Editorial Content for I Loved Her in the Movies: Memories of Hollywood's Legendary Actresses
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Reviewer (text)
With a career in the movies and on television that traversed 60-plus years, Robert Wagner has rubbed elbows with an amazing number of the silver screen's leading ladies. Whether he knew them in a personal or professional capacity, he had the opportunity to study these legendary stars in a way few people ever did. Fortunately for us, he's now divulging his thoughts and experiences with readers in his most recent memoir, I LOVED HER IN THE MOVIES.
Beginning in the 1930s and extending to the present day, Wagner recalls the famous women he encountered decade by decade and shares his personal interactions with them. He also provides insight regarding various well-known movie studios, producers, directors and cameramen. Before the book is over, it's easy for readers to feel that they have intimate knowledge of Hollywood, particularly during its heyday.
"Anyone who has ever watched and enjoyed the classic movies from yesteryear will love this remembrance by a man who has been there and done that, and is gracious enough to tell the tale."
Wagner dishes the dirt, in the kindest possible way, on big-name actresses like Bette Davis, Barbara Stanwyck, Julie Andrews, Audrey Hepburn, Debbie Reynolds, Elizabeth Taylor, Sophia Loren, Lana Turner and Marilyn Monroe. He also shares insights regarding the two of his three wives who were actresses, the now-deceased Natalie Wood and his current spouse, Jill St. John.
An especially beguiling story that Wagner shares involves a trip home with a schoolmate from the Hollywood Military Academy, Irving Thalberg, Jr., when Wagner was just eight years old. Little did he know that he would get to meet Thalberg's mother, actress Norma Shearer, and receive an autographed picture of her that day. Readers also learn how Wagner got his start in the movies and how he went on to work in the industry for many more decades.
For those interested in his television career, Wagner includes stories of his portrayal of the dashing and debonair Jonathan Hart starring opposite Stefanie Powers in ABC's hit mystery series “Hart to Hart.” Weekly one-hour episodes were produced from 1979 to 1984, and then Wagner rejoined Powers to make eight 90-minute made-for-TV movies from 1993 to 1996.
Also included here are full-page images of many of the women whom Wagner talks about, giving readers faces --- and often bodies --- to match with the names of the screen stars.
I LOVED HER IN THE MOVIES transports readers back in time and allows them to relive an era that no longer exists today, those days when the pictures were everything and people believed that maybe life could be like what they saw in the movies. It reflects a time when the stars really were larger than life and when the public wasn't privy to their every peccadillo. Anyone who has ever watched and enjoyed the classic movies from yesteryear will love this remembrance by a man who has been there and done that, and is gracious enough to tell the tale.
Teaser
In a career that has spanned more than 60 years, Robert Wagner has witnessed the twilight of the Golden Age of Hollywood and the rise of television, becoming a beloved star in both media. During that time he became acquainted, both professionally and socially, with the remarkable women who were the greatest screen personalities of their day. I LOVED HER IN THE MOVIES is his intimate and revealing account of the charisma of these women on film, why they became stars, and how their specific emotional and dramatic chemistries affected the choices they made as actresses as well as the choices they made as women.
Promo
In a career that has spanned more than 60 years, Robert Wagner has witnessed the twilight of the Golden Age of Hollywood and the rise of television, becoming a beloved star in both media. During that time he became acquainted, both professionally and socially, with the remarkable women who were the greatest screen personalities of their day. I LOVED HER IN THE MOVIES is his intimate and revealing account of the charisma of these women on film, why they became stars, and how their specific emotional and dramatic chemistries affected the choices they made as actresses as well as the choices they made as women.
About the Book
Film and television actor and New York Times bestselling author Robert Wagner’s memoir of the great women movie stars he has known.
In a career that has spanned more than 60 years Robert Wagner has witnessed the twilight of the Golden Age of Hollywood and the rise of television, becoming a beloved star in both media. During that time he became acquainted, both professionally and socially, with the remarkable women who were the greatest screen personalities of their day. I LOVED HER IN THE MOVIES is his intimate and revealing account of the charisma of these women on film, why they became stars, and how their specific emotional and dramatic chemistries affected the choices they made as actresses as well as the choices they made as women.
Among Wagner’s subjects are Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Marilyn Monroe, Gloria Swanson, Norma Shearer, Loretta Young, Joan Blondell, Irene Dunne, Rosalind Russell, Dorothy Lamour, Debra Paget, Jean Peters, Linda Darnell, Betty Hutton, Raquel Welch, Glenn Close, and the two actresses whom he ultimately married, Natalie Wood and Jill St. John. In addition to offering perceptive commentary on these women, Wagner also examines topics such as the strange alchemy of the camera --- how it can transform the attractive into the stunning, and vice versa --- and how the introduction of color brought a new erotic charge to movies, one that enabled these actresses to become aggressively sexual beings in a way that that black and white films had only hinted at.
Like Wagner’s two previous bestsellers, I LOVED HER IN THE MOVIES is a privileged look behind the scenes at some of the most well-known women in show business as well as an insightful look at the sexual and romantic attraction that created their magic.
Audiobook available, read by Robert J. Wagner
