Customer Reviews

Pieces of My Heart: A Life

5 star:		(77)
4 star:		(30)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I initially purchased Robert Wagner's autobiography because his late wife, Natalie Wood, is my favorite movie star. I wanted more insight into her personality. The book does have quite a bit about his two marriages with Natalie, and about the fading studio system in Hollywood in the fifties which brought them together. It also chronicles the devastation brought on by her untimely death by drowning. But this book is a surprisingly compelling portrait of a handsome, charismatic, approachable leading man who has been in the limelight for most of his life.

I really didn't know much about Robert Wagner when I started reading this book. I had seen most of his movies, and I liked his old television series "Hart to Hart" with Stefanie Powers. But I knew nothing of his personal life, or about his background. The depiction of his journey from young rebel to solid leading man to Hollywood icon is told here with great charm and in-depth self-examination.

Of course the big surprise is the revelation of his early romance with the much older Barbara Stanwyck when Wagner was first starting off in Hollywood -- she was twice his age and the relationship lasted four years! But there is fascinating information all through the book about Wagner's love affairs, his co-stars and his friendships with other Hollywood legends. He is especially lovely when writing about his current wife, Jill St. John, herself a sex symbol and Bond girl, who helped him get over Natalie Wood's death. I also like that he writes warmly about his close relationship with his children.

I recommend this book highly to film buffs and those who enjoy movie star biographies and memoirs. Robert Wagner comes across as a wonderful man, and one who is still sexy as all get-out.

UPDATE: This memoir mentions that Wagner and Wood travelled to London in 1976 to do Tennessee Williams' "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" for Laurence Olivier. Natalie Wood played Maggie, Wagner played Brick and Olivier played Big Daddy. Wagner calls the production his "professional high point."

I just discovered that the production, along with four other plays directed by Olivier, is available on DVD in a collection called Laurence Olivier Presents. So for Natalie Wood fans who are longing to see her in something new, or for Wagner fans who would like to see him in a truly pithy dramatic role, here's your chance.

What a worthwhile book! Mr. Wagner has mentally stored a mountain-full of memories that he now shares with us. Wonderful details spanning many years give insight and humanity to people who, for many of us, have always seemed to be on another planet. There are surprises, for sure. I came away from the book "liking" most of these folks, and Mr. Wagner's love and respect for his cohorts is obvious. For those few for which he held disdain, it was for very good reasons. The fame and fortune gleaned from a lifetime in the film business do not seem to be his most treasured prizes at all -- but rather the friendships he amassed.

I found the workings of the Hollywood studio system as well as his transition to television -- and the differences between the two, to be quite interesting. He certainly was well established in both arenas.

The telling of his life story indicates to me that Mr. Wagner is a man of principle, a man with admirable values and a man of deep emotion. I am definitely not star struck, a groupie, or an autograph collector. But I think I would just like to be Robert Wagner's next door neighbor.

I encourage you to read this book. It's the old "I couldn't put it down" thing.

I had to give this a 5 star because it seemed so honest and genuinely

moving. At the end of the book, I have to say I LIKED Robert Wagner.

I think people he calls a friend are very lucky indeed. He seems to have

real values. Anyone who likes "star" bios will certainly not be disappointed with this book.

In full disclosure, I admit that Robert Wagner was my first (and only major) movie/TV star crush. I fell madly in love with him when I was in my early teens during the run of "It Takes a Thief." Many years later, I was waiting at a traffic light on Sunset Boulevard and looked over at the Range Rover next to me. He was just as handsome in real life.

Robert Wagner has written a book that transcends the usual Hollywood memoir. He's honest and intelligent, and writes from the heart. Thankfully, he doesn't stoop to dissing his fellow actors. I was surprised to hear about his affair with Barbara Stanwyck. I would never have imagined that one!).

Anyway, RJ, if you're reading this, thanks and much love.

RJ,

Knowing you since 1981, I was so saddened and surprised and deeply hurt about all of the fiction in your book. The part that hurt the most is what you said about my husband Sidney Sheldon. I have a copy of his original script ... "Double Twist" and an orginal copy of the "Hart to Hart" script. Basically, the changes in the script are the names of the characters and adding the delightful dog, Freeway. In Sidney's "Double Twist", the story takes place at the Golden whatever spa ... just as it does in Hart to Hart ... the character of Sylvia is still the same. The man going over the cliff is the same. The car chase scene between "Jonathan" and "Jennifer" ... only in "Twist" their names are "Alex" and "Penelope". The character of Max is called Taylor in "Double Twist". The story is almost identical. For you to say it was trash and say it was about two men living together with a bed coming down in the living room is outrageous and extremely hurtful not only to me ... but to Sidney's daughter Mary, and his two granddaughters, Elizabeth and Rebecca. Sidney had the idea of the Thin Man series in Double Twist .. I have the original script, as I said, and will gladly print it for all to see alongside the original script of "Hart to Hart for everyone to see how identical they are." I thought we were friends. You have been nearly lifelong friends with my brother in law, Roderick Mann and friends with my sister Anastasia for over 30 years. You were extremely wonderful to my daughter, Kimberly, who was in 26 "Hart to Harts", before she was killed by a drunk driver. Natalie and I were childhood friends and she used to parade me around at the studio and say she was my sister, since we looked so much alike. I have always had so much respect as an actor for your craft and as a friend, but for you to so unfairly demean Sidney, a man who was your friend, and who did not write what you claimed he did, and for you to put it in the spin you did in your book ... which you also have so many other partial truths ... which I shant go into here, out of kindness to you, since they do not deal directly with me or my family. As stated, I am angry, hurt and ashamed of you. Sidney is not on this Earth anymore to defend himself against your untruths, but as his wife ... I am ... Shame on you RJ ... you should retitle your book "Pieces of the Truth" instead of "Pieces of my Heart". You have deeply offended and hurt a number of Sidney's friends, family and fans that do know the truth in this matter.

Most sincerely,

Mrs. Sidney Sheldon

I bought this book after seeing Robert Wagner promoting it on TV and must say it was worth the read. I was a long time fan of Wagner and Natalie Wood, so I wanted to get his take on the tragedy after reading other more scurrilous accounts. I found his account very moving. I was very surprised to read about his romance with Barbara Stanwyck and his take on the Hollywood scene (not always favorable either). His style is a very easy read and I finished the book in no time, and really wanted more. I highly suggest this to anyone who remembers tbe old Hollywood and movie studios.

This very moving autobiography is just a sheer delight. Mr Wagner writes a very honest, gutsy book. It is a rich tapestry of Hollywood and emotions that take you on a wonderful journey through another era.

From the way he describes his relationship with Natalie, his feelings of loss......the strength he managed to find to go on, it makes this a special book indeed.

One cannot help but be struck by Mr Wagners emotional intelligence.....it is truely remarkable. No wonder he is close to so many people.....no wonder they are so close to him. He is a truely rare human being. While he is awestruck with his fellow actors, he is never intimidated by them, and his relationships with them are a joy to read.

This book is a treasure. It is a real gift.

I read this in one sitting it was so interesting! Very touching, nice and full of wonderful stories of "old" Hollywood. Robert Wagner is a true gentleman but not a prude. I highly recommend this if you love movies. Robert Wagner shares his love of movies and also shares some wonderful insight into life.

I rated this book with three stars because it's not as good as I think it could/should have been. The early chapters in which he discusses his upbringing and his relationship with his parents is interesting. Wagner's detailing of his relationship with Natalie Wood is well written and conveys his heartbreak at losing her twice, the second time, forever. His relating of his reasons for loving David Niven as a friend is also well done. The discussion of his romance with Barbara Stanwyck is basically handled tastefully.

It's obvious that Wagner had a great love for the legendary stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood. His description of seeing Astaire, Grant, Gable and Randolph Scott in a foursome on the golf course when he was a teenager is very much the reaction any movie fan would have at encountering the "gods" walking the Earth as mortals. Scott Eyman, his co-author, can be thanked for that moment and the descriptions of being on a film set as they echo Eyman's ability to recreate the studio era that was so effective in his book "Lion of Hollywood: The Life and Legend of Louis B. Mayer" -- an excellent book on that man and the Golden Age of MGM.

Unfortunately, at times, Wagner cheapens his own story by giving a sentence or two to one night stands with various famous women. I'm not naive -- this kind of stuff is the thing that publishers insist on including in order to make the book sell, but, it detracts from Wagner's own image of being a basically classy guy. It's obvious that he wanted to be like the people he admired -- Astaire, Gable, Grant, and Tracy but he did the one thing none of them ever did -- kiss and tell. I think it would have been sufficient for him to say that he'd had encounters with some famous females in Hollywood and left it at that. I really didn't need to know that Yvonne de Carlo cruised drive-up burger joints for young studs to take home for a few days. It added nothing to his story and obviously had no importance in his life or career, so why include it in the narrative.

Without those intermittent trashy inserts, it's a decent book about a performer who had a long film and TV career and a man who appears to be likeable on and off the screen.

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.