By Ray Bennett
Jill St. John, who turns 85 today, has brightened big and small screens in countless TV shows and movies including her big splash as the first American James Bond girl, Tiffany Case, in ‘Diamonds Are Forever’ opposite Sean Connery in 1971.
When I spoke to her on the phone in 1985 for a story for Canadian TV Guide, the Los Angeles-born actress was busier with a cooking segment on ABC-TV’s ‘Good Morning America’. That came about after she was a guest of chef Julia Child’s ‘Celebrity Cooks’ pieces on the show and the network was bombarded with requests to see her again.
St. John told me she was always happy to share recipes and could not understand why some people refused to. ‘I don’t blame restaurants for not revealing their secrets but I always get cranky when people won’t give you a recipe because I think it’s kind of secretive, jealous and miserly,’ she said. ‘If you’re at somebody’s house for dinner and you say, my God that was great and they say, well, it’s been in the family for years and they couldn’t possibly give it up, that will end a friendship for me because I give away my recipes with pleasure.’
When she had an acting job at a Hollywood studio she usually brought her own lunch in a brown bag: ‘It depends,’ she said. ‘Twentieth Century-Fox has the best restaurant in all of show business. I must say, that’s how I used to choose my movies: O.K., I’ll go to Universal as they have one great sandwich there. When I work at Fox, I never brownbag it but if it’s M-G-M or even the Burbank Studiuos, it’s brownbag. Obviously they have certain things but if I’m working for nine weeks, I’ll brownbag it six of the weeks, then I know what I’m getting.’
At the time, she was dating Robert Wagner (known as RJ), who had been a friend since they were contract players at 20th Century-Fox in the early sixties. Wagner’s wife Natalie Wood had died in a drowning accident in 1981. She worked with him on his 1967 picture ‘How I Spent My Summer Vacation’ and appeared in the pilots of both ‘Hart to Hart’ and ‘Lime Street’.
The latter show was about to be revamped but she told me she did not want to be in it: ‘I’d much rather be the lady he comes home to than the lady he’s with all day. I don’t think it would be good for our relationship. If I were not in love with him then I’d love to work with him again.’
St. John did the ‘Lime Street’ pilot, she said, for good luck but when it was cut from two-hours to 90 minutes, she ended up on the cutting room floor. She thought the show – which did not survive following the death in an airplane crash of young actress Samantha Smith – suffered from not having a leading lady. As a friend, she said, she missed seeing Wagner with a beautiful woman although she admitted, ‘As his girlfriend, I’m not so sure. But as his friend I really think he should be seen with beautiful women. I definitely think that a woman like Stefanie Powers is missed. She couldn’t do this series as it would be “Hart to Hart” all over again but I think the network were total jerks, morons and idiots to cancel that hit show.
Of course, I don’t own the network but I think Stefanie and RJ could have done that show ad infinitum because they were wonderful in it and everyone loved it. I do think RJ now also feels there should be some beautiful ladies in the new show but I want you to know I say that as his friend and not as his girlfriend.’
St. John and Wagner, 95, were married in 1990.