Robert Wagner
Robert Wagner | |
|---|---|
 Wagner in 1967 | |
| Born | Robert John Wagner, Jr. February 10, 1930 Detroit, Michigan, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Actor, producer |
| Years active | 1950–present |
| Spouses |
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| Children | Katie Wagner (with Marshall) Courtney Wagner (with Wood) Natasha Gregson Wagner (stepdaughter/guardianship) |
| Awards | Best Ensemble – Method Fest Film Festival (2007) Man in the Chair |
Robert John Wagner, Jr. (born February 10, 1930 in Detroit, Michigan, U.S.), is an American actor. His paternal grandparents were from Germany.
Early career
His career began in 1950 as an extra in the movie The Happy Years. Then he got a role in the war films Halls of Montezuma (1951), and The Frogmen (1951), with Richard Widmark, What Price Glory? (1952) with James Cagney and directed by John Ford.
In 1953, he was nominated for a Golden Globe for Stars and Stripes Forever (1952).
Wagner continued acting in movies such as Prince Valiant (1954) directed by Henry Hathaway and the Western, Broken Lance (1954) with Spencer Tracy and directed by Edward Dmytryk.
In 1955, he starred in the Western White Feather (1955), followed by film noir A Kiss Before Dying (1956) and war film Between Heaven and Hell (1956) directed by Richard Fleischer.
Wagner played the legendary gunslinger Jesse James in the movie The True Story of Jesse James (1957) directed by Nicholas Ray.
His works in the 1960s include The Longest Day (1962), The War Lover (1962) with Steve McQueen, The Pink Panther (1963) with Peter Sellers, and Banning (1967).
1970s - 1980s
In 1974, Wagner played the role of Bigelow, one of the people trapped in burning building in The Towering Inferno, with Steve McQueen and Paul Newman and directed by John Guillermin.
Another of his works in the 70s was in the war movie directed by Jack Smight, Midway (1976) as Lieutenant Commander Ernest L. Blake
He also co-starred in The Concorde... Airport '79 (1979) with Alain Delon.
In the 1980s, he had a few roles in movies like Curse of the Pink Panther (1983), directed by Blake Edwards, and I Am the Cheese (1983).
1990s
The 1990s were very good for him getting the role of Number Two in Austin Powers (1997) with Mike Myers. Wagner returned to play the characters in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999), and Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002).
2000s
In the 2000s, Wagner worked in movies including El Padrino (2004), Hoot (2006), Man in the Chair (2007) with Christopher Plummer, and The Wild Stallion (2009).
Television
Robert Wagner starred in three successful series for American television. One of them was It Takes a Thief, in which he starred alongside Fred Astaire. In the series, Wagner played Alexander Mundy, a spy performing dangerous missions for the government of the United States.
Wagner starred in the series for 66 episodes between 1968 and 1970 and was nominated for an Emmy and Golden Globe Award in 1970
In 1975 Wagner starred with Eddie Albert in Switch (1975 - 1978), a detective series created by Glen A. Larson. He played detective Pete T. Ryan.
His television series Hart to Hart (1979-1984) was the most successful of all. Wagner played Jonathan Hart, who, with his wife Jennifer Hart (Stefanie Powers), solved the most difficult criminal cases in high society. The series, created by Sidney Sheldon, was an immediate success.
As well as the television series, Wagner starred in several Hart to Hart television movies including Hart to Hart, Hart to Hart Returns (1993), Hart to Hart: Home Is Where the Hart Is (1994), Hart to Hart: Crimes of the Hart (1994), Hart to Hart: Old Friends Never Die (1994), Hart to Hart: Two Harts in 3/4 Time (1995), Hart to Hart: Harts in High Season (1996) and Hart to Hart: Till Death Do Us Hart (1996).
References
- Robert Wagner on IMDb
- Robert Wagner at TV.com
- Robert Wagner on Yahoo! Movies
- Articles about Robert Wagner, a Malibu resident, can be found at The Malibu Times Archived 2012-03-24 at the Wayback Machine