Binding: Hardcover Dewey Decimal Number: 791.43028092 EAN: 9780061373312 ISBN: 0061373311 Label: HarperEntertainment Manufacturer: HarperEntertainment Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 336 Publication Date: October 01, 2008 Publisher: HarperEntertainment Release Date: September 23, 2008 Sales Rank: 270 Studio: HarperEntertainment
Editorial Review:
Product Description
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 Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - Pieces of my heart
This is an excellent book written from the heart and his love for Natalie. All the scandal as I remembered it back when Natalie died and I read all the "scandal sheets of that time period" was the "how did it really happen". He answers it as honestly as he can from his heart.
Natasha, Natalie's daughter looks so much like her its spooky.
I thoughly enjoyed the book and was sorry it ended.
Rating: - A Perfect Memoir
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 ... Read More
Rating: - It reads like...
...a personal vision of Hollywood through the eyes of a third rate actor who is a legend in his own mind. Filled with the coarsest language this side of an old Jacqueline Susann novel. This poorly written mish mash of fact and fiction is nothing more than damage control for the years when Mr. Wagner and his present wife turned their backs on his late wife's (legendary actress, Natalie Wood) fans. It's a heterosexual kiss and tell from only Mr. Wagner's side as most of the ladies he alleges to have ... Read More
Rating: - Robert J.Wagner
A wonderful account of his life and questions you might have had about his life with Natalie etc. It is a warm and delightful read. One I will keep in my library. Some of the photos are from his personal collection. Enjoyed every minute.
Rating: - book review
have not started it yet ....but it looks good -have been waiting for R.J. Wagner to open up about his marriage to Natalie Wood and her fatefull death !!!
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- Pieces of my heart
- It reads like...