Get a closer look at some of Hollywood's perfect pairs.

Hollywood Power Couples

Get a closer look at some of Hollywood&#39;s perfect pairs.

These actors totally transform for their roles. See them in some of their most memorable moments.

The Greatest Character Actors of All Time

Celebrate some of the most iconic Asian actors from film and television, from [link=/name/nm1231899/]Priyanka Chopra Jonas[/link] to [link=/name/nm0702841]Ke Huy Quan[/link], plus many more.

Asian Icons of Film and Television

Celebrate some of the most iconic Asian actors from film and television, from <a class="ipc-md-link" href="/name/nm1231899/?ref_=nmmi_eds_right-7_lk">Priyanka Chopra Jonas</a> to <a class="ipc-md-link" href="/name/nm0702841?ref_=nmmi_eds_right-7_lk">Ke Huy Quan</a>, plus many more.

William Shatner, Robert Wagner, and Jeri Ryan in Boston Legal (2004)

Robert Wagner in Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (1967)

Robert Wagner and Shirley Anne Field in The War Lover (1962)

Steve McQueen, Robert Wagner, and Bill Edwards in The War Lover (1962)

Robert Wagner, Ed Bishop, Bernard Braden, and Jerry Stovin in The War Lover (1962)

Steve McQueen and Robert Wagner in The War Lover (1962)

Steve McQueen, Robert Wagner, and Jerry Stovin in The War Lover (1962)

Robert Wagner, Danielle Brisebois, Jerry Dunphy, and Jamie Farr

Robert Wagner and Pearl Bailey in All the Fine Young Cannibals (1960)

Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner in Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind (2020)

Robert Wagner, Katie Wagner, Joshua Donen, Peter Donen, and Marion Marshall

David Niven, Capucine, and Robert Wagner in The Pink Panther (1963)

David Niven and Robert Wagner in The Pink Panther (1963)

Capucine and Robert Wagner in The Pink Panther (1963)

Peter Sellers, Capucine, Robert Wagner, and Colin Gordon in The Pink Panther (1963)

Spencer Tracy, Robert Wagner, and Anna Kashfi in The Mountain (1956)

Spencer Tracy and Robert Wagner in The Mountain (1956)

R.J. Wagner was born 1930 in Detroit, the son of a steel executive. His family moved to L.A. when he was six. Always wanting to be an actor, he held a variety of jobs (including one as a golf caddy for Clark Gable) while pursuing his goal, but it was while dining with his parents at a Beverly Hills restaurant that he was discovered by a talent scout. After making his uncredited screen debut in The Happy Years (1950), Wagner was signed by 20th Century Fox, which carefully built him up toward stardom. He played romantic leads with ease, but it was not until he essayed the two-scene role of a shell-shocked war veteran in With a Song in My Heart (1952) that studio executives recognized his potential as a dramatic actor. He went on to play the title roles in Prince Valiant (1954) and The True Story of Jesse James (1957), and portrayed a cold-blooded murderer in A Kiss Before Dying (1956). In the mid-'60s, however, his film career skidded to a stop after The Pink Panther (1963). Several years of unemployment followed before Wagner made a respectable transition to television as star of the lighthearted espionage series It Takes a Thief (1968). He also starred on the police series Switch (1975), but Wagner's greatest success was opposite Stefanie Powers on the internationally popular Hart to Hart (1979), which ran from 1979 through 1984 and has since been sporadically revived in TV-movie form (another series, Lime Street (1985), was quickly canceled due to the tragic death of Wagner's young co-star, Samantha Smith). Considered one of Hollywood's nicest citizens, Robert Wagner has continued to successfully pursue a leading man career; he has also launched a latter-day stage career, touring with Stefanie Powers in the readers' theater presentation "Love Letters". He found success playing Number Two, a henchman to Dr. Evil in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997) and its sequels, and in 2007, he began playing Teddy Leopold, a recurring role on the CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men (2003). Wagner is married to Jill St. John and lives in Aspen.

Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery

Photos

Robert Wagner

More from this person

More to explore

Recently viewed