Think you know the truth about Robert Wagner? With the imminent release of HBO’s documentary Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind, we take a look at Wagner and Wood’s intersecting lives, marriages, divorce, and careers. Wagner was most famous as the star of the popular 1980’s TV show Hart To Hart. Alongside Stefanie Powers, the TV show famously contained the line, “When they met, it was murder,” a truly fitting epithet seeing as Wagner may have gotten away with murdering his wife.
Robert John Wagner Jr. was born on February 10th, 1930, in Detroit, Michigan. His mother was telephone operator Hazel Alvera (née Boe), and his father was traveling salesman Robert John Wagner Sr., who worked for the Ford Motor Company. His paternal grandparents were from Germany, while his mother’s parents hailed from Norway.
As a teenager, Wagner flunked his screen test but the experience gave him the acting bug. He was soon represented by Albert “Cubby” Broccoli, later of James Bond fame. His first film was The Happy Years (1950), winning a contract with 20th Century Fox. He stated"I started off as an ingenue … I was 19 years old. I was the boy next door. But you always felt you could work your way up, that you could have a better part in the next picture. Wagner's first film for Fox was WW2 film, Halls of Montezuma (1951).
Natalie Wood was born Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko in San Francisco on July 20th, 1938, to Maria Zoudilova and Nicholas Zacharenko. She started acting at the age of four and starred in the original Miracle on 34th Street (1947) aged eight. Natalie Wood’s life and death are inextricably linked with Robert Wagner.
Before she became a product of the studio system, the two actors first met around 1949 when the 18-year-old male actor strutted his good looks around the 20th Century Fox studios. He soon caught the attention of ten-year-old child actress Natalie Wood. And when they met… young Natalie told her mother: “I’m going to marry him one day.” She did, twice, and it might have been the death of her. Natalie went on to star opposite James Dean in the magnificent Rebel Without a Cause (1955).
Meanwhile, back on the ranch… after a few more minor movies, R.J. landed a role in Titanic (1953). Wagner claimed he and co-star Barbara Stanwyck went on to have a four-year relationship. Their 23-year age difference didn’t look good for the studio, so the powers that be paired him with now 18-year-old Natalie Wood. The starlet had allegedly had an affair with Frank Sinatra when she was 15, but the young actress was keeping a darker secret. When she was 16, she had been subjected to a vicious sexual attack at the hands of an unknown powerful actor.
The boy next door and the girl next door were a match made in heaven, and the public went nuts for Wagner and Wood. Dashing Robert and beautiful Natalie’s good looks were the perfect ingredients to make them media darlings. Things reached fever pitch when they took a cross-country road trip, and radio stations reported sightings of the couple driving down highways so cheering crowds could line the streets as they passed through American towns.
They married in 1957 when she was 19, and he was 27. Now, the Wagner and Wood partnership may have been a media sensation, but critics mauled their first feature film together, All the Fine Young Cannibals (1960), the film that inspired the 1980s English band, Fine Young Cannibals. The next year, Natalie starred in West Side Story (1961).
To the outside world, the glamorous couple had a perfect life. They walked red carpets, posed aboard yachts and drank champagne. But behind the scenes, their relationship was tumultuous, and they were always on the verge of separating. Natalie Wood’s star was rising a lot faster than Wagner’s, which played on R.J.’s fragile ego. Another reason is that Wood is alleged to have had an affair with co-star Warren Beatty while making Splendor in the Grass (1961). That was the official story, but the real story is far more salacious...
The notion that Natalie’s affair with Warren Beatty caused their separation was easier to swallow than the truth. Natalie Wood’s sister Lana claims that one day, Natalie arrived home early to their Beverly Hills mansion and found Robert Wagner in bed with his male butler, David Cavendish.
Natalie Wood’s mother, Maria Gurdin (pictured), described Cavendish as “A much older ‘swishy’ man with an English accent”. She also stated the butler’s presence in Wagner’s former two-bedroom maisonette made her instantly suspicious, setting off her “protective antennae”.
Author Suzanne Finstad spilled the beans in her book, Natalie Wood: The Complete Biography (2020). “The secret that was buried deepest in Natalie’s closet of skeletons was the shocking end of her fairy tale first marriage to bobby socks idol Robert Wagner... To protect Wagner’s image, Natalie publicly took the fall for their sudden divorce in 1961. She never refuted fan-magazine gossip that her marriage to Wagner imploded over an alleged affair she had with her co-star Warren Beatty while filming Splendor in the Grass.”
Finstad continues: “In time, the gossip, patently false, was reported as fact. Only a trusted few knew Natalie’s account. I was told by three of Natalie’s close friends, by her mother’s best friend, and her sister, Lana, that Natalie came upon R.J. in their Beverly Hills mansion in flagrante with a man.”
According to Finstad, upon finding her husband in bed with Cavendish, Natalie: “became hysterical, smashed a glass and fled – bleeding and in her nightgown – to a neighbour’s house where she called her mother. Her sister Lana, who was 15 at the time, recalled Natalie arriving at the family home still bleeding and sobbing, telling them her marriage was over.”
Lana claimed Natalie locked herself in a bedroom and accidentally overdosed on sleeping pills. Her parents rushed her to hospital to have her stomach pumped. She never recovered from Wagner’s betrayal, but he sweet-talked her into lying to save his career. After the divorce, Natalie underwent intense psychoanalysis, later joking her therapy bills were "at least the equal of the annual defense budget of most Central American nations."
Although half of Hollywood was sleeping with their butlers, back then this kind of scandal was career-ending. Not that Wagner wasn’t famous for loving women, too. Over the course of his career, he is rumored to have hooked up with a veritable who's-who of Hollywood’s leading ladies, including Elizabeth Taylor, Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, Claudette Colbert, Yvonne De Carlo, Anita Ekberg, Shirley Anne Field, Lori Nelson, Joan Collins and Jill St John. He also dated much older women; in addition to Barbara Stanwyck, Bette Davis was 22 years his senior, and Joan Crawford was 26 years older than him.
Perhaps to further dispel the rumors that Natalie found him in bed with a man, Wagner wasted no time jumping back on the love boat after the divorce. While working in Europe, he reconnected with his old friend, actress Marion Marshall, who was famous for her roles with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis.
The couple made movies in Europe for two years, and married on July 21st, 1963, having one daughter, Katie Wagner. But Wagner’s career was floundering and playing second fiddle to Peter Sellers and David Niven in The Pink Panther (1963) wasn’t going to save it. Around the same time, Natalie Wood dated both Michael Caine and David Niven’s son, David Jr.
Back in the USA, Wagner’s career was on the ropes. Things got so bad, he played Mister Roberts for one week at a holiday resort just outside Chicago. He was lucky to support Paul Newman in Harper (1966), starring Paul Newman, but later that same year, his fortunes changed for the better when he signed with Universal Studios.
Lew Wasserman convinced R.J. to play a debonair ex-con in ABC’s new adventure serial, It Takes a Thief (1968–1970). Wagner later stated: "I was opposed to doing Thief … but Lew Wasserman said: 'I want you to be in TV Guide every week. This is your medium; you've got to try it; you'll be great.' Roland Kibbee wrote the part for me, and I would have missed all that if I hadn't listened to Lew." The show was an immediate hit and Wagner’s career was on the up again. So much so that Cubby Broccoli suggested he audition for James Bond, before deciding the role “was not right for him.”
His career was improving, but at home, his marriage was on the rocks. He and Marion separated in June 1970, and the same month, Wagner became engaged to Tina Sinatra. Wagner loved hanging around at daddy Frank Sinatra’s Palm Springs compound. But something soon had Wagner singing Nancy Sinatra’s most famous song, as his boots walked all over Tina.
Meanwhile, over in our B-Story, Natalie Wood had married British talent agent Richard Gregson in 1969. But the minute Wagner learned of their 1972 divorce, he gave Tina her marching orders and invited six-month pregnant Natalie over to his Palm Springs home.
They soon shocked the world by attending the Oscars together. Wood’s sister said it felt “like the whole world felt sentimental about this reconciliation.” To celebrate, the happy, reunited couple got on a boat...
In June 1972, the on-again couple set sail for England aboard the luxury cruise ship, the Queen Elizabeth 2. Wagner was headed to Europe to promote British thriller Madame Sin (1971), which was the ideal excuse for boat-loving Robert to take Natalie on an old-fashioned Atlantic crossing. The two stars were blissfully in love again, but on the horizon, there was a storm brewing.
The first morning into the crossing, terrifying 70-foot waves slammed against the cruiser, and they didn’t let up for four days. After finally arriving safely on terra firma in the UK, they decided to remarry.
Now might be a good time to mention that Natalie Wood already had an intense fear of deep water. "I've always been terrified, still am, of water—dark water, seawater," she told an interviewer in the 1970s. The QE2 trip was supposed to be romantic, but it only intensified her hydrophobia. Despite this, they borrowed a yacht called the Ramblin’ Rose for their second wedding.
Guests attended the wedding ceremony anchored off Paradise Cove near Malibu before the newlyweds set sail for their second honeymoon on Santa Catalina Island. Wagner became so enraged at Lana's husband selling wedding pictures to a tabloid newspaper, he didn’t talk to her for years. No one knew it yet, but Santa Catalina would become the site of one of Hollywood’s most enduring murder mysteries.
In 1975, Wagner bought a 60-foot yacht called Challenger, but the couple weren’t happy with the name. Now, as any seafarer will tell you, changing the name of a boat is bad luck. Natalie always loved a William Wordsworth poem that contained the word “splendour,” so they agreed to name their new yacht Splendour.
But Splendour also had a deeper meaning. The word featured in Natalie's film Splendor in the Grass - remember the one where she was rumored to have had an affair with Warren Beatty? Whether the gossip was true or not, every time Wagner got on his boat, he’d be reminded. Natalie was feeling jealous, and it seems mind games were afoot.
You see, at this point in their lives, the roles had reversed. Wagner’s career was soaring while Wood’s was floundering. In 1981, he landed the lead in Hart to Hart opposite Stefanie Powers. The weekly show was one of the early 1980s most popular TV serials, primarily due to the on-screen chemistry between Wagner and his stunning redhead co-star. Audiences around the world thought they weren’t a real-life couple... and so did Natalie Wood.
One day, Natalie and two of their kids headed to the studio to surprise R.J. on the Warner Bros. Hart To Hart studio lot in Burbank. Wagner happened to be filming a love scene with Stefanie Powers. Natalie and the girls walked in at the worst possible moment, and the children burst into tears.
As rumors circulated that Wagner and Powers were Hollywood's new power couple, Natalie won a role in sci-fi pic Brainstorm (1983) alongside Christopher Walken. He had just won the Best Actor Oscar for his role in The Deer Hunter (1979), and Natalie thought he was the best thing since sliced bread. Lana Wood said Natalie was infatuated with Walken.
Perhaps still jealous of her husband’s chemistry with Stefanie Powers, Natalie invited Walken along to celebrate Thanksgiving weekend with them aboard the Splendour. The only other person with them was the captain, Dennis Davern.
Captain Davern anchored Splendour near the town of Avalon on Santa Catalina Island. The three actors took the dinghy into Isthmus Cove to have dinner. While Natalie, Robert and Christopher ate and drank at a restaurant, Robert couldn’t help but notice that his wife was close with her new friend. It’s likely he believed they were more than just good friends, and Walken was a threat to his marriage, his pride, and his ego.
Staff at the restaurant recalled the group had been drinking heavily. By the time the three revellers took the dinghy back to the Splendour, Wagner was sporting a deadly combination: liquor, jealousy and rage.
Back aboard the yacht, the three actors continued drinking, and Captain Davern joined them. The night ended with a fierce argument between Wagner and Wood, most likely about her overfamiliarity and touching Christopher Walken.
On the morning of November 29th, 1981, Natalie Wood’s body was found about one mile from the Splendour, floating near the boat’s dinghy. She was 43 years old. Blood samples revealed she’d been drinking heavily and there were “fresh bruises on her legs and arms and an abrasion on her left cheek.” The official version of events was that the intoxicated actress drowned attempting to get on the dinghy from the yacht. But is that what really happened?
Police interviewed Robert Wagner twice, and each time, he said Natalie went to bed early, and when he went to check on her, she wasn’t in her room. Detectives had to cut Wagner’s first interview short due to his emotional state. During his second interview, Wagner remembered that between Wood going to her room and checking on her, Walken had ventured onto the deck for some fresh air. Could Christopher have been involved, or was Wagner trying to take the heat off himself?
On paper, it was a cut-and-dried case of accidental drowning. But some things just didn’t stack up. Most notably, Natalie Wood’s dreaded fear of water and, in particular, drowning. Why would someone try to get on a dinghy in the middle of the night if they were so terrified of deep water? And that wasn’t the only disturbing thing about this investigation.
Coroner Dr. Thomas Noguchi’s autopsy determined Natalie Wood had consumed seven or eight glasses of wine the night she died. Additionally, there were bruises that could have been caused by a fall. But the strange thing was that Noguchi downplayed Wood’s high alcohol level, bruises, and anything else that might have implicated Robert Wagner in her death. So, why was the coroner so against implicating Wagner?
Well, it turns out Coroner Noguchi was already in trouble over the autopsy he performed on veteran American actor William Holden. In that instance, he had divulged too much information about Holden’s alcohol levels, so the medical examiner wasn’t going to make that mistake again. There was also one huge, more sinister connection between the two deaths.
Now, this may be no more than a bizarre coincidence, but William Holden was no stranger to Robert Wagner. The elderly actor had been Wagner’s Hart to Hart co-star Stefanie Powers' boyfriend for almost ten years. Yes, William Holden was the boyfriend of the woman R.J. shared such amazing on-screen chemistry with, and the woman Natalie was intensely jealous of.
Even more bizarre was that William Holden had also died under mysterious circumstances. Drunk, he had slipped on a rug, lacerated his forehead on a bedside table, and bled to death on November 12th, 1981.
That's just two weeks before Natalie drowned. Could life be imitating art? Was it a case of “When they met… it was murder" for Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers as well as Mr and Mrs Hart?
So, how was Robert Wagner coping in the months following Natalie Wood’s drowning? Well, he was working on damage control. The boat’s captain stayed at Wagner’s home and said he found it hard to get away. The place was highly alarmed, and Wagner’s bodyguards kept stopping him from leaving. Why was Wagner afraid to let Davern talk? And to what lengths would he go to keep the captain’s silence?
All of a sudden, Wagner was offering Davern up for acting roles in commercials and even a part in Hart To Hart. Then, Wagner started offering Davern large amounts of money. His friends believed Wagner was paying him hush money to keep his mouth shut. But what did the skipper know that he wasn’t telling? On many occasions over the years, Davern teased the media that he had the inside scoop on the mystery, but he always backtracked, saying he couldn’t share the secrets.
In Robert Wagner’s 1986 biography, Heart to Heart with Robert Wagner, he claimed Natalie fell overboard trying to tighten the dinghy's rope as the noise of the smaller boat knocking against the yacht was keeping her awake. He said: "It was only after I was told that she was dressed in a sleeping gown, heavy socks, and a parka that it dawned on me what had really occurred.
Natalie obviously had trouble sleeping with that dinghy slamming up against the boat," Wagner wrote in Heart to Heart. "...She probably skidded on one of the steps after untying the ropes. The steps are slick as ice because of the algae and seaweed that's always clinging to them. After slipping on the steps, she hit her head against the boat...I only hope she was unconscious when she hit the water."
But so many elements stick out: What about the explosive argument, the cuts and bruises, and the flirting with Christopher Walken? Finally, Captain Davern decided to speak out. It took years for the ship's captain to share his version of that night’s events — and the details were dynamite. He now states that once the three actors returned from dinner, they continued drinking. Wagner let loose about Wood and Walken's flirting.
He smashed a bottle across the table and yelled, accusing Walken of trying to steal his wife. Walken made his excuses and headed for his room, while Natalie stormed off to hers. But it wasn’t over yet... not by a long shot.
Once Wood and Walken had gone to their separate rooms, Davern claimed that he had continued drinking with the semi-cuckolded husband. When Wagner checked on his wife, Davern reported hearing “a fight like he’d never heard before”. The couple were going at it, screaming and throwing things at each other. Davern later heard someone untying the dinghy lines. He claims he found Wagner at the swim steps looking “tousled and sweating … like he’d been in a fight.”
But, being three sheets to the wind, Captain Davern forgot all about the arguing, R.J.'s dishevelled state, and the fact that someone had been messing with the dinghy ropes. So, the two men drank some more before both going to check for her. She wasn’t in Walken’s room, and couldn’t be found anywhere on the boat. That’s when Davern noticed the missing dinghy. Wagner and Davern raised the alarm at 1:30 AM before the captain suggested searching the water with floodlights, and cruising around to try to find Natalie. But Wagner immediately shut these suggestions down, saying he didn’t want other, nearby boaters to know anything was wrong.
One couple on a boat anchored near the Splendour heard a woman’s voice crying out: “Help me, someone please help me.” The couple also heard a male voice reply, “Okay honey, we’ll get you,” but believed it was just late-night revelers fooling around in the water. Could that man’s voice have belonged to Robert Wagner? And if so, why didn’t he help his drowning wife out of the water? For almost 40 years, the mystery remained.
In 2011, the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau reopened the investigation into Wood's death after numerous new witnesses came forward challenging Wagner’s conflicting statements. As a result of Davern’s updated testimony, people believed there was definitely something fishy going on. In 2011, 700 people—including Captain Davern—signed a petition highlighting their dissatisfaction with the original investigation. Needless to say, most suspected Wagner of murdering his wife.
After the captain’s testimony and ensuing petition, the coroner changed the wording of Natalie Wood’s death report from “accidental drowning” to “drowning and other undetermined factors.” In 2018, almost four decades after she drowned, investigators named Robert Wagner as a person of interest.
By Valentine’s Day, 1982, Robert Wagner started dating again. That’s less than three months after his wife's death. Just as he never got to play James Bond, he never got together with Stafanie Powers. But he did marry a flame-haired Bond Girl. His latest redhead was Diamonds Are Forever (1971) Bond Girl, Jill St. John, whom he had known since the 1950s. After eight years together, Robert married Jill in 1990, and they are still together.
Robert Wagner continued acting, and despite mild success as Dr Evil’s Number 2 in the Austin Powers trilogy, his career is eternally overshadowed by his involvement in Natalie Wood’s death.
HBO’s Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind is a celebration of the actress’s life and legacy. The documentary was created by Natalie's daughter, Natasha Gregson Wagner, who sits down with her 90-year-old stepfather to ask him if the case should be reopened. Natasha has never suspected her stepfather was responsible for her mother’s death.
Meanwhile, Lana Wood, is estranged from her nieces because she believes Wagner was involved in her sister's death. To this day, Christopher Walken maintains it was a tragic accident.
In recent years, skipper Dennis Davern sensationally revealed Natalie was terrified for the whole trip and knew she was going to be murdered. Robert Wagner’s part in Natalie’s death will remain a secret until, one day, hopefully, the truth finally surfaces. Until that day, some people will have suspicious minds… just like the Fine Young Cannibals said.
Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind is available on HBO from 27th January 2020.