Jill St. John Biography

Jill St. John (born Jill Arlyn Oppenheim on August 19, 1940) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Tiffany Case, the Bond girl in Diamonds Are Forever (1971).

Early life

St. John was born Jill Arlyn Oppenheim in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Betty (née Goldberg, 1913-1998) and Edward Oppenheim, a prosperous restaurant owner. As a young girl, St. John was a member of the Children's Ballet Company with Natalie Wood and Stefanie Powers. She attended Powers Professional School and received her high school diploma from Hollywood Professional School in the spring of 1955 at age 14. At 15, St. John enrolled at UCLA's Extension School.

Career

A stage mother, Betty Oppenheim changed Jill's last name to the more Hollywood-sounding St. John during her childhood. St. John began acting on radio at age six, and in December 1949, at age nine, she made her screen debut in the first full-length made-for-TV movie, a production of A Christmas Carol. At age eleven, she appeared in two episodes of The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show. In 1957, at age 16, Universal Pictures signed St. John to a contract. 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), The Lost World (1960), The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (1961), Tender Is the Night (1962), Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed? (1963) and Honeymoon Hotel (1964).

St. John received a Golden Globe Award nomination as Best Actress " Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for her performance in the 1963 film Come Blow Your Horn, where she starred opposite Frank Sinatra. She would later co-star with Sinatra in the 1967 detective drama Tony Rome. Other films from this period in her career included Who's Minding the Store? with Jerry Lewis, The Liquidator (1965) with Rod Taylor, and The Oscar (1966) with Stephen Boyd.

In 1964, she guest-starred with Lauren Bacall and 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 television series Batman in 1966 as the Riddler's moll, Molly (she was the only female to be killed off during the entire series).

St. John's most famous role was as Tiffany Case, the Bond girl in the 1971 James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever, where she starred opposite Sean Connery. The following year, she starred in the crime thriller Sitting Target (1972) with Oliver Reed.

During 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. Her other television credits include guest roles on Magnum, P.I., The Love Boat, Hart to Hart, Burke's Law, The Big Valley, Vega$, and Fantasy Island.

St. John has worked on five movies with her husband Robert Wagner: Banning (1967); How I Spent My Summer Vacation (1967); Around the World in 80 Days (1989); Something to Believe In (1998); and The Calling (2002). They made brief cameo appearances as themselves in Robert Altman's 1992 Hollywood satire The Player. In 1997, the couple appeared together at the end of "The Yada Yada" episode of the popular television sitcom Seinfeld.

St. John has not acted since 2002.

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

Personal life

St. John has been married four times:

• Neil Dubin (May 12, 1957 - July 3, 1958) (divorced) Dubin was heir to a linen fortune. He was 22 while St. John was only 16 when they eloped in Yuma, Arizona. St. John complained that Dubin harassed and ridiculed her.
• Lance Reventlow (March 24, 1960 - October 30, 1963) (divorced) Reventlow was the son of Barbara Hutton, heir to the F. W. Woolworth fortune. Reventlow died in a plane crash in 1972. Despite their divorce and subsequent re-marriages, St. John refers to Reventlow as "my late husband" in interviews.
• Jack Jones (October 14, 1967 - March 1, 1969) (divorced)
• Robert Wagner (May 26, 1990 " present) They first met in 1959 and have been a couple since February 1982. Her Matron of honor at their wedding was Wagner's sister, Mary.

She has three stepdaughters:

• Katie Wagner: Born in 1964; Wagner's oldest child, from his marriage to Marion Marshall.
• Natasha Gregson: Born in 1970; daughter of Richard Gregson and Natalie Wood, but raised by Wagner and St. John after Wood drowned under suspicious circumstancesin 1981.
• Courtney Wagner: Born in 1974, Wagner's only child with Wood.

Filmography

• Summer Love (1958)
• The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker (1959)
• Holiday for Lovers (1959)
• The Lost World (1960)
• The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (1961)
• Tender Is the Night (1962)
• Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed? (1963)
• Who's Minding the Store? (1963)
• Honeymoon Hotel (1964)
• The Liquidator (1965)
• The Oscar (1966)
• Fame Is the Name of the Game (1966)
• Tony Rome (1967)
• Eight on the Lam (1967)
• The King's Pirate (1967)
• Banning (1967)
• Foreign Exchange (1970)
• Diamonds Are Forever (1971)
• Sitting Target (1972)
• The Concrete Jungle (1982)
• Rooster (1982)
• The Act (1984)
• Around the World in 80 Days (1989)
• The Player (1992)
• Out There (1995)
• The Trip (2002)
• The Calling (2002)