Jill Wagner, Lindsay Wagner and Robert Wagner are three Hollywood stars who have made their mark in different genres and eras of entertainment. But are they related to each other by blood or marriage? The answer is no. Despite sharing the same surname, they have no biological or legal connection. Here is a detailed explanation of why they are not related and some interesting facts about their lives and careers.
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Jill Wagner: The Wipeout Host and Hallmark Star
Jill Suzanne Wagner was born on January 13, 1979, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She lost her mother shortly after birth and was raised by her father, David Wagner, a US Marine, and her grandmother. She has an elder brother. She graduated from North Carolina State University with a degree in business management in 2001.
She moved to California to pursue a career in entertainment and landed a role on the MTV prank show Punk’d in 2003. She also appeared on the Maxim Hot 100 Women list in 2004 and posed for FHM magazine in 2006. She co-starred in the Spike TV series Blade: The Series as Krista Starr in 2006. She also had guest roles on shows like Quintuplets, Bones, Monk and Stargate Atlantis.
She became the on-field host for the ABC game show Wipeout in 2008 and stayed on until 2014, with a brief hiatus in 2011. She also appeared on the MTV series Teen Wolf as Kate Argent from 2011 to 2017. She hosted the INSP series Handcrafted America from 2015 to 2017. She starred in the Canadian film Braven alongside Jason Momoa in 2018.
Since 2015, she has been a regular fixture on the Hallmark Channel, starring in several made-for-television films, such as Autumn Dreams, Christmas Cookies, A Harvest Wedding, Pearl in Paradise and Christmas Wishes & Mistletoe Kisses. She also plays Amy Winslow, a college professor and amateur sleuth, on the Mystery 101 movie series on the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries Channel since 2019.
She married former pro hockey player David Lemanowicz in 2017 and they have two children together: a daughter named Army Gray born in 2020 and a stepdaughter named Lija from David’s previous marriage.
Lindsay Wagner: The Bionic Woman and Self-Help Author
Lindsay Jean Wagner was born on June 22, 1949, in Los Angeles, California. She is the daughter of Marilyn Louise Thrasher, a building contractor, and William Nowels Wagner, a photojournalist. Her parents divorced when she was seven years old and she moved with her mother to Pasadena. She attended the University of Oregon for a year before dropping out to pursue acting.
She began her career as a model and landed some minor roles on television shows like The Fugitive, Night Gallery and Marcus Welby, M.D. She got her breakthrough role as Jaime Sommers, a former tennis player who becomes a bionic spy after a skydiving accident, on the sci-fi series The Six Million Dollar Man in 1975. Her character was so popular that she got her own spin-off show called The Bionic Woman, which ran from 1976 to 1978. She won an Emmy Award for her performance in 1977.
She continued to work on television throughout the 1980s and 1990s, starring in several movies and miniseries, such as Scruples, Princess Daisy, Jessie, A Peaceable Kingdom, The Taking of Flight 847: The Uli Derickson Story and Scandal in a Small Town. She also reprised her role as Jaime Sommers in three reunion movies with Lee Majors: The Return of the Six-Million-Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman (1987), Bionic Showdown: The Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman (1989) and Bionic Ever After? (1994).
She also appeared on some shows as herself or as a guest star, such as The Fall Guy, Frasier, Warehouse 13 and Grey’s Anatomy. She made her feature film debut in the comedy Nighthawks (1981) opposite Sylvester Stallone and Rutger Hauer. She also starred in the drama Ricochet (1991) with Denzel Washington and John Lithgow.
She is also an author and a self-help advocate. She has written several books on holistic health and spirituality, such as The High Road to Health (1988), Lindsay Wagner’s New Beauty: The Acupressure Facelift (1989) and The Bionic Woman’s Guide to Emotional Well-Being (1994). She also conducts workshops and retreats on topics such as meditation, stress management, parenting and aging.
She has been married four times and divorced four times. Her ex-husbands are music publisher Allan Rider (1971-1973), actor Michael Brandon (1976-1979), stuntman Henry Kingi (1981-1984) and television producer Lawrence Mortorff (1990-1993). She has two sons: Dorian (born 1982) with Kingi and Alex (born 1986) with Mortorff.
Robert Wagner: The Hollywood Legend and Natalie Wood’s Husband
Robert John Wagner Jr. was born on February 10, 1930, in Detroit, Michigan. He is the son of Hazel Alvera Boe, a telephone operator, and Robert John Wagner Sr., a traveling salesman. His paternal grandparents were German immigrants and his maternal grandparents were Norwegian immigrants. He moved with his family to Los Angeles when he was seven years old and attended Santa Monica High School.
He was discovered by a talent scout at the age of 19 and signed a contract with 20th Century Fox. He made his film debut in the war drama The Happy Years (1950) and went on to star in several movies in the 1950s, such as With a Song in My Heart (1952), Titanic (1953), Prince Valiant (1954), A Kiss Before Dying (1956), The True Story of Jesse James (1957) and The Longest Day (1962).
He also became known for his romantic relationships with some of Hollywood’s leading ladies, such as Barbara Stanwyck, Joan Crawford and Debbie Reynolds. He married actress Natalie Wood in 1957, but they divorced in 1962. He then married actress Marion Marshall in 1963 and they had a daughter named Katie (born 1964). They divorced in 1971.
He returned to Natalie Wood in 1972 and they remarried that year. They had a daughter named Courtney (born 1974). They also co-starred in several movies and television shows, such as The Affair (1973), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1976) and Hart to Hart (1979-1984). Their marriage ended tragically when Wood drowned near their yacht off the coast of Catalina Island in 1981. Her death was ruled accidental, but it has been the subject of controversy and speculation ever since.
Wagner continued to work on television and film after Wood’s death. He starred in the comedy series Switch (1975-1978) with Eddie Albert and Sharon Gless, the detective series Hart to Hart (1979-1984) with Stefanie Powers, the spy series Lime Street (1985) with Samantha Smith and the action series It Takes a Thief (1968-1970) with Fred Astaire. He also had recurring roles on shows like Seinfeld, Two and a Half Men, NCIS and Charlie’s Angels.
He also appeared in several movies, such as The Pink Panther (1963), Harper (1966), The Towering Inferno (1974), Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997) and its sequels, Wild Things (1998), Hoot (2006) and The Hungover Games (2014).
He married actress Jill St. John in 1990 and they are still together. He has a son named Peter (born 1960) from his relationship with actress Tina Sinatra. He also adopted Wood’s daughter Natasha Gregson Wagner (born 1970) from her previous marriage to producer Richard Gregson.
Conclusion
Jill Wagner, Lindsay Wagner and Robert Wagner are not related to each other by blood or marriage. They are three Hollywood stars who have made their mark in different genres and eras of entertainment. They share a common surname that is derived from the Germanic Waganari, meaning “wagonmaker” or “wagon driver”. They also share a passion for their craft and a love for their fans.
