Robert Wagner

R.J. Wagner was born 1930 in Detroit, the son of a steel executive. His family moved to Los Angeles when he was seven. Always wanting to be an actor, he held a variety of jobs while pursuing his goal, but it was while dining with his parents at a restaurant in Beverly Hills that he was "discovered" by a talent scout. After making his uncredited screen debut in _The Happy Years (1950)_ (qv), Wagner was signed by 20th Century Fox, which carefully built him up toward stardom. He played romantic leads with ease, but it was not until he essayed the two-scene role of a shell-shocked war veteran in _With a Song in My Heart (1952)_ (qv) that studio executives recognized his potential as a dramatic actor. He went on to play the title roles in _Prince Valiant (1954)_ (qv) and _The True Story of Jesse James (1957)_ (qv), and portrayed a cold-blooded murderer in _A Kiss Before Dying (1956)_ (qv). In the mid-'60s, however, his film career skidded to a stop after _The Pink Panther (1963)_ (qv). Several years of unemployment followed before Wagner made a respectable transition to television as star of the lighthearted espionage series _It Takes a Thief (1968)_ (qv). He also starred on the police series _Switch (1975)_ (qv), but Wagner's greatest success was opposite 'Stefanie Powers' (qv) on the internationally popular _Hart to Hart (1979)_ (qv), which ran from 1979 through 1984 and has since been sporadically revived in TV-movie form (another series, _Lime Street (1985)_ (qv), was quickly canceled due to the tragic death of Wagner's young co-star, 'Samantha Smith' (qv)). Considered one of Hollywood's nicest citizens, 'Robert Wagner' (qv) has continued to successfully pursue a leading man career; he has also launched a latter-day stage career, touring with 'Stefanie Powers' (qv) in the readers' theater presentation "Love Letters". He found success playing Number Two, a henchman to Dr. Evil in _Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)_ (qv) and its sequels, and in 2007, he began playing Teddy Leopold, a recurring role on the CBS sitcom _Two and a Half Men (2003)_ (qv).::Anonymous