A moving, candid, and deeply personal look at the triumphs and tragedies, lovesand heartbreaks of one of Hollywood's most popular and enduring stars.

Handsome, suave, and sophisticated, Robert J. Wagner has starred in more than one hundred films and television series over the past fifty years. In this deeply personal story, he recalls his rise to stardom. He talks candidly about his relationships with some of the greatest stars of the 20th century, including Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Frank Sinatra, Elizabeth Taylor, Barbara Stanwyck, and, for the first time, he shares the details of his two marriages to Natalie Wood. Wagner also offers a fascinating look at Hollywood during the last half of the 20th century.

Customer Rating:
Summary: From Mundy to Mundane
Comment: Of all the recently-published autobiographies of movie stars to come across this reader's desk, this is by far the dullest. Robert Wagner (for some reason calling himself Robert "J" Wagner here - I know his friends call him "RJ", but so what?), star of TV's It Takes a Thief and Hart to Hart, never hit the heights professionally, nor plumbed the depths he's just been...there. True, he has been there for well over fifty years, and never gives a bad performance, but he never gives a stunningly good one, either. Even Hart to Hart, for which he is probably best known, was one of the blandest series ever. The one thing in favour of this book is that it doesn't skirt around the death of Natalie Wood, although this reader does not share the ghoulish fascination felt by many. Clumsily put together (the same legal battles with the same TV producers are mentioned three times, with the same punchline - I don't think it's supposed to be a running gag, and if it is, it fails) there's a sense of detachment about the whole thing. I'm sure Robert Wagner is a decent man, and I'm sure there is some depth to him personally, but none of this comes across here. Compare and contrast with Robert Vaughn's autobiography and you'll see a big difference in quality.

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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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