McCalls November 1992
Heart to Heart: Robert Wagner's grown-up Daughters
In Many of his television roles, such as the suave Jonathan Hart
on the former hit series Hart to Hart, actor Robert Wagner plays
a man who seems to have been born in a tuxedo - The smoothie with
a special way with words and women. Not exactly what you'd call
a father image. Yet during his 40 years in show business, the role
he's played most successfully is dad to his three daughters:
Katie, age 28, from his first Marriage; Natasha, age 22,
his late wife Natalie Wood's daughter from a previous Marriage;
and Courtney, age 18, the daughter he fathered with Wood.
"We're able to discuss almost anything," says Wagner. "Their friends,
their love affairs. They're not only very involved in my life - they're
involved in one another's lives."
Wagner admits it's tough to maintain a close-knit family with the
pressures of everyday life but says he works hard at it. With his
two older daughters residing near the Santa Monica Mountains mansion
he shares with his current wife, actress Jill St. John, and the youngest
still living at home, the family convenes every Sunday for dinner
and also takes regular vacations together.
While he insists he isn't a "lecturing dad," he has tried to instill
in the girls two particular values. First is to love well: "Loving
well means learning how to share their lives with someone else. Learning
how to love will bring them their greatest joy." He has also tried
to imbue them with high self-esteem. "There's going to be a lot of rejection
in their lives," he says, "particularly if they're going to be in
the entertainment Industry." Katie is a VJ on MTV, and Natasha is embarking on
an acting career.
But Wagner points out that his daughters have done just as much for
him as he has done for them. Perhaps the greatest gift they've given
him is forgiveness when he's made mistakes. "There have been times
when I've said the wrong thing and they've seen me as a human being,
vulnerable," he explains. "Thank God they've given me a chance."
Judith Newman