I Loved Her in the Movies

August 22, 2016
In his third Hollywood memoir (after Pieces of My Heart), film and TV star Wagner writes a valentine to the “female movie stars that defined my generation.” He proceeds chronologically, beginning in the 1930s with Norma Shearer, “ first movie star,” whom he met when he was eight. Other ’30s stars he discusses include Joan Crawford, with whom he had a brief fling in the ’50s, and Irene Dunne. In the 1940s, Wagner champions the troubled Betty Hutton and dances with June Haver at a party at his high school. He writes at length about Lana Turner in the 1950s, and breezes through the 1960s and 1980s, though readers will wish he hadn’t. His chapters on his wives, Natalie Wood and Jill St. John, are particularly brief and unsatisfying. There are tidbits of gossip—Fred McMurray was a tightwad; Veronica Lake was given to anti-Semitic outbursts—but most of the book contains casual recollections. His digression about the Studio Club, a residence house for actresses, is more interesting. What emerges most strongly is Wagner’s sympathy and respect for the resilient women who had to fight harder than men to survive in Hollywood. 35 b&w photos. Agent: Mort Janklow, Janklow & Nesbit.

September 15, 2016
A popular actor's "love letter to actresses."Wagner (You Must Remember This: Life and Style in Hollywood's Golden Age, 2014, etc.), now 86, returns with another installment of his life in the movies, this time focusing on the Hollywood ladies, many of whom he knew quite well thanks to a long career. If he didn't work with them, he knew them socially or personally. His knowledge of Hollywood film history is prodigious. Don't expect any bad-mouthing or dirt; "this is a book about character and craft, talent and genius, respect and love." Mostly. Wagner admits to having a "brief, ships-in-the-night fling" with Joan Crawford, who had an "infectious personality and a huge drive." Actresses, writes the author, "have it harder" than actors, and they also have shorter careers--"for every Meryl Streep there are ten Demi Moores and Meg Ryans, women who earned major salaries and major parts for precisely as long as they were the Hot Young Girl." The actress cavalcade breezes by chronologically. Wagner starts in the 1930s and ends in the '80s, with short chapters on two wives: Natalie Wood ("complicated") and Jill St. John (a "good actress"). The author is succinct and pithy at giving a sense/opinion of who they were as people and what their strengths were as actresses. Gloria Swanson was "incisive," "industrious" and "imperious." Neither Jean Harlow nor Mae West was "particularly beautiful," but both "made sex safe for the middle class." Although Bette Davis was a "small woman," she came into the "movie frame with a rush." Marilyn Monroe was a "sweet, nervous girl" who became a "legend." Some readers might find Wagner sexist and old-fashioned. Looks matter to him. Harlow had a "spectacular body" she liked to display; Jean Peters was "breathtaking;" Lana Turner had a "body that men would go to war over;" Brigitte Bardot was the "hottest thing on two legs." Frothy and honest remembrances for gossipy movie fans.

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October 1, 2016

Whether it's virginal silent film star Lillian Gish, wisecracking Jean Harlow, or sultry Forties pinup stars Rita Hayworth or Ava Gardner, the audiences of each era elevate certain actresses to iconic status, no matter how briefly, finding fantasy wish fulfillment in their screen images.

Few actors are as well qualified to appreciate these stars as I Loved Her in the Movies author Wagner, who has enjoyed a 65-year Hollywood career. Here, with film scholar Eyman, he describes actresses he married (Natalie Wood, twice; Jill St. John), those with whom he worked or socialized, others he simply met or heard about. In Wagner's view, female actors are usually more self-aware than their male counterparts, and they have a greater struggle, aging out of good roles earlier than men, fighting male-controlled studio systems and negative stereotypes about being overly assertive (Bette Davis and Olivia de Havilland had to go to court to break studio contracts). Wagner keeps gossip to a minimum, writing with honesty, wit, and candor about great female stars. He says the most successful are able to balance professional drive while maintaining their identity and sense of self-worth, carving a life for themselves outside of show business.

A Star Is Born, by Tiffin (All the Best Lines), covers some of the same territory but without Wagner's insider knowledge and perception, providing brief profiles on diverse figures ranging from Gish to Jennifer Lawrence. The volume includes long and unnecessary excerpts from the films of each actress and too many profiles that tread familiar ground and present little new information. VERDICT Wagner's wonderfully readable book of wise love letters to the great actresses is like enjoying an intimate chat with an old friend and highly recommended; Star is strictly a browsing item.--Stephen Rees, formerly with Levittown Lib., PA

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2016
Now 86, Wagner, a moderately successful actor from the 1950s into the 2000s, has found a second career as the author of surprisingly entertaining memoirs about Hollywood in the Golden Age. You Must Remember This (2014) delivered jaunty recollections of the grand mansions and iconic watering holes where the stars lived and played. Now, with the help of coauthor Scott Eyman, he reprises his encounters with Tinseltown's legendary actresses. The anecdotes about the stars never fail to entertain, but the book's most fascinating character is Wagner himself, a true child of the movies. He grew up in L.A., attended Hollywood Hills Military Academy, and landed his first movie role in high school. And the guy knows everybody. The first movie star he ever met was Norma Shearer in 1938, who happened to be the mother of one Wagner's school friends, Irving Thalberg Jr. Wagner was nine when he met Shirley Temple in an orthodontist's office, and in high school he dated Gloria Swanson's daughter. Get the picture? Remarkably, this Zelig-like parade of encounters never feels like name-dropping. Wagner comes across as a regular guy who could act a little but just plain loved movies and hanging with the stars.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)