Pieces of My Heart (9 page)

The movies had me in their clutches by the time I was five.
(COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR)

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)