Robert Wagner: Old School Hollywood
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You know, that man has been sniffing around every one of our daughters. Hey, everybody, it's me, Rob Lowe. And it's literally, as you know. So when I was a kid and I was watching television, other than wanting to be Batman, I wanted to be Alexander Monday on It Takes a Thief. Alexander Monday was played by Robert Wagner. And as I grew up, heart to heart, switch.

Um, pink Panther, the towering Inferno. Um, there was nobody quite like Robert Wagner. And then as life has a way of leading in weird directions, I, our paths crossed. Um, he became almost like a second dad to me. Um, and then life had another, uh, twist, uh,

where Mike Myers cast him in the Austin Powers movie and then cast me playing him as a young man. So we've been connected for many, many years. He's seen everything. He's done everything. He's one of the great, original, charming, leading men. I am thrilled to have my beloved Robert Wagner, or RJ, as we call him, on the show.

RJ, I'm so excited to have you. How are you? I'm so delighted to be on your show. Thanks so much for having me. Are you kidding? Okay, what dog is walking around in the background? That's Duke. Could you see him? Yeah, I see him. He looks like a good boy. He is a good boy. How are you doing?

I'm great. I've been busy, you know, just they haven't caught me or found me out yet. You're my guy, you know. I remember the first time I met you. Do you remember how we met? What is your memory of how we met? Because we've known each other for years and years and years. Well, I remember you coming to the house to see Natasha. Well, now, what would Katie have said about that? Well, I remember when you came to the house and it was Natasha's...

I think 14th birthday or 15th. Oh, that's right. I came for her as a birthday. I remember that. You came in and you took her in her arms and you said, happy birthday. And the girls all went crazy and everybody went mad. And it was sensational. You were terrific.

She never forgot it. That was a big moment for me because I grew up watching you. And, you know, It Takes a Thief was one of my favorite TV shows ever. I loved that show. Yeah, and you also paid me the greatest compliment because you impersonated me. I did. I did impersonate you. And I was very nervous to do it in front of you. Oh, you were so great. Such a compliment. Such a compliment.

And I just can't tell you, I'm so proud of you. You had such a marvelous career. You turned out to be the best, you know? Well, coming from you, that means a lot. I don't know if I've ever told you the exact story of how Mike Myers came up with the idea to have me play you. We were golfing, Mike and I, as you and I have before. We were golfing and...

I was talking about you and how much I loved you and asking how it was on the set. And he was singing your praises, and I just broke into an impersonation. And my impersonation of you was based on you knowing every maitre d' at every restaurant. Do you know Gigi at the Palm?

And Mike thought it was so funny. And then when he wrote Austin Powers 2, he asked me to read it, never mentioned that he'd written a part. And at a certain point in the script, it says, Young No. 2 enters, parentheses, played by Rob Lowe.

And I think people must have thought, what is this? But I was so scared to do it for you. I was very, very scared. Oh, listen, that was terrific with us working together on that. I enjoyed that so much. Wasn't it great? Do you remember how Mike would play the music in between takes? He would play car wash. Um, it was, it was really, really fun. I, I get, I think I probably get, um,

recognized, talked about for that a lot. Did you like wearing the eye patch? I thought the eye patch was really a hassle. I liked that, didn't you? You liked it? Okay, I thought it was, it drove me bananas. Bananas. I had trouble, you know, when I first put it on, remembering the lines.

Did you have any problem with that? That's interesting. So you cover an eye and then you can't remember the line. We had fun doing that. You were great. No, no, you were great. There were people who came to the set and thought you were there doing the voice for me. I was like, no, it's not ventriloquism. I've just lived with RJ a very long time. Okay, I'm going to give you my favorite story of you, one of them. I'd like to hear it. The reason...

we became so close was after I popped out of the cake for Natasha's birthday. Um, and by the way, this is the height of the brat pack, the height of my hair moose era. Um, I was the it boy at that point. I was dating Melissa Gilbert who was on little house in the Prairie and she was best friends with Katie, your other daughter. And we would spend many nights at your house. Um,

And because Katie still lived there. And I remember a New Year's Eve. It was very late New Year's Eve. You know, lots of crazy drinking. And I was so hungover. And you came into the bedroom and woke me up at sunrise. I couldn't even see straight. And I'll never forget. You said, I need your help. One of the horses has the colic. And the next thing you know, I'm out in your barn.

And there's a pony that's sick. And you were trying to teach me animal husbandry. That is something I will never forget. That's a good memory. Right? I remember you being around the house quite a bit with my three daughters. I was always sniffing around. You were sniffing around the mailbox a lot. Okay, so I do a one-man show like evening with...

sort of comedy evening from time to time, RJ. And in the middle of the show, I tell a story about you on this subject. And so I had, you were, you were friends with Cary Grant, correct? Yeah. Cary and I had met early in my career and then I didn't see him for years and years and years. And I would, you were

Had me invited to a Princess Grace Foundation event. And I came up to the table in black tie to see you. Here's who's at your table. It's you, Gregory Peck, Prince Rainier of Monaco, Frank Sinatra, and Cary Grant. Yes. And I come up and I pay my best wishes. And as I walk away, I hear you.

say the following, you know, that man has been sniffing around every one of our daughters. Yeah, I remember that was a great night, huh? Frank Sinatra performed. Yeah. You gave a eulogy for Frank, didn't you? Yes, I did. I did. I was close to him and he was so generous to me and so wonderful to me.

And I had a great time with him. He was a great privilege to be able to say he was my friend. When I met him, RJ, he grabbed my face and pinched it. And then with the other hand...

gave me a good slap and said, my grandkids love ya. He was great. He was great. It was great to know him, huh? I want you to tell everybody a little bit about what it was like working in Hollywood when there were contract players. You started at Fox? Yes, I was a contract player at Fox. I was signed there when I was 18.

And left when I was 32. Whoa! Yeah, I had a wonderful time there. They were fabulous to me. Very, very fabulous. So what was the daily life like if you weren't shooting a movie? Well, you know, when you were under contract to Fox or to any studio, you were available to them to be in pictures and whatever they needed you to do. Go on tours, whatever.

Whatever, you know, but it was a tremendous bringing up for me. You know, I had a chance to either be under contract to a studio or go to college. And I took...

the studio and I had a terrific education from them. They were great to me. Who was your favorite actor to work with actor? And then we'll do actress afterwards. My favorite actress. Act. I see. Look, I knew you'd go right to actress. I said actor first, RJ, we're doing men first. God's sakes. You know, I, I did, I had the opportunity of doing two movies with Spencer Tracy. Oh my God. And, uh,

That was a tremendous thing for me. It changed my career and everything turned around for me because he asked me to be in the mountain with him and he gave me co-star billing above the title and it pulled me out of being just another actor in Hollywood and doing mostly war movies, you know? And he was really responsible for changing my career. ♪

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you were able to pull from? Because he's one of my favorites. You know, Rob, he said he had many expressions. But one of them was learn your lines, hit the mark, and be honest. And that's sort of what we all try to do, I think, you know? And he was a tremendous force, a wonderful actor, marvelous actor. I asked him one time, how do you do it? I said, how do you do it? He said,

I don't know. What an answer. Well, those both are some of my favorites. Whenever young actors ask me anything, I always quote that Spencer Tracy comment because that is it. Everything else is bullshit. If you do those three things, you're going to be fine.

Know your lines, hit your marks, tell the truth. I think that sort of sums it up if we can do it. Yes. You've done it. You've done it. I mean, tell me about, first of all, I didn't realize that Cubby Broccoli, Albert Brock, was your agent. Yeah, he was an agent for Famous Artists and he was my agent.

And I got thrown out of MGM with him. Okay, I need to hear about this. So y'all listening, Cubby Broccoli produced all the James Bond movies. When I think of his daughter, Barbara, still produces the Bond movies. So one of the great producers. I never knew he was an agent. How did he get you thrown out of MGM? Well, I don't know. He had had some argument with L.B. Mayer over something, some actress that Cubby had put in a movie. Yeah.

We went there and I was so excited about going. I was very young, just starting off, and we got thrown out of the studio. But, you know, I knew the Broccoli's very well, as you well know. And as a matter of fact, I gave the eulogy at his funeral and at his wife's funeral. They were amazing.

They were wonderful people. Dana and Cubby were, were quite great people. Was there ever a notion that you could play James Bond? Oh, that was mentioned, but you know that, I mean, that was a mention about every young actor, but I don't think, I don't think I'd have been right for James Bond. I mean, James Bond was definitely an Englishman. And I think to try to do the dialect and all of that, I, I was very flattered and, uh,

But there were a lot of actors that were up for James Bond. Nothing has changed. Believe me, nothing has changed. I've been lobbying forever, but you're right. Bond has to be an Englishman. They've always been very firm about that. And I always say, well, Bridget Jones is a national icon in England, cultural. Renee Zellweger is an American. She played it. Nope, they're not having it. I'm not going to be Bond. You and I are not going to be Bond, unfortunately. Okay, uh...

I need to ask you about the towering inferno. Yes. With that, with your buddy, Fred Astaire. Fred Astaire and, uh, and, uh, Paul. Paul Newman and Steve McQueen. I mean, Steve. Yeah. I don't know whether you knew this or not, but you know, Fred Astaire was, uh, at the top of the building and they had put all the water in there and put out the fire. And he was, he was in this one, one position. And, uh,

They broke. And they broke for a period of time. And they said, Fred, do you want to stay there or come out? And he said, no, I think I'll stay here. And so they could match it for the next shot. Yeah. So he stayed there. And when he got up to leave, a lamp fell right where he was. It was a big 10K lamp.

And it snapped and fell right where he was waiting for the next shot. It was amazing. Amazing. I loved working for him. You know, I played his son in It Takes a Thief. He was Alexander Bundy. And that was a highlight for me, as you can imagine, working with Fred Astaire. We had a great time.

Rob, did you ever meet him? Rob, did you ever meet him? I never got to meet him. And I feel like you and I are similar in that we both bridged eras of Hollywood. And we've seen, both of us have seen so much change

And got to know so many greats. Like you got to know Astaire. You knew all of the early stars. And I got the tail end of it. I got to know Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart. I got to know. And Paul Newman. And they don't make them like that anymore. Oh, I know. Yeah, I know. Wonderful.

You know, Jimmy Stewart did a wonderful thing for me. We were both involved with St. John's Hospital with the Jimmy Stewart Marathon, and he asked me to join him in that. And as a result of that, he asked the hospital to make me a

a founder and they did. And it's a great hospital and he was so wonderful, so generous to me, really a wonderful man. You never worked with him, did you? No, I didn't. But it reminds me of...

You did work with my brother, Chad. Oh, yeah. With the great Elizabeth Taylor. That was a movie I produced. I didn't know you produced that. Wow. Yeah. And she was great. She was absolutely marvelous. Very, very wonderful story and

I was very proud of that movie. Called There Must Be a Pony. Yeah, and your brother was great, I thought. He was really good in it. I visited one day and got to see Elizabeth Taylor work. And I think it was a scene where you, I think it was you, but somebody came into the kitchen while she was making a salad and told her that there had been a terrible plane crash and

and someone beloved to her was dead. That was the scene. And I will never forget this as long as I live, RJ. Take one, someone comes in. I think it was you. Whatever a character's name is, I have some terrible news. The plane has gone down, and so-and-so's dead. Elizabeth turns her back to the camera, picks up a napkin that she's hidden a raw onion in.

puts it to her face, huffs it, and then, you know, has the tears from the onion and starts crying and does the scene. It was the sickest, coolest pro move. Like she was making a salad with onions and,

and just grabbed it, put it in her face, and turned around. So it was amazing. She was a marvelous, marvelous actress. One of the best screen actresses I think I've ever seen. She was pretty great. You never worked with her, did you? Did you ever work with her? I never did. I got to know her just a little bit, and, you know, you would get lost in those purple eyes. Her eyes were purple. Her eyes were the color of your sweater. She was great. You know, I knew her when she was 14.

Roddy McDowell introduced me to her. And I was just a kid. I was so knocked out by her. I mean, she was just... I mean, you're around her. She just...

She was an amazing force, you know, tremendous energy. 14. Rod, you were great friends with Roddy for years, correct? Yeah. Well, you knew him. You knew Roddy. Yeah, I did. I loved Roddy. Roddy got me into the Screen Actors Guild. Oh, really? I mean, no, sorry. Not the Screen Actors Guild. The Academy. I'm a member of the Academy from Roddy when he was the president of the Academy. And he signed and vouched for me. And I just adored him. He was great.

He was really terrific. I have a couple of things of his that he left me in the house here. And Jill and I were just, we were just crazy about him. You know, we were all such good friends. And he left us too soon. Yes, indeed. So you mentioned Jill. You have one of the great love stories. How many years have you and Jill St. John been married now? We will be married soon.

In March, 35 years. Amazing. Oh, she came into my life and I truly, Rob, wouldn't be here without her. She's just fabulous to me. And at my age, I appreciate that so very much, you can imagine. I wouldn't be this age without her. That's the greatest thing.

thing you could say about your mate. Do you remember the story you told me about Jill St. John and Edith Head's workshop? Oh, tell me. You once told me that as a young man, young actor at Metro, you guys, you know, were always interested in the girls. And the great legendary costume designer, Edith Head, had her own dedicated...

costume department where she had the exact measurement dolls bodies for the dresses of the actresses and you could go and go oh look at that elizabeth taylor oh she's got a good waist or whatever and but the best one that everybody knew that everybody looked at was the the doll figure for jill saint john

What can I say? Aren't you glad I remember all this stuff? Yeah, wonderful. I mean...

I mean, she's wonderful in every way it has been. How long? I didn't realize when I looked at some of the... You know, you've written so many books. How many books have you written? Three now? Three books, yeah. Yeah. How many have you written? You've written quite a few, haven't you? I'm working on my third right now. How do you find it, Rob? Is it easy for you? I think it's Mark Twain who said, I...

Hate writing, but I love having written. I procrastinate. It's like doing homework. I think of a thousand other things I should be doing, but after a really good writing session, nothing feels better. Oh, that's great. When is that going to be coming out? Hopefully, I would say summer, fall. You have a title yet?

I do have a title. It is called What Do I Know? Lessons About Life. Hey, that's nice. Who's publishing it? Penguin. Great. Well, I wish you a lot of luck with that. That sounds good. I can't wait to read it. Thank you. It's going to be...

It's going to be fun, I think. I think I'll have some good stories and hopefully some good nuggets. Okay, I know something else I want to ask you, RJ. Tell me about Lou Wasserman. Oh. Did you know Lou? Lou was one of the great executives who founded MCA and really ran the business like a king. Lou and his wife?

They were very, very good friends of Jill's and mine. And we spent a lot of time together. He was a fascinating man. He was so bright, so intelligent, so intelligent about the business. He was my agent for a while, you know. He was the one that said to me, I want to see you in front of the audience every week. And I got this project that I think would be

I think he'd be just right for it. He was the one that put me in Thief and gave me Alexander Monday. You know, he was the one that came up with that. And I was at Universal for a number of years. And he was a very special man. I liked him very much. And he was so bright and so...

I'm aware of what was happening during that time and during those days. Made a big change in the industry. Big change. Oh, I mean, he was responsible for packaging and he would literally go to the networks. He would and say, I have a Western for you. And they'd be like, great, we're putting it on. I mean, he told them what they wanted. Yeah.

and created it did you ever work for him rob i i never did i i um i met him a couple of times and was always knew i was in the company of somebody amazing um and again they don't have we don't have that many executives like that no it's it's a completely changed business now very different you know that that it was uh more a family business family and uh

You could pitch ideas and do stories and gamble with it. You can't do that anymore. It's all very, very corporative and very bottom line. Lots of producers. I counted 12 producers the other night on a television show. I couldn't believe it. Oh, believe me. I just finished doing a...

five-year run of a show called 9-1-1 Lone Star. And there are producers credited who I've never met. Never met them. Just amazing. You know, you and I came up in the business when there was one producer. Yeah.

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This is a stat from one of your books that blew my mind. When you started, this is a quote from you. When I started at Fox in 1950, they were making 65 movies a year. I bet you last year, Fox made 10. I'll bet you. You could be right. From 65 to 10.

You just can't believe it. Yeah, it was wonderful. Very busy. Lots of actors, directors, producers, writers. And they all had an idea. They had a concept. And if you believed in it,

They made it. How long was the average shooting of a movie? You shot a movie in four weeks, six weeks? Yeah, I was going to say four weeks or 30 days, 30 shooting days. Wow. And when they made the schedule out, when they made the board out, they very rarely went over. Very rarely. I mean, the production people there knew exactly what's going to happen and when and how to move and everything.

what it would take, and you know what, you know what. It's a very complicated business, you know, when you're moving that big a company and the shooting is money, you know, it's time. But they pulled all the plugs and did it, you know. What a great time to be in the business. You were contracted Fox, and then there was Metro, right?

right, was the other place, and Universal. Those were the big three. Well, there was Warner Brothers in Columbia. And they all had their own stable. Yeah, they all had their own list of contract players. And when I was trying to get in the business, you know, you'd go and do readings for them at each studio, and they all had dramatic coaches, and you'd go and study with them, and you'd do a reading like a Paramount interview

studios, they had a fishbowl. They called it the fishbowl. And you'd go in and they had a screening room with all glass. And the producers would sit in the audience and you'd come in and do a scene behind the glass with sound and the producers would look at it and they would comment on your performance and

It was quite an interesting process, you know? Wow. Why were they behind glass? That's amazing. Well, that's why they call it the fishbowl, you know? Because the actors would come in on the side and you'd hear the... You could see the actors, but the producers, they could talk and back and forth and you do these scenes. I'll bet you what they were also doing is there's probably a button so they could talk and then they could talk about the actors and the actors wouldn't hear them because they're behind glass. Yeah.

I don't like that guy's hairline. Yeah, that's what it was. Oh, for sure, right? 100% it was. Yeah. But, you know, you try anything. You know, why not? Was there a hierarchy of studios that one was more prestigious than the other or one was considered more of a comedy studio or did they have identities, I guess, is what I'm asking you. They did, Rob, you know. I think that

The premier, the best one was MGM. You know, if you could be under contract to MGM, you were pretty well regarded. But Fox was great. I had a wonderful woman there, Helena Sorrell. She was just great to me. And she felt that I had something and she directed my test. And Sanic saw it and put me in a film called With a Song in My Heart.

And he put me in a couple of films, but then he put me in a film called With a Song in My Heart with Susan Hayward. And she played Jane Froman. And she sang to me. And I was a very disturbed and hurt soldier that had come back. And I was mentally, you know, having major problems. And she sang to me. I had a couple of lines in it. I said to Zanuck,

What do you think? And he said, I think that they'll come out of the theater saying, who was that guy? And they did. And then I got a lot of fan reaction from the kids and all over the country. And they were responsible for getting me started and off the ground. And my career started. It was a very fortunate time. I don't think it'll ever be like that again. Never. That was a period of time that was really...

really fortunate for me. It sounds amazing. I've always thought I would have done well and loved to have been a contract actor. And yet, there, as you know, were always actors that railed against it and sued and wanted to have more autonomy and freedom. And I can also understand that. But I think, sort of, as a numbers game, it was better...

for actors for sure to have that kind of support system, don't you? Absolutely. And you put it just absolutely right. Yeah, it was a great time. And I was very fortunate

Very fortunate to have come into the industry at that time. Would they give you like etiquette lessons or tell you how they would like you to dress? Or was it a full service training program? Or was it really just limited to... At times, they would do that. But you had all those things available to you too, you know. All of those, all of the...

They had a small stage that you could work on. I became the test boy at Fox. I did many, many screen tests. And I had a chance to be in front of the camera and around the crew. And, you know, they were just wonderful. They were just wonderful to me. And they were a family. And they wanted to see me succeed. How great is that? I mean, not to have those professional people who, you know, believed in you and everything.

They were there for me, you know? It was like I just caught it at the best time, Rob, you know? Very, very, very fortunate. And I...

I live in gratitude for that. I was going to say, I hope that I'm living in as much gratitude as you are, and you've had it and continue to have. One of the great lives. I mean, you're up there in Aspen. You're on your mountain. You've got your dogs. You've got your beautiful wife. I mean, you've got your amazing daughters and grandkids. How many grandkids do you have now? I have two grandchildren.

And I have three daughters and a wonderful son. And you know what it's like. Believe me, Rob, I'm one of the luckiest men in the world. And there is not a day that goes by that I don't say I'm grateful. And I really am truly grateful for my life and for my career and

You know, I just turned 95 and everybody was so wonderful to me and so kind. And what can I say, you know? You know, I've always loved you. You've always been an inspiration to me. Thank you. I cherish every, usually every New Year's Day, I get a phone call from you.

Every you, you're like, like clockwork just checking in and it's the sweetest. I always go around telling everybody, Robert Wagner just called me. Robert Wagner just called me. And, uh, I, I just, you're, you're an inspiration. I'm so glad you came on the show because your knowledge of what you witnessed, what you accomplished in this business is,

There's no one who has that kind of firsthand experience and wisdom that you do. Nobody. Thank you so much, Rob. Thank you for having me on your show. You know, I have the greatest of affection for you. You know that. And have had since you've been a young man. And I'm so proud of you and to see you evolve as you have. It's been one of the great pleasures of my life.

Oh, thank you so much. Will you please give Joe a big hug for me? I will try. You'll succeed. I have a feeling you'll succeed. Thank you, RJ. Love you so much. Thank you too, Rob. You're the best. Can you believe that? 90, 94 years old? 94. And like immaculate and sharp and charming and

RJ has always paved a way for how to live your life. And I hope that I'm like that at his age. I hope you had fun. That was really, really a look at what Hollywood used to be like. And there aren't that many of them left with us that can tell us. So that was a gift and I hope you enjoyed it. And I'm going to see y'all next week right here on Literally With Me. Thank you.

You've been listening to Literally with Rob Lowe, produced by me, Sean Doherty, with help from associate producer Sarah Begar and research by Alyssa Grau. Engineering and mixing by Joanna Samuel. Our executive producers are Rob Lowe for Low Profile, Nick Liao, Adam Sachs, and Jeff Ross for Team Coco, and Colin Anderson for Stitcher. Booking by Deirdre Dodd. Music by Devin Bryant.

Special thanks to Hidden City Studios. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next time on Literally.

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