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Robert Wagner was born in Detroit, and his family moved to Los Angeles when he was seven. Always wanting to be an actor, he held a variety of jobs (including one as a caddy for Clark Gable while pursuing his goal, but it was while dining with his parents at a restaurant in Beverly Hils that he was "discovered" by a talent scout. He had a bit part in The Happy Years (1950) but it was a small part as a crippled soldier in the Susan Hayward film With a Song in My Heart (1952) that got him attention. His fresh, all-American looks landed him a contract with 20th Century-Fox, which put him in a succession of undemanding roles in Technicolor pictures where his looks were more important than his talent (Beneath the 12-Mile Reef (1953), Prince Valiant (1954)), but he did manage to show that he was indeed an actor of talent in several showy roles in smaller pictures (A Kiss Before Dying (1956), Between Heaven and Hell (1956)). As he became one of Fox's rising young stars, the studio, as was customary back then, set him up with a host of nubile young actresses, among them Debbie Reynolds. While the pairing didn't lead to any romance, it did lead to a lifelong friendship. In 1956 Wagner, then 26, found the love of his life, 18-year-old actress Natalie Wood. They married on December 28 1957, in Scottsdale, Arizona. Hollywood trumpeted their marriage as the most "glittering union of the 20th century". Robert (RJ to his friends) and Natalie Wood quickly moved into a 0,000 mansion on Beverly Drive in Beverly Hills. He and Natalie Wood were deeply in love and appeared to be the perfect couple, but were actually living on the edge and were strapped for cash. RJ was being overshadowed by new male leads like Marlon Brando and Paul Newman. Natalie Wood was placed on a 14-month suspension with Warner Bros. for refusing to do a movie in England.These problems led them to divorce on April 27 1962. He took the divorce hard. Trying to escape his pain he went to Europe to make the movie The Longest Day (1962). In Europe he met with his old friend Marion Marshall. They married in 1963 and had a daughter, Katie Wagner, but the marriage was short-lived. In 1968 he reluctantly went into television to star in "It Takes a Thief" (1968) (later he would say it was the right move). By 1969 he was thriving professionally, but his personal life wasn't. He was still in love with Natalie Wood and kept in touch with her. However, she had married British producer Richard Gregson and they had a daughter Natasha (later Natasha Gregson Wagner). In 1971 Natalie Wood and RJ saw each other by accident in a restaurant and suddenly the old magic was back. She divorced Richard Gregson, and RJ and Natalie Wood remarried June 16 1972, on their yacht "Splendour". In 1974 they had a daughter, Courtney Brooke. Their second marriage was full of love and happiness. They were a real family and loved raising their three daughters, Katie Wagner, Natasha Gregson Wagner and Courtney Brooke.Wagner went on to do a succession of successful television series ("Switch" (1975), "Hart to Hart" (1979)) and his professional and personal lives seemed to be right on track. Then on November 29 1981, his life was shattered by the news that Natalie Wood had fallen off of "Splendour" and drowned. He was devastated and inconsolable, but insisted on arranging a funeral to honor the love of his life. He spent the next ten years raising Natalie Wood's and his daughters alone. It was 1991 when he married Jill St. John. To this day he finds it difficult to talk about Natalie Wood's death.Wagner has since revived his career with a recurring role as the eye-patch-wearing henchman Number Two to Mike Myers' sinister Dr. Evil in the "Austin Powers" series of spy spoofs and as the host of Fox Movie Channel's "Hour of Stars" (2002), which shows recently discovered and restored episodes of the old TV anthology series "The 20th Century-Fox Hour" (1955), some of which Wagner himself had starred in. |
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