Jill St. John

Jill St. John (born August 19, 1940) is an American film and television actress. She is perhaps best known for her role as Tiffany Case, the lead Bond girl in Diamonds Are Forever.

St. John was born Jill Arlyn Oppenheim in Los Angeles, California, daughter of Betty Lou Oppenheim.^[1]

Career

St. John's TV debut was in a production of A Christmas Carol. At age 11 she appeared in two episodes of the 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). played her 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.

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.

To get away from her bikini clad image, St. John starred in the 1982 movie, The Concrete Jungle , where she played Warden Fletcher at an all-girl prison.

St. John continues to act. Her roles in the 1990s and 2000s have primarily been for television sitcoms and made-for-TV 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.

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 also the author of The Jill St. John Cookbook (1987).

Personal life

St. John has been married a total of four times, all childless unions:

• Neil Durbin - (May 23, 1957 - June 3, 1958) when she was 16 years old (divorced)
• Lance Reventlow, Woolworth heir- (March 24, 1960 - October 30, 1963) (divorced)
• 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 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; adopted by Wagner after her mother'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.

References

External links

• Jill St. John at the Internet Movie Database