12 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • NOVEMBER 2018
ROBERT WAGNER:
BY RUTH BASHINSKY
With a career spanning nearly seven
decades on stage, screen and television,
Robert Wagner’s handsome good looks
and charm are as remarkable as they
ever were.
“I always wanted to be in the business
as an actor,” says Wagner during an interview
with the Press from his home
in Aspen that he shares with his wife,
actress Jill St. John. “I was very lucky
and very fortunate.”
Throughout his career, Wagner has
starred in more than 80 productions,
including his famous TV role as dashing
Jonathan Hart in the 1979 detective
series Hart to Hart, and his memorable
turn as Number 2, the villainous
henchman to Dr. Evil in the Austin
Powers feature films. Wagner’s climb
to stardom started in the 1950s.
His first film was The Happy Years.
After signing with 20th Century Fox
and garnering rave reviews for his
supporting role in the World War II
movie Halls of Montezuma (1951) and
the post-war patriotic film With A Song
in My Heart (1952), Wagner got noticed.
He later shared the screen with Hollywood
greats such as Fred Astaire in
the TV series It Takes a Thief, Audrey
Hepburn in Love Among Thieves, Elizabeth
Taylor in There Must Be a Pony
(both made-for-TV movies), and David
Niven in the Pink Panther feature films.
Now 88, Wagner has continued his
love affair with show business. Last
month, the Gold Coast International
Film Festival awarded him the Burton
Moss Hollywood Golden Era Award.
The award is named for the agent who
represented some of Hollywood’s finest
and pays tribute to film legends who
may not have been honored appropriately
during their lifetime.
The award itself is a sculpture,
an original work of art created by
renowned sculptor Edwina Sandys,
granddaughter of Sir Winston Churchill.
The first award was given last
year in honor of the late Hollywood
star Rita Hayworth, whose daughter
accepted the award on her mother’s
behalf in a private ceremony.
In 2008, Wagner penned an intimate
memoir, Pieces of My Heart: A Life,
that highlights his career and and the
COVER FEATURE
Robert Wagner, who has more than a half century of acting credits under his belt, was recently honored on
Long Island.