Pieces of My Heart: A Life by Robert J. Wagner, Scott Eyman
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Book Reviews of Pieces of My Heart: A Life
Book Review: The life of Robert Wagner
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is a very interesting look at the life of Robert Wagner.
He started life in Detroit, but he moved to California when he was young. He knew he wanted to be an actor when he was a little boy and when he was a teenager he caddied for Clark Gable. He started acting when he was a teenager and by the time he was 20 he had made The Halls of Montezuma. During this time a 12 year old Natalie Wood would tell her mother after meeting him that she would marry him one day, and RJ met his second wife Marion Marshall.
During this period RJ's career took of. He got involved with Joan Crawford, and was with Barbara Stanwick for several years. In 1956 RJ and Natalie Wood became a couple and in December of 1957 married in Arizona.
During their marriage they both made movies, but for the most part Natalie's career was on an upswing compared to Wagner's. In 1962 they divorced and RJ moved to Italy start fresh.
While Wagner was in Italy he re met Marion Marshall. They soon got married and moved to California where in May of 1964 they welcomed Katherine Wagner (named after Kate Hepburn.) During the marriage they had to fight Stanly Donan (Marion's ex husband and the father of her two boys) They ended up divorcing in 1970.
During this time Natalie had married Richard Gregson and had daughter Natasha. The Gregsons divorced in 1971 though. Shortly afterward Natalie and RJ got back together and remarried in 1972. Two years later they had daughter Courtney Brooke.
Natalie and RJ had a great second marriage, and spent a lot of time together on their boat The Splendor. In November of 1981 they went on it with Natalie's latest costar Christopher Walken. During that vacation though Natalie drowned in the water of Catalina Island.
RJ was inconsolable for several months, but his girls and the love of Jill St. John (whom he married in 1990) helped him heal.
Today he is a grandfather (Kate had a son Riley John in 2006) and periodic actor (recently appearing as Teddy in Two and a Half Men)
All in all a very interesting look at the life of Robert Wagner
Book Review: A Perfect Memoir
Summary: 5 Stars
To say that Robert Wagner's new memoir, PIECES OF MY HEART, is a perfect movie-star memoir is not giving it enough credit. PIECES is a perfect memoir by any standard.
I always have read lots of biographies and memoirs, and this book is singular. Just in the recent months, Tony Curtis has ended up sounding dislikeable in his own book, and George Hamilton came off as nice but rather eccentric.
In contrast, Robert Wagner has lived a true movie-star life, starting at the end of the studio system in Hollywood and continuing right up to the present moment.
As such, he has wonderful stories to share about all of the show business greats of the past half-century and he doesn't hesitate to drop names.
He is a man who treasures his friendships, proving that, even among movie-stars, one must be a friend to have a friend.
The book deals with complete candor about his love affairs. He goes into detail about his intense relationship with the late and exquisitely beautiful Natalie Wood, who was both his first and third wife, out of his four marriages. Wagner is frank about the tragedy of her accidental death and the pain he endured, and still endures, to this day because of it.
At the same time, he is grateful to Jill St. John, his fourth wife, to whom he gives some credit for rescuing him from his sorrow.
Most of all, Robert Wagner appears to have been forged by fire, much like steel, emerging from the flames stronger. As a result, strikingly, he seems to be an unusually kind person, emotionally aware, appreciative of his good fortune, generous to others. The fact that he could build and sustain a blended family with his stepsons from his second marriage and Natalie's daughter from her second marriage along with his own daughters is further proof of his decency and ability to love.
Despite his obvious glamour, Robert Wagner not a typical movie star and his life story makes for fascinating reading.
Book Review: A Gentleman all the way
Summary: 5 Stars
I recently purchased this book for my Kindle after downloading a delightful sample. I was deciding between Mr. Wagner's book or Tony Curtis' book - and I am pleased that I chose the former.
I didn't know a whole lot about Robert Wagner or his life story except for the usual bits about his marraiges and television programs (which I must confess I had no interest in watching when they were on). But I must say that I could not put this book down and finished it within 3 days because it was so interesting.
I don't want to ruin anything for another reader out there, but allow me to tell you that Mr. Wagner was no boy scout but he is also no braggert. He will tell you many fine tales about the women and the men of his profession that he had the pleasure of knowing and working with, without including embarrassing or lurid details. How refreshing! The names - Fred Astaire, Cary Grant, Humphrey Bogart, David Niven, and on and on - are just mind boggling. Old Hollywood, New Hollywood - you name it, they're all in here.
I did not realize that he had been a part of the movie industry for so many years and had been involved in so many different aspects of the business. I just never paid him much mind and he pretty much flew under the radar of other higher wattage stars. Now I can't wait to find one of his movies on television so that I may pay him the attention he should have received sooner.
The book is very engaging and his style will make the reader feel right at home, which I suspect is exactly the way he wanted it to turn out. He is a very classy man (and not to mention dropdead gorgeous!) and I am so happy to have discovered this story to recommend to others.
Book Review: The RJ I didn't know...
Summary: 5 Stars
Full disclosure: Mr. Wagner is a personal friend of mine. He is one of the finest, kindest, most generous people
I have ever met. A 'True Gent', as Hemingway would have said. That said, this fine book was a revelation to me.
I knew he'd led what most people would consider a 'charmed life', achieving Hollywood fame and fortune while somehow maintaining his sanity. And I knew there had been an epic tragedy at the center of his life. And that he had managed to, if not overcome it, at least live with the devastation it must have been for him and his children.
And now comes this book. And the realization that it's not so much what you know about someone that makes
a friendship, but what you didn't know. All the things left unsaid. The sum of experiences that define character.
I cannot recommend this book highly enough. And I want to say a few words about RJ's collaborator, Scott Eyman. A Hollywood 'scholar' with encyclopedic knowledge of the town's history and players, he has done a fine job here providing background and context while letting the man tell his story in his own voice--by no means an easy feat. The truth well told, that's what this book is, and it deserves a wide audience.
Book Review: Robert you are my Hart to Heart!
Summary: 5 Stars
I initially read this book because Robert Wagner has been one of my favorite TV stars. I faintly remember "It Takes a Thief" and loved "Switch" but was addicted to "Hart to Hart". I loved learning about his movies and his enduring love and respect for the real Titans of the industry. I remember Natalie's death like it was yesterday and gained even more respect for him and his refusal to turn it into a circus. Reading the book I now understand why. The best part of the book are his little "anecdotes" such as David Niven and the brandy snifter and Tony Curtis and he sharing the same "amazing three days" weeks apart.
Robert Wagner is and always will be the last of the true gentlemen. One of class and breeding that made Hollywood the place it used to be.
One aside...Kudos to the 3rd Mrs Wagner, Jill St.John, for the class she shows in going into a marriage and a family that is still grieving their wife and mother. She went in with eyes open and has come out the rarest of women; one secure enough in herself to know that she is loved and treasured because of who she is. What a perfect pair these two are!