Pieces Of My Heart is a memoir by Robert Wagner, probably best known for his hit TV series Hart To Hart and the Austin Powers movies. Robert Wagner started in Hollywood in the early 50's along with Tony Curtis and Rock Hudson, and is still working today.
What makes this enjoyable memoir different is his excitement and admiration for the golden age of Hollywood and stars such as Cary Grant, Clark Gable and Fred Astaire - many of whom he caddied for and hung out with at the Bel-Air Country Club. In the late 1940's and early 50's, Beverly Hills and Bel-Air were undeveloped farm land where he worked in the stables. As a golf caddy, he casually met the heads of studios, famous directors, and classic stars he grew up watching, picking up valuable advice for when he eventually auditioned for films, and later socializing with them as friends in the Hollywood Hills.
In 1953, he had a small part with Barbara Stanwyck on Titanic, and they began a long term relationship, despite their age difference. Coming up as an actor, he was in the group of new Hollywood stars such as Elizabeth Taylor, Paul Newman and Joan Collins. Later, he would meet Natalie Wood and begin a fabled romance. Natalie had a string of hits including Gypsy, Rebel Without A Cause and Splendour In The Grass. They had an intense relationship that lasted over the years, throughout a divorce and a remarriage until her accidental death in 1981. RJ was in many different films over the years, from hits like The Pink Panther to The Towering Inferno, and let's not forget Concorde - Airport 79' , with hit TV series in between. He's still going strong in his nineties.
It's an interesting memoir that doesn't stay in one area too long, just an overview of family, childhood, acting, and relationships. Conversationally, Wagner mixes in countless stories of Hollywood at it's peak and Los Angeles at it's beginning.
If you love Hollywood, this is a memoir you won't want to miss.
2008 / Hardcover / 326 pages
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