The movies had me in their clutches by the time I was five. (COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR)
(Above) My father, young Robert Wagner, in northern Michigan, where we experienced some of our best times. (COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR)
My mother, Hazel Boe “Chatty” Wagner, at her most beautiful, and most pensive. (COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR)
Jill’s title for this photo is “He married them all!” The ballet class was in session from 1948 to 1950. Natalie is on the far left, next to the ballet master; on the far right is Stefanie Powers. Next to Stefanie is Jill St. John. (COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR)
The greatest star of his generation, and one of the finest men you’d ever want to meet. The inscription reads: “To R.J., who taught me how to putt a decent golf ball—thereby saving me unknown $. Clark.” (COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR)
Two bulwarks of my life; on the left is my sister, Mary Lou; on the right is my best friend, Bill Storke. (COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR)
In The Halls of Montezuma, with Richard Widmark, the first movie in which I got billing. The inscription reads: “For Bob. Pansy Baker, always on the wireless. Yours, Dick.” “Pansy Baker” was the radio call sign we used in the film, as well as the way we referred to each other for the rest of Dick’s life. (THE HALLS OF MONTEZUMA © 1951 TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)
With Dan Dailey, in John Ford’s What Price Glory, as close to a fraternity hazing as I ever got. (WHAT PRICE GLORY © 1952 TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)
My love, Barbara Stanwyck, Clifton Webb, and myself at a dinner party at Jean Negulesco’s house, about 1952. (COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR)
My parents were always supportive of me. (© TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)
My mother and me taking a “stroll” on a photo shoot. (© TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)
My first boat, on which Natalie and I had many dates, at Balboa. (COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR)
Young studs of Hollywood, as photographed for Life magazine: Rock Hudson, Tony Curtis, and myself. (PHOTO BY SHARLAND/TIME LIFE PICTURES/GETTY IMAGES)
With Janet Leigh in Prince Valiant. Don’t I look fetching? (PRINCE VALIANT © 1954 TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)
On the set of The Mountain in Chamonix in the French Alps, with Spencer Tracy and Anna Kashfi, later Mrs. Marlon Brando. (COURTESY OF PARAMOUNT PICTURES)
With Elvis Presley in the commissary at Fox. Nicholas Ray is sitting next to me, and Alan Hale, Jr., is on the far right. (COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR)
With Jayne Mansfield at a premiere, 1956. (PHOTO BY DARLENE HAMMOND/HULTON ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES)
Natalie and me on our wedding day, thrilled with each other and the world. (COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR)
The official wedding photo. My parents are on the left, Natalie’s parents are on the right, and Lana Wood is next to me. (COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR)
Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and many others helped me surprise Natalie on her twenty-first birthday. (PHOTO BY MURRAY GARRETT/GETTY IMAGES)
A test scene from the proposed swashbuckler Lord Vanity, in which Joan Collins and I were to have costarred with Errol Flynn and Clifton Webb. Can you tell which is Joan and which is me? (© TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)
With Steve McQueen on the London set of The War Lover. (THE WAR LOVER © 1962, RENEWED 1990 COLUMBIA PICTURES INDUSTRIES, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. COURTESY OF COLUMBIA PICTURES.)
With Mart Crowley in Venice, 1961. (COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR)
With the amazing Pink Panther gang: Claudia Cardinale, David Niven, and Peter Sellers in Rome, 1963. (PHOTO BY KEYSTONE/HULTON ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES)
Paul Newman watches Jay Sebring give me a haircut on the set of Harper. The man with the beard is the great cinematographer Conrad Hall; on the right is director Jack Smight. (© WARNER BROS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)
On the set of The Biggest Bundle of Them All. You’d never know that both Vittorio de Sica and Edward G. Robinson were furious at Raquel Welch for her chronic tardiness. (© TURNER ENTERTAINMENT CO. A WARNER BROS. ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)
Roddy McDowall’s photo of my new family. Next to me are Peter Donen, Josh Donen, Marion, and Katie. (PHOTOGRAPH BY RODDY MCDOWALL, COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR)
With Frank and Tina Sinatra in the south of France at the Colombe d’Or in St. Paul de Vence. (COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR)
With Roddy McDowall on the set of It Takes a Thief. (COURTESY OF UNIVERSAL STUDIOS LICENSING LLP)
With Bette Davis in an episode of It Takes a Thief, the beginning of a beautiful friendship. (COURTESY OF UNIVERSAL STUDIOS LICENSING LLP)
Natalie and me on the windswept day of our second marriage. (COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR)