Recently he garnered critical acclaim for his performance in Pearl and Colditz for the BBC in England. Wagner's strong business sense and finesse have combined to create for him a very successful and lucrative career.
When I met Robert Wagner, he was between scenes on his new hit series, "Hart to Hart". I found him to be candid and friendly. He was open and honest in appraising his acting success.
At 49, RJ continues to look the part of the sophisticated tuxedoed male who charms lovely ladies all over the world.
But, what is more impressive than his good looks is his ability to endure the Hollywood system for over three decades. He climbed the ladder to stardom on the strength of his acting ability, good looks, charm, and most importantly, his ability to "hang in there" when the going gets tough. He has that uncanny and rare ability to accomplish what few other actors or actresses have managed. Robert Wagner has survived in a milieu that is noted for its mercurial support.
Looking at your career vis a vis where you are today, something strikes me as a unique and that is that you beat the system. Having been in show business for so long, has attitude of the press changed your outlook towards interviews?
RJ: No, I wouldn't say so. The press has always been very good to me. An interview really depends on who you're doing it with. If I'm asked some interesting questions and we can have a conversation, then it seems to work out. The only time I've had any problems is when they keep asking me those same pedantic questions and they keep driving for an answer and become devious about it, I get steamed. I would say overall the press has been very good to me.
In the roles that you have played from Prince Valiant to Jonathan Hart, you seem to appeal to both sexes.
RJ: That's worked out very well for me. The male audience has accepted me as well as the female audience. That's something to consider. Also, the kids who were behind me when I was a teenager are now married and have families. What's kind of funny is that their kids have picked up on me; that's really kind of gratifying. I never realized it until one day when I was working on the stage. The kid with the clapper board was the son of a cameraman who used to photograph me.
You have been around this town so long that things like that can happen; people succeed, and people fail, but you've always had the "where-with-all" to pick yourself up and come back.
RJ: It's a fortunate that somebody's been there to help me do that. I think one of the things that has really helped in my life is that people have been there for me, and have really cared. They've taken the time to reach down and talk to me. You can miss a lot of that if you're closed off. You can miss the hands that are out there when you've been knocked on your ass.
Who has helped you. Is there one person in particular?
RJ: Without any question, my wife has helped me more than any one else. Before that, Spencer Tracy, John Freman, and Sigmund Freud. Sometimes people get sparked by someone who is totally out of no where. The other night when I was talking to a friend, he said "You know, you've made a great impression on my daughter. You caused her to go into an endeavor I couldn't encourage her in." It's amazing how one person can cause you to expand without their even knowing about it. For instance, Tracy, who was wonderful to me, was a great human being, a terrific man. Laurence Olivier was just a super human being, aside from being a great actor. There have been many wonderful people who have helped me.
There has to be something that really molds your personality. What was it for you?
RJ: We are all products of our environment. For this people need to be very grateful, but at the same time terribly fortunate, because you start developing your mind from the time you're very young person. How the encouragement's, hesitations, and anxieties are dealt with has a profound effect. If they're used in a positive way rather than a negative one it's very helpful.
Have your children changed you?
RJ: Oh, yes, a great deal. As any parent reading this will know, once you have had a child, your priorities change. Your love is felt in many different ways. You're involved in the big time stuff then. You have your own children who look into your eyes and say I love you for what you are. That is a wonderful responsibility to have. I was so proud the other day when I went to see our daughters in an American Appreciation Day at school.
You said something before about my sustaining in the business, but there are other things that have been more dominant that just the theatrical life. Working with the idea, the feelings, and the philosophy of a script helps you gain on the outside, beyond the industry's doors. A lot of people have immersed themselves in this work and you can see this. It isn't everything; all life is not here. There's a lot of things that are much more important than the business. Of all the elements that have kept me up, there is that thing of looking into someone's face and saying, hey give me a little bit of what you have, help me a little bit. When I started out in the business, there was a different attitude, people cared a great deal more. I think that is turning around now. The people who were around me from the outset of my career really cared about me, and that meant a hell of a lot.
This sense of caring materializes in your personal life, like in your support of the Custeau Society. How active are you in the Society?
RJ: Well, I am a member of the Society. I give a great deal of money to it and I support it and Jacquest Cousteau completely. I think he is a man to be listened to. He has been heard from, but not many people have listened to him. I'm a snorkel guy and have done some diving, not the big time stuff but a lot of diving around Hawaii. Let's face it, Cousteau is the man who opened it all up to us. I can't tell you how much I admire him.
I'm really a boatsman, not a yachtsman, party person. I've been sailing for a long time. I really like spending time with my family. I don't play golf any more. We do things together. When I finished this picture we're going skiing, we'll take the kids.
A lot of people thing that in order to have a good time they have to set up what they want to do, where they want to go, they have to think about it. They think maybe it would be nice to have a boat, or a house at the beach, maybe go to Maui or New York. I don't operate like that. What I have I really like; if I didn't like it, I don't fool around with it.
You had your boat in Orange County for a long time.
RJ: Yes, I've been around Orange County for a long time so I know how much its changed. I used to keep my boat in Newport Beach and then I drive down there now I honestly can't believe how much it's changed, with all the construction by the Irvine Ranch.
It's all very positive, but I remember it when it was the dunes; we used to go down here at Easter Vacation.
Orange County is one of the most beautiful places in the world: great views, great vistas, great waters. And obviously, many people have found out about it. The minute that it becomes congested and commercial it will be, not a disappointment, but something we have to accept and live with. It's similar to Maui and the kind of commercialization that's happening in Hawaii.
What is your secret to success?
RJ: I've always wanted to be doing what I'm doing right now. The trick is to keep your life full and keep it fresh, otherwise you become blase and jaded. Enthusiasm is one thing you can never buy. I think that's one of the reasons I never really got crushed in this business. This business can take people and beat them. It's like putting them in a Cuisinart: it chops them up and they're finished. I've always had tremendous enthusiasm. I really wanted to be an actor. I followed Clark Gable around, looked at Fred Astaire, and wanted to do all the things that they did. I jumped over the walls at this studio, I sat in motion picture theaters when I was nine and ten years old and wanted to be a movie star I pursued it. No one can ever penalize you for having enthusiasm. That's not a contrived thing. But you can be enthusiastic and still fall on your ass. One day I went in and Barbara Stanwyck was sitting in there with MacDonald Carey and I said I just found the most marvelous thing to take off make-up: Albolene. They looked at me like I was some kind of nut, because people had been taking their make-up off with Abolene for a hundred years. But you can not get busted emotionally because of your enthusiasm. I think that stems from my family, they never put the screws way down on me, only a little bit.
So "enthusiasm" must be your watchword.
RJ: I think it is very important one. It also helps an awful lot when you have somebody there. Sometimes you can look around and there's no one there. That's when the anxiety attack hits you. When you go right on your ass and there's no one there, it scares you. Then when you're up there and they come out of the woodwork, you say, where were you? Where were you when I needed you? The anger and rage can make you unable to recognize some of the bitterness.
The guys who are working for us in this crew, I don't know whether you felt it when you went on the set, but they really love being on the show. Sure, they are making money and they are professionals, but they are also enthusiastic. If they weren't, they wouldn't have them around. They run around, making it just a little bit better, putting a light in there, maybe lifting something up a little, making Stefanie look better, making me look better. Our show is a hit and so it pays off. That's exciting. It's like Bart Starr, being covered all the time like a professional football team.They are all protecting me every minute. There's a lot of people that make this show and it is fascinating to see it all happen.
Where will you be in five years?
RJ: Oh, God, I don't have too many projections. I'd just like to stay where I am now. I want to watch my kids grow up. I'm very fortunate. I really am, because I am in love, very much in love with my wife. She's just a terrific lady. And I really realize how much I missed her when we weren't married. She is not only my lover, but she's my friend, and I'd rather be with her than anybody else in the whole world and that's no bullshit, that's straight out. The Personal part of my life is being with my family. I want to be with my wife, and I really enjoy that. When you came on the stage today, I was on the phone with her. She's out doing a film. We'll meet and have dinner tonight. Last night, we went out on a date all by ourselves. I picked her up and we went to a restaurant. I don't care about being around others sometimes, just her. You would think this guy would be out getting his head blown off. I've done all of that. I've been around that track.
Yes, a survivor. I don't see anyone on the horizon who has the potential for longevity like you have. You have been brought up in a era which spawned the likes of Humphrey Bogart, Spencer Tracy, Clark Gable, Gary Cooper and other greats.
RJ: Those men you speak of, they really did what they felt. They stood out there and did their thing, not any one else's. They took the material and they made it work for them. A lot of actors that come out of a group try to be something, that's why they're so nervous and filled with anxiety, because they're taken for something they aren't. Gary Cooper stood there and looked like he was doing nothing, but the power he emitted on film was extraordinary. There are guys around today who supposedly are the "top stars" in the business, they couldn't shine the shoes of men like Tracy, Bogart and Gable. They couldn't walk on the same movie set as them. They'd be blown right off the film. That's not a criticism of the newer actors, its just a different style of working.
by Anthony Korba
