Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Star Among Stars

WEEKEND EDITION: Sept. 28, 2003

The co-starring credits of Robert Wagner read like a who's who of Hollywood's Golden Age.

The still-youthful, 73-year-old actor has performed with such legends as Spencer Tracy, James Cagney, Bette Davis and Barbara Stanwyck during a career that has included more than 100 films and three TV series: "It Takes a Thief" (1968-70), "Switch" (1975-78) and "Hart to Hart" (1979-84).

Wagner has led a charmed life, but not one without tragedy. His wife, actress Natalie Wood, died in a drowning accident in 1981.

In 1990 Wagner, known as "R.J." to his friends, married actress Jill St. John.

Wagner was in Las Vegas recently to tape an infomercial for Asset Protection Group, a local company that specializes in helping clients protect their assets from future lawsuits and other attempts to take their money.

At the end of the session, Wagner took time to talk about a life that is straight out of the movies.

Las Vegas Sun; You are in Vegas on business. Do you visit often for pleasure?

Robert Wagner: Yeah, I do. I've been coming here for a long time. I love Las Vegas. I love everything about it. I have a great time while I'm here. Steve Wynn is a very good friend of mine. I've been involved with him and his hotels over the years. I played here in the theater. I've played a lot of golf here. I've done it all. I'm a great Vegas enthusiast.

Sun: What do you think of the changes that have taken place?

R.W.: I first started coming here with Frank Sinatra. That was a whole different era. It was the highlight of this city, I thought. I was with Frank for a long time. I gave a eulogy at his funeral. I knew him quite well. I was very, very close to him. He shared a lot of Vegas experiences with me, which was really terrific. It was the best.

Now, it's a whole different town, a much different situation. I think it's really good. I come in here and look at the skyline and I'm amazed by it. Vegas has done a lot for so many people.

Sun: You've been in films for more than 50 years. How did you get your start?

R.W.: I worked as an extra in films for a year at a time when the real idea and motivation was to become under contract to a studio -- each studio had its contract players.

I made a test and Darryl F. Zanuck signed me to 20th Century Fox for $75 a week. I was in the movies. It was the greatest.

Sun: How did your career develop from there?

R.W.: From there, they started putting me in small pictures and introducing me to the public. They had the publicity department that worked with fan mags, which were very popular at that time. I became a bobby sox idol.

There were four of us -- Rock Hudson, Tony Curtis, Tab Hunter and myself. There was a rather famous photograph of us in Life magazine on a ladder -- we were all hanging on these rungs, the bobby sox idols of that period.

Sun: How did you escape that image?

R.W.: In 1952 I did a film called "A Song in My Heart" with Susan Hayward. Zanuck said to me that it would probably be the most important career move I had ever made. I said, "How can that be, I was only on the screen for three minutes." He said, "What will happen is people will walk out of the theater and ask, 'Who was that guy?' " And that was what happened. I started getting 5,000 letters a week.

Sun: Did you have a problem coping with the sudden fame?

R.W. I coped with it great. I loved it.

Sun: A local television channel recently ran "Beneath the 12-Mile Reef," a 1953 film that co-starred some of the greats of Hollywood: Gilbert Roland, Richard Boone, J. Carrol Naish, Peter Graves and Terry Moore. You were the star. What did you think of the film?

R.W.: I liked the movie. It was a big picture for me. I was the headliner. It was actually the first CinemaScope picture ever made. "The Robe" (1953) was the one they put out as the first, but "Reef" actually was before that movie.

Sun: Who are some of your favorite actors you have worked with?

R.W. There are so many. I've worked with great people, with some great women -- Liz Taylor, Katharine Hepburn, Barbara Stanwyck, Sophia Loren. Women have been a very important facet of my career. I've worked with some really wonderful ladies.

Spencer Tracy, of course, was very influential in my career. He actually changed my career.

Sun: How so?

R.W. I did a film with him called "Broken Lance" (1954). I had a wonderful part and he liked me very much. He asked for me to do a picture with him called "The Mountain" (1956) and gave me co-star billing above the title, which moved me out of being just another contract player. It was a special thing for me. We were very close. He was like a father to me.

Sun: You've co-starred in some films that became mega-hits.

R.W.: Yeah. I was in the first "Pink Panther" movie in 1964 starring David Niven and Peter Sellers. I saw Peter bring his character (Inspector Clouseau) together. You just knew it was going to be a great picture. I did a couple of other "Panthers" after that.

Sun: And the "Austin Powers" films.

R.W.: I don't know whether Mike (Myers) is writing another or not, but if he does I'm sure I will be back as No. 2. I love that character.

That one came to me out of nowhere. That's what's great about being in this business. Then I was on "Saturday Night Live," it was my night. Mike was in the cast and he wrote a couple of skits I was in. He saw some comedic value in me, and when he wrote "Austin Powers" he wrote No. 2 for me. That opened a whole new audience for me. Now I'm sitting at a craps table and a kid comes over and taps me on the shoulder.

Sun: You've had a remarkable career.

R.W. Yes I have. I have been so fortunate. I'm so blessed to have met so many of these people. When I was 21 years old I was dying in James Cagney's arms with John Ford directing (1952's "What Price Glory").

I couldn't get over working with Jimmy Cagney and Spencer Tracy. I had been sitting there looking at them on the big screen my entire life. I have been so blessed.

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