I Loved Her in the Movies: Memories of Hollywood’s Legendary Actresses by Robert J. Wagner with Scott Eyman

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          It took me a long time to figure out how to write about this book.  I don’t know if it’s because I Loved Her in the Movies is non-fiction and I usually write about fiction, or if it’s because there was so much information on every page that I often felt like I was cramming for a test.  Either way, I really struggled on what to say about this book that I not only enjoyed but also feel is important for others to read.  The way things worked behind the scenes in early Hollywood is both fascinating and horrifying, especially when it came to how women were treated and what they had to do to simply have a career.  There was so much more involved in making these classic films than was ever seen on screen.  Struggles and difficulties that an audience would probably never know about as they sat in theatres and watched the films play before their eyes.  The people involved in the films and the struggles knew, though.  As did the witnesses around them.  One of those witnesses was Robert J. Wagner.

                Despite having his been in the entertainment industry for decades, I primarily know Robert Wagner from his role as Anthony DiNozzo Sr. on the show NCIS.  While not a regular on the show, I find myself always perking up when I’m watching the re-runs and see he’s the guest star on the episode about to air.  That’s why I was so interested when I saw Mr. Wagner was going to be on Tavis Smiley.  Only really knowing Mr. Wagner from the one show, I was curious to see what he was going to tell Mr. Smiley he was up to next.

                That something was his book, co-written with Scott Eyman, I Loved Her in the Movies: Memories of Hollywood’s Legendary Actresses.  Starting from when he was a child, Mr. Wagner was put into contact with actresses from the early days in Hollywood that are still admired today.  It’s actually incredible how many of these actresses Mr. Wagner knew.  I would find it hard to believe if there was not a single one that he did not cross paths with in some way shape or form.  He befriended a great deal of these ladies, and of those he didn’t, there was still a respect created between the two of them.  That is probably a big part of the reason why Mr. Wagner knows and is able to write so much about the difficulties and triumphs each of these actresses had go through in order to become a star.  Sometimes it wasn’t even to become a star, it was simply to become a working actress and do what they wanted to do with their lives.

                This, of course, was far easier said than done, and Mr. Wagner goes through the specific difficulties of each actress.  Some actresses get more attention than others, as is understandable since Mr. Wagner was not necessarily close with everyone mentioned in the book, but one that stuck out to me more than any other was Bette Davis.  It felt that no matter what was going on, or what subject was being talked about, somehow Bette Davis could be part of the conversation.  Looking at the index it is clear how many more mentions Ms. Davis gets than the others.  To me that shows how prominent Ms. Davis was in the industry and that she seemed to affect every aspect of it in some way.  From what I understood of Mr. Wagner’s experiences with Ms. Davis, she was not always the most pleasant of people to work with, but she did what she felt she had to do in order to succeed.

                Two other women Mr. Wagner frequently mentions are Greta Garbo and Joan Crawford.  Neither one were mentioned nearly as much as Ms. Davis, but it was clear both women had an effect on Mr. Wagner’s life.  I don’t think I have ever seen any of Ms. Garbo’s work, but I have seen at least one of Joan Crawford’s.  In watching what I did, it’s hard to believe Ms. Crawford was, to my understanding, of such short physical stature.  Her presence and demeanor made her feel much taller, which may have played a big part in helping her achieve the legendary status that she did.

                With so many women mentioned, and so many to talk about, I understand not everyone could be discussed as in length as the others.  There was one actress, however, I was surprised to find got very little conversation in this book.  That was Elizabeth Taylor.  She was brought up, of course, but not nearly as much as I thought she would be.  This I found to be odd since Ms. Taylor is probably one of the first people someone would think of when asked to name a legendary actress.  However, I did notice that Mr. Wagner and Mr. Eyman have written two other books together.  I don’t know what either one of those books is about, but I wonder if Ms. Taylor is in one of those, therefore not making her as noted in this one.

                Something else I noticed while reading is how much respect Mr. Wagner has for these women and how protective he is of them.  There was more than one husband of which Mr. Wagner stated his disapproval.  Scrutiny of studio heads also did not get passed by when Mr. Wagner felt these women were treated unfairly.  This was all really nice to see, I must say.  After all these years, Mr. Wagner could have remained quiet and acted as though this type of maltreatment did not happen.  Instead, he stood up for these women, then and now, when so many others didn’t. 

              Unfortunately, despite wanting to say that everything these ladies experienced only happened in the past, I cannot. Yes, things have changed, and yet they haven’t all at the same time. All the time there are stories about how females are getting paid far less than their male co-stars, or how once women reach a certain age there are few parts available to them, and those are just two of the problems. I’m sure there are far more that if you are not in the industry you know nothing about. Fortunately, there are people working to change these problems. Both women and men are working together to make things even. Not only are they fighting for evenness between the different genders, but they are also fighting for the many other groups of people that are not represented as much as they should be. I hope that the people working on these problems accomplish what they are trying to do so that there is true equality in the industry. Mr. Wagner witnessed the discrepancies and difficulties the leading ladies of early Hollywood went through. I look forward to the day when those situations are truly a thing of the past for all.