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00:00because you would have given your life for my mom.
00:04Robert Wagner is 95 years old and still posting workout videos online.
00:09But what you don't see is what happened in 1981.
00:13A woman drowned off his yacht that November night.
00:16He waited 90 minutes before calling for help.
00:19In 2018, investigators named him a person of interest.
00:23He's refused to speak to them ever since.
00:26Today, he lives in Aspen with his wife.
00:30Who just happened to be the victim's closest friend.
00:32The marriage started just two months after the funeral.
00:36And the most shocking part?
00:38This story gets darker the deeper you go.
00:41Robert John Wagner Jr. came into the world on February 10, 1930, in Detroit.
00:48It was the middle of the Great Depression.
00:50But his family wasn't struggling the way most were.
00:53His father, born in 1890 in Kalamazoo, had already fought through hard times.
00:58He'd left home at 10 after suffering abuse, selling newspapers to survive.
01:04By the time Robert was born, they were living in a grand house on Fairway Drive,
01:09built in 1934 beside a golf course.
01:12His mother, Thelma Hazel Alvera, had worked as a telephone operator.
01:17Her parents were Norwegian immigrants who married back in 1887.
01:21Since his father went by Bob, the boy got the nickname R.J., and it stuck through everything
01:29that followed.
01:29In 1937, when R.J. was just seven, the family left behind their Detroit estate and moved
01:36to Bel Air, California.
01:38His father had landed Better Work, and the new neighborhood placed them close to golf courses
01:44and Hollywood studios.
01:45Wagner ended up attending the Black Fox Military Institute, a school founded by men who'd seen
01:51the trenches of World War I.
01:53It sat right next to Wilshire Country Club, and its location meant Wagner was surrounded by
01:59the children of movie stars.
02:00Even then, his world was orbiting close to the film industry, and that made a quiet impression
02:06on him.
02:07Not long after, around 1942, R.J. got sick.
02:12Rheumatic fever hit him hard, locking him away in bed for months.
02:16Back then, it was a dangerous infection that could mess up your heart permanently.
02:22The doctors warned his parents it might affect his growth, or worse.
02:25But while he lay there, R.J. turned to radio shows and movie magazines.
02:30That time alone, with his imagination, only drew him deeper into the world he'd been skirting
02:36around for years.
02:37It might have been a cruel twist of fate, but it also gave him focus.
02:42And he made it through, stronger than anyone expected.
02:46When he was about 12, he started caddying at the Bel Air Country Club.
02:50It wasn't just a job, it was his front row seat to Hollywood legends.
02:55Clark Gable, Fred Astaire, Bing Crosby, they all passed by.
03:00He wasn't the best caddy, often too distracted by the stars to notice where the ball landed.
03:06They called him the quiz kid, because he'd fire off endless questions about their movies.
03:12Gable once had to pause mid-swing while R.J. asked about shifting gears in a car during
03:18a romantic scene.
03:19Even while they teased him, they couldn't help but see something in him.
03:23Years later, when he told Fred Astaire he had landed a role at Fox, Astaire just smiled
03:29and said, get in there and do it.
03:31At 18, in 1948, Wagner's moment finally came.
03:36A talent scout spotted him at a restaurant.
03:39Soon after, he signed with Agent Henry Wilson and took a crack at the studio game.
03:45His first gig came through a connection.
03:47His dad knew the director.
03:49The film was the happy years, and his pay was $37.50.
03:54His dad gave him a one-year deadline.
03:57Make it in movies or get a real job.
03:59At Fox, he made $75 a week, and competition was brutal.
04:04Dozens of fresh-faced guys were fighting for every line, but things started to shift.
04:09In Halls of Montezuma, released in early 1951, he had his first credited part.
04:14The studio began to see his potential.
04:17Then came a turning point.
04:19His 47-second appearance as a war veteran in
04:22With a Song in My Heart was silent, but powerful, just trembling hands and tears.
04:28Two weeks after the premiere, 10,347 fan letters flooded in.
04:33More than some stars got in a year.
04:36Fox gave him a raise, from $150 to $750 a week, and three lead roles that same year.
04:42But behind the charm, things got messy.
04:45During the shooting of Stars and Stripes Forever, Wagner, then 22, was dating three actresses,
04:52Joan Evans, Terry Moore, and Deborah Padgett.
04:56Trouble broke when a columnist snapped a photo of him leaving Evans' house at 2 a.m.
05:01She was just 16.
05:03California law didn't care about parental consent in those cases.
05:07The studio went into panic mode.
05:10They assigned him chaperones and demanded he stop seeing the underage girls.
05:14He agreed, focusing on Padgett.
05:17But rumors about his taste in women lingered for years.
05:21By early 1953, Wagner was filming beneath the 12-mile reef in the Bahamas.
05:27His role involved diving deep underwater.
05:30On February 18th, while filming a spearfishing scene,
05:34his air hose got caught on coral at 45 feet.
05:37For three full minutes, he panicked, low on air, before divers reached him.
05:42He came up gasping, vomiting seawater, and refused to dive again.
05:48Production halted for five days.
05:50A double finished the underwater scenes, even as the studio claimed he did it all himself.
05:56The irony was stark.
05:58This near-drowning survivor would later become known for boats and yachting.
06:02In Prince Valiant, things got even more dangerous.
06:06Sword fights on set turned bloody.
06:09One stuntman's lung was punctured.
06:12Another broke a collarbone.
06:14One even lost two fingers.
06:16The accidents were stacking up, and British unions threatened to shut it all down.
06:21Off-camera, Wagner's relationship with Deborah Padgett stirred more trouble.
06:26Her religious mother caught them together in his hotel room.
06:29The studio paid $15,000 to silence the scandal and keep Wagner's contract intact.
06:36Then came A Kiss Before Dying in 1956.
06:40The noir thriller was a big step for Wagner, earning him $75,000.
06:45But Robert Stack, his co-star, wasn't happy.
06:49Stack made more money and didn't like sharing the spotlight.
06:52During rehearsals, he repeatedly spilled coffee on Wagner's scripts, 14 times, according to the director's notes.
07:00At one point, Stack locked Wagner in a bathroom trailer for 90 minutes just before a big scene.
07:06Wagner didn't retaliate.
07:08He just kept working.
07:10In Stopover Tokyo, a 68-day shoot in the scorching summer of 1957 brought fresh problems.
07:16Wagner's visits to geisha houses in Ginza almost sparked a diplomatic scandal.
07:22Photos leaked in a local paper, and Fox had to pay over $6,000 to bury the story.
07:28Embassy officials got involved.
07:31The U.S. didn't want headlines of a Hollywood actor disrespecting Japanese customs.
07:36The studio slapped two bodyguards on Wagner, locking him in his hotel for the rest of the shoot.
07:41Later that year, during the true story of Jesse James, Wagner broke his collarbone doing a horseback stunt.
07:49But the real drama happened off-set.
07:51At a Hollywood party, he argued with Elvis Presley over Hope Lange.
07:56Wagner allegedly shoved Elvis into a pool.
07:59The feud escalated.
08:01Elvis' manager demanded an apology.
08:04Wagner had found out Elvis had sent Lange a $3,000 diamond bracelet and over a hundred roses.
08:12The tension between them became so intense that event organizers had to make sure the two stars never showed up
08:19in the same room.
08:21In 1961's Sail a Crooked Ship, Wagner ended up at a Rat Pack yacht party that went horribly wrong.
08:28He crashed the boat into rocks, trying to steer in rough water, damaging the vessel, and putting Sinatra, Dean Martin,
08:35and Sammy Davis Jr. in danger.
08:38The Coast Guard had to rescue them at 2 a.m.
08:41Wagner's blood alcohol level was almost double the legal limit.
08:45The $47,000 in damages led to a lawsuit.
08:49Sinatra paid the legal fees, but told Wagner he was banned from future yacht parties for two years.
08:55His role in The Longest Day earned him praise from John Wayne.
09:00But behind the scenes, things exploded.
09:03Wagner's screen time had been cut nearly in half, and he stormed into producer Daryl Zanuck's trailer, shouting about favoritism.
09:12He threatened to walk off the $6 million production.
09:15Fox nearly replaced him with Tab Hunter.
09:18In the end, his agent negotiated a better deal.
09:2110 minutes of screen time, and a $50,000 bonus.
09:26But the damage was done.
09:28Wagner finished his contract and walked away from Fox, ending a chapter that had started with just $37.50, and
09:35a dream.
09:36It all started in 1956, the night Robert Wagner hijacked a date that wasn't even his.
09:42He was supposed to be with one woman, Natalie Wood, with someone else entirely.
09:47But by the end of the evening, he had made the switch.
09:51And just like that, Natalie was his.
09:54They got married the following year, December 28, 1957, in Scottsdale.
10:00But their picture-perfect wedding nearly collapsed when Natalie exploded over some fan letters Wagner had been getting.
10:08Two hours of screaming in their suite at Chateau Marmont, right before they were supposed to say,
10:14Just two years later, Wagner found himself on set, watching Warren Beatty wrap an arm around his wife between takes.
10:23They were filming all the fine young cannibals.
10:26And Beatty, making his debut, was also making his move.
10:31Wagner stormed off set more than once.
10:34Director Elia Kazan later wrote that Wagner's humiliation was public.
10:39Production delays piled up, scripts had to be rewritten, and Wagner was unraveling while the world kept watching.
10:47When the marriage ended in April 1962, Wagner surprised everyone again.
10:53He quietly began a relationship with Barbara Stanwyck, 23 years older, his former co-star from Titanic.
11:00The romance lasted four years, completely hidden, with only a few trusted friends in the know.
11:07She introduced him to elite circles, helped shape his acting style, and controlled nearly every part of his life.
11:15He had to call her hourly, couldn't take a role without her blessing.
11:19Eventually, he realized he would always be Mr. Stanwyck, and that was never going to be enough.
11:26Then came It Takes a Thief.
11:28By 1968, Wagner was earning $5,000 per episode, one of TV's top salaries.
11:35He shaped his character with tips from Cary Grant.
11:38But things nearly derailed again when Wagner casually spilled plot details at a dinner party.
11:44FBI classified espionage details.
11:47The Bureau demanded script approval, security briefings, and NDAs across the board.
11:54Wagner had to issue a public apology just to keep the show alive.
11:58In 1972, he remarried Natalie.
12:01It looked like a clean slate, but underneath, everything was cracked.
12:07Gossip columns had already been whispering about her method intimacy with co-stars and even a tennis instructor.
12:14Wagner pushed for therapy, $200 per session, two times a week.
12:19The therapist told them the truth.
12:21He was controlling.
12:22She craved freedom.
12:24They stayed together anyway.
12:26Casting heart to heart almost didn't happen.
12:29Wagner wasn't even the first choice.
12:31Cary Grant was.
12:32Stephanie Powers only got in because a newspaper strike delayed her Broadway play.
12:37ABC even asked Natalie Wood to take the role.
12:41It was chaotic.
12:42But somehow, it clicked.
12:44The show hit The Mardwester 12 in ratings and became one of ABC's crown jewels.
12:49But then, Natalie died.
12:51November 29, 1981.
12:54She drowned during a Thanksgiving trip on the yacht Splendor with Wagner and Christopher Walken.
13:00They had just filmed Heart of Darkness, an episode eerily centered on water.
13:05Production froze.
13:07Wagner called that period a charmed life turned to ash.
13:11Still, the story didn't end.
13:14In 1993, nearly ten years after Heart to Heart was cancelled, they came back with reunion movies Wagner and Powers
13:21both produced.
13:22Wagner said filming reminded him of family trips he'd planned with Natalie, the ones that never happened.
13:29Powers said ABC had killed the original show too early.
13:32They had four scripts, two directors, even Paris locations lined up.
13:37The TV movies gave them closure, or at least something close to it.
13:42Lionel Stander, who played Max the butler, became the glue that held them together.
13:47A blacklisted intellectual, married six times, living with three women when Wagner met him.
13:54They all adored him.
13:56Wagner even borrowed Max's famous intro line from an old double indemnity poster.
14:00When they met, it was murder.
14:03Off screen, it was something like family.
14:06The cancellation in 1984 felt like betrayal.
14:10Wagner found out while Powers was away filming in Paris.
14:13He called her,
14:15We're not on the lineup.
14:16No warning.
14:17Just like that, it was over.
14:19By the time they returned in the 90s, it wasn't just about TV anymore.
14:23It was about memory.
14:25About loss.
14:26About finishing something that never got to finish.
14:29At 67, Robert Wagner had mostly faded from the spotlight.
14:33His roles were limited to scattered guest appearances,
14:37and most of Hollywood had quietly moved on.
14:39But then came Austin Powers in 1997.
14:44Mike Myers didn't think Wagner was right for the role of number two.
14:48He was, in Myers' words,
14:50too dignified, too proper, maybe even too old.
14:54But Wagner didn't just show up to the audition.
14:57He showed up as Dr. Evil, bald cap, gray suit.
15:02A flawless eight-minute impersonation that left Myers stunned.
15:06The role, originally just three minutes,
15:10ballooned to 12 minutes across the trilogy
15:12because Wagner nailed it so perfectly.
15:15His shh gesture?
15:17That alone became a cultural moment.
15:20New Line Cinema even printed 50,000 promotional buttons
15:23with his face and that single syllable.
15:26He made $650,000 from the first film,
15:29more than he had earned in five years on TV.
15:32Across the entire trilogy, Wagner earned $2.3 million.
15:36The original film brought 650K,
15:39the sequel 800K,
15:40and gold member 850K.
15:43But it wasn't just money.
15:45During the 1999 shoot,
15:47Wagner insisted on doing his own stunts.
15:49At 69, during a scene escape in an underground lair,
15:53he fell eight feet onto concrete.
15:55The result?
15:56Two herniated discs,
15:58a compressed vertebra,
15:59and six days of halted production.
16:02He was offered OxyContin,
16:04but said no.
16:05After watching Robert Downey Jr. struggle with addiction,
16:09Wagner wasn't going down that road.
16:11Instead, he leaned on ice packs and meditation,
16:15techniques he learned from Stephanie Powers,
16:17his heart-to-heart co-star.
16:19The injury required surgery the following year,
16:22costing him $75,000 out of pocket.
16:26He never filed a claim.
16:27He feared it would ruin his chances of future roles.
16:31Then came Beyonce.
16:32It was March 2002,
16:34and gold member was in production.
16:37During a boardroom scene,
16:38Beyonce, playing Foxy Cleopatra,
16:41began improvising.
16:42The problem?
16:43Her ad-libs stepped directly over Wagner's iconic lines.
16:47Wagner objected.
16:48Beyonce pushed back,
16:50calling his character outdated.
16:52Things got tense.
16:53Director Jay Roach sided with Wagner.
16:56Four scenes were re-shot over three days.
16:58The cost?
16:59$480,000.
17:01That included $280,000 to rebuild sets,
17:04and $200,000 in overtime.
17:06Wagner later said
17:07it was the most unprofessional experience of his career.
17:11Beyonce's team brushed it off as creative differences,
17:14but the tension was real.
17:15In 2010,
17:17at age 80,
17:18Wagner joined NCIS
17:20as Anthony DiNoso Sr.
17:22He appeared in 13 episodes over nine years,
17:26earning $200,000 per episode.
17:29That's $2.6 million.
17:32His most lucrative TV work ever.
17:35One episode in season 10
17:37hit uncomfortably close to home.
17:39His character faked his death
17:41to escape Russian assassins.
17:43In real life,
17:44the Natalie Wood case
17:46had just been reopened.
17:48Gary Glasberg,
17:49the showrunner,
17:50admitted the plot
17:51was inspired by Wagner's legal troubles.
17:53Wagner leaned in.
17:55He delivered the line,
17:56Some secrets are worth dying for
17:59with real weight.
18:00Michael Weatherly later said,
18:02Wagner stayed in character between takes.
18:05Even during lunch,
18:06he spoke like DiNoso Sr.,
18:09especially when discussing
18:10father-son relationships.
18:12By May 2019,
18:14Wagner made his final appearance
18:16on NCIS.
18:18It was the episode titled
18:19The Arizona.
18:21In one emotionally loaded scene,
18:23Wagner broke from the script.
18:25He added the line,
18:26I've carried unforgiven pasts
18:29that haunt every breath I take.
18:31The line wasn't in the script.
18:33It came from him,
18:34from decades of personal regret.
18:37The crew went quiet.
18:38The cameras kept rolling.
18:40Four unscripted minutes.
18:42No retakes.
18:43That line stayed in the final cut.
18:46After wrapping,
18:47Wagner sat alone in his dressing room
18:49for 20 minutes
18:50before coming out to thank everyone.
18:52It was his last scripted role.
18:55A 65-year career
18:56ending with raw, unfiltered truth.
18:59But Wagner's career
19:00had been shaped just as much
19:02by what he did off camera.
19:04In the 1970s,
19:05he produced the CBS series Switch.
19:08It only ran three seasons,
19:10but its 71 episodes
19:12became gold in syndication.
19:14Wagner,
19:15who had negotiated
19:16a 50% stake through Universal,
19:18earned over $8 million
19:20from reruns.
19:21The show was loosely inspired
19:23by The Sting,
19:25a clever concept
19:26that sold well globally.
19:28Despite its short run,
19:29it became one of Wagner's
19:30smartest financial decisions.
19:32In 2008,
19:34Wagner published his memoir,
19:36Pieces of My Heart.
19:37The first printing
19:38of 150,000 copies
19:40sold out quickly.
19:42In it,
19:43he revealed an affair
19:44with Elizabeth Taylor
19:45in the 1950s.
19:46He called it
19:47a moment of weakness
19:49that nearly destroyed
19:50his marriage to Natalie Wood.
19:52The book also detailed
19:53his relationships
19:54with stars like
19:55Barbara Stanwyck
19:56and Joan Crawford.
19:58He described Crawford
19:59as both terrifying
20:00and magnetic.
20:02Readers devoured
20:03his behind-the-scenes
20:04Hollywood stories.
20:05Not the glamorous
20:06red carpet versions,
20:08but the messy,
20:09human ones.
20:10His second book,
20:11You Must Remember This,
20:13came out in 2014.
20:15It peeled back the curtain
20:16on old Hollywood's
20:17darkest corners.
20:19Wagner described
20:20organized crime's grip
20:21on the industry,
20:23including Frank Sinatra's
20:24alleged meetings
20:25with underworld fixers
20:26at the Brown Derby.
20:28He spoke of men
20:29in tailored suits
20:30who made problems
20:31disappear with cash,
20:33threats,
20:34or both.
20:35He even told stories
20:36of cover-ups,
20:38drug use,
20:39affairs,
20:40financial misdeeds.
20:41He recounted
20:42Elizabeth Taylor's
20:43infamous tardiness
20:44and diva behavior
20:46at industry events,
20:47offering a candid look
20:49at how the studio system
20:50protected its biggest stars
20:52from public shame.
20:54Wagner also dipped
20:55into TV movie production.
20:57In 1994,
20:59he produced
20:59The Enemy Within
21:00for HBO,
21:01a remake of
21:02Seven Days in May.
21:04He earned an Emmy nomination,
21:06but it wasn't
21:07smooth sailing.
21:08Wagner clashed
21:09with director
21:10Jonathan Darby
21:11over modernizing
21:12the script.
21:13Things got worse
21:14when Forrest Whitaker,
21:15the film's lead,
21:17briefly walked off set
21:18over creative disagreements.
21:20HBO execs
21:22and the Directors Guild
21:23had to step in.
21:24Filming was delayed
21:26by three weeks,
21:27but the film still
21:28premiered to strong reviews.
21:30Wagner's work as producer
21:32earned praise,
21:33even if it came
21:34with battle scars,
21:35but not every decision
21:37worked in his favor.
21:38Wagner turned down
21:39Bonnie and Clyde
21:40in 1967.
21:42He was offered the lead,
21:44but chose a vacation
21:45with Natalie Wood instead.
21:47Warren Beatty
21:48took the role,
21:49produced the film,
21:50and earned over
21:52six million dollars
21:53from his profit share.
21:55Wagner later called it
21:56one of his biggest regrets.
21:58He also declined parts
22:00in Butch Cassidy
22:01and the Sundance Kid
22:03and The Godfather.
22:05Those roles became legendary.
22:08Wagner missed out,
22:09not just on money,
22:10but on the chance
22:11to redefine himself
22:13in a new era of Hollywood.
22:15Two months after Natalie Wood
22:17drowned off Catalina Island
22:19on November 29, 1981,
22:22Robert Wagner sat across
22:24from Jill St. John
22:25at a quiet dinner party.
22:27She had known Natalie
22:28since they were girls,
22:30even sent flowers
22:31after the funeral.
22:32But that February evening
22:34in 1982
22:35turned into the start
22:37of something unexpected.
22:39They went on their first date
22:40on Valentine's Day,
22:41and Wagner still marks it
22:43as their anniversary.
22:45People whispered,
22:46mostly because Jill
22:48had been so close
22:49to Natalie.
22:50The two had taken ballet together,
22:52moved in the same
22:53Hollywood circles.
22:54But there,
22:56Wagner was,
22:57still grieving,
22:58raising three girls,
23:00filming heart to heart,
23:01and now falling in love.
23:04They stayed together
23:05for eight years
23:06before marrying
23:06in April 1990,
23:08in the backyard
23:09of Wagner's
23:10Pacific Palisades home.
23:12Natalie's daughters
23:13stood as bridesmaids,
23:15and the whole thing
23:16felt like a strange
23:18full circle.
23:19Jill became his fourth wife.
23:21He became her fourth husband.
23:24A blended family,
23:26stitched together by grief.
23:28After Natalie died,
23:29Wagner was left
23:30raising three daughters alone.
23:33Katie was 26,
23:34Natasha was 11,
23:36and Courtney just seven.
23:38The hardest chapter
23:39came years later
23:40when Natasha,
23:41in her 20s,
23:42spiraled into a dark depression.
23:45She tried to end her life.
23:48Wagner found out.
23:49He took every single pill
23:51in the house
23:52and locked it away.
23:53It broke him,
23:55especially because
23:56Natalie had once tried
23:57to take her own life, too,
23:59back in 1964,
24:01after splitting
24:02with Warren Beatty.
24:03She swallowed
24:04so many sleeping pills,
24:06they called it
24:06an overdose
24:07and a half.
24:08Wagner had homeschooled
24:10the girls
24:10after Natalie's death,
24:12but the pain lingered.
24:13Natasha later said
24:15Wagner saved her life
24:16and always treated her
24:18like she was truly his,
24:20even though they weren't
24:21connected by blood.
24:22But not all the girls
24:24felt that love equally.
24:26In 2000,
24:27when Courtney turned 26,
24:29she exploded.
24:30At a family gathering,
24:32she accused Wagner
24:33of always favoring Natasha,
24:35calling her
24:36the golden child
24:37while pushing Courtney aside.
24:39Wagner didn't see it coming.
24:41He brushed it off
24:42as jealousy.
24:43But things escalated fast.
24:46Courtney threatened
24:47to go public,
24:47to tell family secrets.
24:50The fallout was brutal.
24:52She was banned
24:53from birthdays
24:53and holidays
24:54for over a year.
24:56During that time,
24:57her life unraveled.
24:59In 2012,
25:01she was arrested
25:02in Malibu
25:02for heroin
25:03and cocaine possession
25:04after a domestic dispute
25:06that involved gunshots.
25:07The family only found peace
25:09again after long therapy sessions
25:11and Wagner finally admitting
25:13his mistakes.
25:14Now at 95,
25:16Wagner is a grandfather too.
25:18Riley is 19,
25:20Clover is 13,
25:21but even that role
25:22is tangled in trouble.
25:24Wagner controls
25:25half of Natalie's
25:26$7 million estate
25:27as executor and trustee.
25:30And some people,
25:31especially Natalie's sister,
25:33Lana,
25:34still say he had something
25:35to do with her death.
25:36If Wagner were ever charged,
25:39California's Slayer Law
25:40could take away
25:41his inheritance,
25:42all $3.5 million of it.
25:45Still,
25:46he posts birthday photos
25:47for Riley on Instagram,
25:49wearing cool grandpa sweatshirts
25:51like nothing's wrong.
25:53But deep down,
25:54he's afraid.
25:55Afraid of lawsuits,
25:56of court,
25:57of losing everything
25:58he's protected for decades.
26:00His marriage with Jill
26:02has lasted 35 years,
26:04surviving everything
26:05from public suspicion
26:06to real health scares.
26:08In 2020,
26:10when Wagner got COVID-19
26:11at age 90,
26:12it almost killed him.
26:14Jill became his nurse,
26:15just like he once
26:16cared for her.
26:17They still cook together,
26:19mostly Italian dishes,
26:20but their Aspen home
26:21became a quiet bubble
26:23during the pandemic.
26:24That's where Wagner says
26:26he wants to be buried,
26:27in a grove of Aspen trees,
26:29beside children
26:31who never made it.
26:32Their wedding anniversary
26:33in 2025 brought out
26:35old photos,
26:37but also a quiet reality.
26:39They're both aging.
26:41Jill is 84 now.
26:43He calls her his blessing.
26:44The one who saved his sanity
26:46when the world turned on him.
26:49The drowning still haunts everything.
26:52Natalie was terrified
26:53of dark water.
26:54She never would have gone
26:56near the edge of the boat
26:57at night,
26:57especially in stormy weather.
26:59But on that November night
27:01in 1981,
27:02she ended up in the water.
27:04The first version said
27:05it was an accident.
27:07Then, in 2012,
27:09the coroner changed the cause
27:11from drowning to drowning
27:13and other undetermined factors.
27:15They'd found bruises on her arms,
27:18scratches on her face and neck.
27:20The kind that don't come
27:21from just falling.
27:23The captain of the yacht,
27:24Dennis Davern,
27:26later said Wagner
27:27delayed calling for help.
27:28When Natalie vanished
27:30around 11 p.m.,
27:31Davern wanted to switch
27:32on the lights
27:33and call the Coast Guard.
27:35Wagner said no.
27:36They waited nearly 90 minutes
27:38before calling anyone.
27:40Davern passed a polygraph test
27:42in 2011.
27:44Investigators now say
27:45that delay may have cost
27:46Natalie her life.
27:48In 2011,
27:49the case was reopened.
27:51By 2018,
27:53Wagner was officially called
27:54a person of interest.
27:56Investigators said
27:57his story didn't add up.
27:58They believe he was
28:00the last person
28:00to see Natalie alive.
28:02And yet,
28:03Wagner has refused
28:04to speak to them.
28:05Meanwhile,
28:06more witnesses came forward,
28:09sharing new pieces of the night
28:10that changed everything.
28:12In 2020,
28:14HBO released a documentary
28:15called Natalie Wood,
28:17What Remains Behind.
28:19It was co-produced by Natasha.
28:21It showed Wagner
28:22in a softer light,
28:24trying to explain himself.
28:25But critics noticed
28:26something strange.
28:28It never mentioned
28:29Davern's most shocking claim,
28:31that Wagner held him hostage
28:33after the incident,
28:34gave him a job,
28:36a place to live,
28:37even locked him in his room,
28:39all to keep him quiet.
28:41Davern wrote about it
28:42in his book,
28:43Goodbye Natalie,
28:45Goodbye Splendor.
28:46But the film skipped that part.
28:48Now in 2025,
28:50Wagner barely speaks.
28:52He's pulled away from the world.
28:53He avoids boats completely.
28:56He once loved the ocean.
28:58Now he won't go near it.
29:00He posted a single old photo
29:02on July 4th,
29:03instead of his usual video.
29:05Family sources say
29:07he has regrets,
29:08that he wishes he had looked
29:10for Natalie sooner.
29:12Investigators believe
29:13he might have started
29:13seeing Jill St. John
29:15even before the drowning,
29:17though Jill insists
29:18their romance began months later.
29:21Either way,
29:21the guilt has turned him
29:23into a shadow
29:24of who he was.
29:25Still,
29:26his Aspen estate
29:27is beautiful.
29:29It covers 7.5 acres.
29:31He and Jill moved there
29:33after selling
29:34their Brentwood home
29:35for $14 million
29:36in 2007.
29:38Wagner still rides
29:39a stationary bike
29:40for exactly 30 minutes
29:42every morning.
29:43That's his routine.
29:44He says it keeps him young.
29:46Most of his $20 million
29:48fortune comes from heart
29:50to heart and residuals
29:52from Austin Powers.
29:53But in 2025,
29:55things got scary again.
29:57Natasha posted a video
29:59of him working out
30:00on his birthday,
30:01doing leg lifts
30:02to Sinatra's
30:03My Way.
30:04But doctors told him
30:06to stop.
30:06His heart,
30:07already weakened
30:08from childhood rheumatic fever,
30:10couldn't take it.
30:12Friends said
30:12he was turning pink,
30:14breathing heavily,
30:15switching between machines
30:17like a man
30:17half his age.
30:18He just smiled
30:20and said,
30:20it's going pretty good.
30:22On Instagram,
30:23he still acts cheerful,
30:25posts old photos,
30:27celebrates his acting milestones,
30:30honors Natalie
30:30on their would-be anniversary.
30:32But people close to him
30:34say he's lonely,
30:35that Jill is the only person
30:37keeping him grounded,
30:39that the case,
30:40the rumors,
30:41the guilt,
30:42they've all worn him down.
30:44In quiet moments,
30:46Wagner has talked
30:47about his career regrets.
30:49The biggest?
30:50Turning down
30:51The Godfather.
30:52He didn't want to be
30:53typecast in crime films.
30:55He also skipped
30:56The Graduate,
30:57Butch Cassidy,
30:59even Rebel Without a Cause.
31:00He said no to roles
31:02that could have
31:02changed everything.
31:04Now,
31:04at 95,
31:06he questions those choices,
31:08says life is full
31:09of missed turns.
31:10But he's not done.
31:12He wants to write
31:13one more book,
31:14a sequel to Pieces of My Heart,
31:17and you must remember this.
31:19He says,
31:20this one will be about
31:21growing old with grace.
31:23He still shares
31:24his favorite lines,
31:25like how life is made
31:27of pieces of your heart,
31:29or how dogs teach you
31:30love better than most people.
31:32He tells fans
31:33not to dwell on what-ifs,
31:35only what is.
31:37His story,
31:38though filled with fame
31:39and fortune,
31:40is also wrapped up
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