Jill St. John
| Jill St. John | |
|---|---|
 Jill St. John as Bond girl Tiffany Case in Diamonds Are Forever (1971) |
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| Born | Jill Arlyn Oppenheim August 19, 1940 Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1949–2002 |
| Spouse | Neil Durbin (1957–58) Lance Reventlow (1960–63) Jack Jones (1967–69) Robert Wagner (1990–present) |
Jill Arlyn Oppenheim (born August 19, 1940), professionally known as, Jill St. John, is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Tiffany Case, the lead Bond girl in Diamonds Are Forever.
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[edit] Early life
St. John was born Jill Arlyn Oppenheim in Los Angeles, California, daughter of Edward and Betty Lou Oppenheim.[1] She attended Beverly Hills High School.
[edit] Career
St. John's television acting debut was in a production of A Christmas Carol. At age 11 she appeared in two episodes of The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show and several other TV shows, which led Universal Pictures to sign her to a contract when she was 16. Her major studio film debut was in Summer Love (1958) starring John Saxon. She went on to appear in The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker (1959), Holiday for Lovers (1959), Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed? (1963), Who's Minding the Store? (1963) and Honeymoon Hotel (1964).
St. John received a Golden Globe nomination for Come Blow Your Horn (1963). She had major film roles during the 1960s and early 1970s, including, "Jennifer Jones" in The Lost World (1960); as "Barbara Tuttle," in Jerry Lewis's Who's Minding the Store?; and a turn as Bond girl Tiffany Case opposite Sean Connery, in the 1971 James Bond film, Diamonds Are Forever. In 1964, she guest starred with Lauren Bacall and Bacall's then husband, Jason Robards, Jr., in the episode "Take a Walk Through the Cemetery" of Craig Stevens's CBS drama series, Mr. Broadway. St. John appeared in the first episode of the campy '60s television series Batman as the Riddler's moll, Molly (she was the only female to be killed off during the entire series).
In 1983-1984, she starred with Dennis Weaver on the short-lived CBS soap opera, Emerald Point N.A.S., in which she played "Deanna Kinkaid," "Thomas Mallory's" conniving former sister-in-law.
St. John continues to act. Her roles in the 1990s and 2000s have primarily been for television sitcoms and made-for-television movies. In 1997, St. John had a guest appearance on the Seinfeld episode, "The Yada Yada", alongside her husband. She portrayed "Mary Oakley" in The Trip, in 2002, which to date is her most recent appearance in film or television.
St. John has worked on five movies with her husband Robert Wagner: Banning; How I Spent My Summer Vacation; Something to Believe In; The Player and Around the World in 80 Days with Pierce Brosnan. She also appeared in the pilot episode for his television series Hart to Hart as "Sylvia Maxwell."
She is the author of The Jill St. John Cookbook (1987).
[edit] Personal life
St. John has been married four times. Each of the marriages was childless.
- Neil Durbin — (May 23, 1957 – June 3, 1958) when she was 16 years old (divorced). Neil was heir to a Linen fortune. They eloped and Jill's father Eddie later had it anulled.
- Lance Reventlow - (March 24, 1960 – October 30, 1963) (divorced) Lance was the son of Barbara Hutton, one of the world's richest women (...as heir to the F W Woolworth fortune). Lance died in a plane accident after they divorced. Jill loathed his desire to race cars. Debbie Barker was the actress who played the role of Jill St. John (the daughter-in-law of Barbara Hutton) in a 1987 television movie and mini-series called 'Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story'.
- Jack Jones — (October 14, 1967–1969) (divorced)
- Robert Wagner — (May 26, 1990 – present) They first met when she was 18 years old and have been a couple since early 1982
She has three stepdaughters:
- Katie Wagner (born 1964, Wagner's oldest child, from his marriage to Marion Marshall);
- Natasha Gregson (born in 1970, daughter of Richard Gregson and Natalie Wood, raised by Wagner and St. John after Wood's death);
- Courtney Wagner (born in 1974, Wagner's only child with Wood).
Her stepdaughter, Katie, was the maid of honor at her wedding in 1990. Her matron of honor was Robert Wagner's sister, Mary.
After the death of her second husband Lance Reventlow, she dedicated her cookbook to his memory. Despite their divorce and his subsequent re-marriage, St. John refers to Reventlow as "my late husband" in interviews.
[edit] Selected filmography
- Honeymoon Hotel (1964)
- Tony Rome (1967)
- The King's Pirate (1967)
- Foreign Exchange (1970, TV film)
- Diamonds Are Forever (1971)
- Sitting Target (1972)
- The Concrete Jungle (1982)
- Rooster (1982, TV film)
- The Calling (2002)
[edit] References
[edit] External links
| Preceded by Diana Rigg |
Bond girl 1971 |
Succeeded by Jane Seymour |
