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.

Customer Rating:
Summary: The Great RJ . . .
Comment: He was the young bad guy who fell off the Mountain with Spencer Tracy.
He was the young good guy who fell off the Titanic with Barbara Stanwyck.
He was the young evil guy who heaved Joanne Woodward off a high-rise in A Kiss Before Dying.
He was young thief who climbed rooftops in It Takes a Thief.
You get the idea.

What a career and life he's had. That said, since it's an autobio, it must be taken with a grain of salt. Overall he retains my admiration for his loyalty, respect and class even though he uses, GASP, curse words! Also he is honest to the point of settling a few scores in succinct sentences, which do not belabor the point. After 79 years, why walk on eggshells, especially in Hollywood.

Wagner is one of the few actors left who connect old & new Hollywood and what he has to say is interesting. Of course his take about what happened that fateful Thanksgiving weekend of 1981 was an important part of his story. That fact that he and his wife, Jill St. John, raised three healthy, normal young women out of that tragedy speaks volumes. Also his love and respect for his Donen stepsons reveals a warm and loving character.

I recommend this book for fans and for those who don't know Wagner. It is a fascinating quick trip through five decades of stardom, friendship, marriage and family.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Shame on You RJ
Comment: I purchased this book thinking RJ Wagner was a classy gent. What I got out of it was an entirely different look at who this man really is. His use of the C and D words seemed completely unnecessary as did his comments about someone named OK, and David Niven's private parts. Really, did we need to know this. I can't believe this man has three daughters and would use such degrading terms to describe men and women's anatomy. I blame myself for not opening the book before I purchased it. The F____ C____ will never work in my studio again! and I have a frozen c___k. are two of the chapter titles I might have noticed, and therefore, not wasted my hard earned cash. Another case of Hollywood having no dignity, class or respect for common decency. How silly of me!

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Heartless...
Comment: Actor Robert Wagner's memoir is a supremely one-sided affair, curdled with cuteness, ego, and apparent contempt for anyone who stands up to him. What fascinates most in this misbegotten movie star venture is what Wagner doesn't say. He goes into great detail when recounting conversations in which he himself is the patron saint of sensibility--yet, if the occasion hinges dangerously on Wagner's own jealousy, temper, and foul mouth, the interplay in the book grows increasingly static. We learn no more about wife Natalie Wood's drowning than we ever knew--a few jumbled passages and it's on to her funeral--while Wood's parents and her two sisters are mentioned only on the fly (and in ridiculing terms). Wagner has learned nothing from his bad temper. He continues to hold grudges and ostrasize people within his circle who have somehow disappointed him (as Natalie was allegedly prone to do). He skims over his movie career with blithe indifference (each of his films get a line or two, but that's all), though he takes dirty delight in gossiping about Jack Warner and many of his co-stars (it's one thing to be a nasty man, but to attribute your own manner onto other important people is beneath contempt). In the end, it is a book riddled with repeated phrases, none of which seem to have a point, and a leading man who is by turns self-enamored, self-satisfied, and richly cynical. Humility doesn't come easy for him--and his 'sentimental' side is switched on and off at whim. C-

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Never Received Purchase
Comment: My purchase was supposed to have been a Christmas present for my Oma, but I never received it. Nor did I receive an email back from the seller when I sent one over a week ago questioning the whereabouts of my order.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Last of the Hollywood Icons
Comment: Sometimes Hollywood biographies are grating. You spend so much time reading about the author's family that you begin wondering if the the book is about them or someone else. Thankfully there are those written like Robert Wagner's.

Robert Wagner, to be honest, isn't someone I would run to TCM to see him in one of his roles, but he does represent a different era of Hollywood, and he does a fine job of reflecting on that world in his book.

His brief tidbits and reminisces about Spencer Tracy, Humphrey Bogart and Frank Sinatra (among others) helps to reinforce the image of the movie-elite of the late 40s and 50s, and he shares enough to let you know he was part of that parade.

The book is well-written and an interesting read although you get a sense that his roles were easily found and success always around the corner. For those always wanting to know,he certainly pours out his heart regarding his marriage to Natalie Wood...so much so that you have to wonder what his other wives might be thinking... and although his explaination about her death may be true, it seems sadly incomplete. Perhaps there is no more to say.

Wagner's book is not a thinking man's (or woman's novel). If anything, he might be a bit self-indulgent, but it is entertaining and comfortable to read. Thankfully he stays true to writing about himself and the people around him, and doesn't bore you with studio politics and ramifications.

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