968–70: It Takes a Thief as Alexander Mundy
  • 1970–71: The Name of the Game
    The Name of the Game (TV series)
    The Name of the Game is an American television series starring Tony Franciosa, Gene Barry, and Robert Stack that ran from 1968 to 1971 on NBC, totaling 76 episodes of 90 minutes. It was a pioneering wheel series, setting the stage for the likes of The Bold Ones and the NBC Mystery Movie in the 1970s...

     as David Corey
  • 1971: City Beneath the Sea as Brett Matthews (movie)
  • 1972–74: Colditz
    Colditz (TV series)
    Colditz is a British television series co-produced by the BBC and Universal Studios and screened between 1972 and 1974.The series deals with Allied prisoners of war imprisoned at the supposedly escape-proof Colditz Castle when designated Oflag IV-C during World War II, and their many attempts to...

     as Flight Lieutenant Phil Carrington
  • 1975–78: Switch
    Switch (TV series)
    Switch is an American action-adventure, tongue-in-cheek detective series starring Eddie Albert and Robert Wagner, who worked as private eyes, for a deceptive sting operation...

     as Pete T. Ryan
  • 1979–84: Hart to Hart
    Hart to Hart
    Hart to Hart is an American television series, starring Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers as Jonathan and Jennifer Hart, a wealthy couple who also moonlighted as amateur detectives. The series was created by writer Sidney Sheldon and produced by Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg...

     as Jonathan Hart
  • 1980: The Jacques Cousteau Odyssey narrator (2 episodes)
  • 1994: Parallel Lives
    Parallel Lives (film)
    Parallel Lives is a 1994 TV movie, directed by Linda Yellen. The movie resumes some actors and similar patterns of the previous Yellen's work, Chantilly Lace...

     as the sheriff
  • 1997: Seinfeld
    Seinfeld
    Seinfeld is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, lasting nine seasons, and is now in syndication. It was created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, the latter starring as a fictionalized version of himself...

    , episode: "The Yada Yada
    The Yada Yada
    "The Yada Yada" is the 153rd episode of the American NBC sitcom Seinfeld. The 19th episode of the 8th season, it aired on April 24, 1997 and was nominated for an Emmy.-Plot:...

    " as Mr. Abbot
  • 2003: Hope & Faith
    Hope & Faith
    Hope & Faith is an American sitcom that aired for three seasons on ABC from September 26, 2003, to May 2, 2006. For its first two seasons the show was part of a revived TGIF comedy block....

     as Jack Fairfield (7 episodes)
  • 2006: Las Vegas
    Las Vegas (TV series)
    Las Vegas was an American television series broadcast by NBC from September 22, 2003 to February 15, 2008. The show focuses on a team of people working at the ficticional Montecito Resort & Casino dealing with issues that arise within the working environment, ranging from valet parking and...

    , episode: "Cash Springs Eternal" as Alex Avery
  • 2006: Boston Legal
    Boston Legal
    Boston Legal is an American legal dramedy created by David E. Kelley, which was produced in association with 20th Century Fox Television for the ABC...

     as Barry Gold (2 episodes)
  • 2007: Two and a Half Men
    Two and a Half Men
    Two and a Half Men is an American television sitcom that premiered on CBS on September 22, 2003. Starring Charlie Sheen, Jon Cryer, and Angus T. Jones, the show was originally about a hedonistic jingle writer, Charlie Harper; his uptight brother, Alan; and Alan's growing son, Jake...

     as Teddy Leopold (5 episodes)
  • 2010: NCIS
    NCIS (TV series)
    NCIS, formerly known as NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service, is an American police procedural drama television series revolving around a fictional team of special agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which conducts criminal investigations involving the U.S...

     as Anthony DiNozzo Sr. (3 episodes)

External links

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