Jill St. John

Jill St. John (born Jill Arlyn Oppenheim; August 19, 1940) is an American retired actress.

She is best known for playing Tiffany Case, the first American Bond girl of the James Bond franchise, in 1971's Diamonds Are Forever. Additional performances in film include Holiday for Lovers, The Lost World, Tender Is the Night, Come Blow Your Horn, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination, Who's Minding the Store?, Honeymoon Hotel, The Liquidator, The Oscar, Tony Rome, Sitting Target and The Concrete Jungle.

On television, St. John has appeared in such top-rated shows as Batman, The Big Valley, Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, Hart to Hart, Vega$, The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Magnum, P.I. and Seinfeld. During her Hollywood heyday she was almost equally famous for her high-profile social life and frequent romantic associations with prominent public figures. 

St. John is married to actor Robert Wagner and has known him since she was 18 years old. They share credits on nearly a dozen screen and stage productions, notably the miniseries remake of Around the World in 80 Days.

Early life

St. John was born Jill Arlyn Oppenheim at Queen of Angels Hospital in Los Angeles on August 19, 1940, to Edward Oppenheim, a restaurateur from Brooklyn, and his philanthropist wife Betty (née Goldberg), from Philadelphia. She has no siblings, but grew up with many cousins, her mother being one of eight surviving children and her father one of three. St. John's parents married in 1934. Her maternal grandparents were Russian, of partial Jewish descent, while her paternal great-great-grandparents emigrated from Hessen, Germany and Amsterdam.

Raised in Encino, St. John was a member of the Michael Panaieff Children's Ballet Company with Natalie Wood and Stefanie Powers; all three would later marry or co-star with actor Robert Wagner. As a young girl, St. John says she never played with dolls, instead preferring a toy cash register and money. When she was 13 and had already been working for several years, her stage mother Betty changed Jill's last name from Oppenheim to the more marketable St. John.

Career

St. John made her stage debut at age five in The Conspiracy at Geller's Theater Workshop on January 31, 1946. She describes herself during this period as "precocious. I could read really well by the age of six." St. John's television debut came in 1948 when she joined the cast of Sandy Dreams, a musical fantasy series for children featuring Richard Beymer. In December 1949, she played Missie Cratchit in The Christmas Carol, one of the earliest filmed adaptations of Charles Dickens' classic 1843 story. Shot in kinescope, it is a rare example of a 1940s live TV broadcast still surviving in entirety.

By the age of 10, St. John was a regular on KTLA's Fantastick Studios, Ink. At 11, she appeared in three episodes of The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show. She had an uncredited role in the film Thunder in the East (1951) and was in episodes of Sky King, Fireside Theatre, and Cavalcade of America.

She attended Powers Professional School and received her high school diploma from Hollywood Professional School in the spring of 1955 at age 14. At age 15, St. John enrolled at UCLA where it was discovered that she had an IQ of 162. During this time, she lent her voice to a large number of radio shows, notably Red Ryder and One Man's Family.

St. John was 16 in May 1957 when Universal Pictures signed her to a contract for seven years starting at $200 a week. Her major studio film debut was in Summer Love (1958) starring John Saxon. She also appeared on TV in episodes of The Christophers, Schlitz Playhouse of Stars, and DuPont Show of the Month (an adaptation of Junior Miss). She said her idol was Kay Kendall.

St. John then signed a contract with 20th Century Fox, who tried to build her into a star. She played the daughter of Clifton Webb in The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker and Holiday for Lovers (both 1959), then was put in an adventure movie, The Lost World (1960). "Nothing but starlet parts," she later said. "You know, the daughter, the niece, the girlfriend." After Fox picked up their option on her, Warner Bros. borrowed St. John for The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (1961), then she had a supporting role in Tender Is the Night (1962), for which she beat out Jane Fonda.

St. John had a key role in Come Blow Your Horn (1963), starring opposite Frank Sinatra. She received a Golden Globe Award nomination as Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for her performance. "I'm a comedienne," she said in 1963. "I've never pretended to be a dramatic actress. But I'm very funny." She followed this with a series of comedies: Who's Minding the Store? (1963) with Jerry Lewis, Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed? (1963) with Dean Martin, and Honeymoon Hotel (1964) with Robert Morse and Nancy Kwan.

"Now I play the sexy comedienne, which is my forte," she said in 1964. "Comedy is what I've always wanted to do." Though she considered Jerry Lewis a comic genius, St. John found working with him on Who's Minding the Store? to be an extremely unhappy and disappointing experience, commenting that "one should not confuse the artist with the man." She guest-starred on television shows like Burke's Law, The Rogues, and Theatre of Stars. In 1964, she guest-starred with Lauren Bacall and Bacall's then-husband, Jason Robards, in the episode "Take a Walk Through a Cemetery" of Craig Stevens' CBS drama series Mr. Broadway. She also appeared in variety specials with Bob Hope. MGM gave her the female lead in The Liquidator (1965) with Rod Taylor, and she co-starred in The Oscar (1966) with Stephen Boyd.

St. John appeared in the first two episodes of the television series Batman as the Riddler's moll Molly. She became the first character to die in an episode of Batman. She was also in an episode of The Big Valley at that time.

St. John re-signed with Universal. She was in a TV movie Fame Is the Name of the Game (1966) and had a supporting role in How I Spent My Summer Vacation (1967), starring future husband Robert Wagner. She did the Bob Hope comedy Eight on the Lam (1967), then made Banning (1967) with Wagner and The King's Pirate (1967) with Doug McClure.

In 1966, she said "My goal is to be at a point where I have so proved myself as an actress that I can be more discriminating in the roles I choose. I want to be able to choose the parts I know I can do next." St. John nearly landed a starring role in The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967), which instead went to Sharon Tate.

She was reunited with Sinatra for Tony Rome (1967) and did a TV movie The Spy Killer (1969), which was popular enough for a sequel Foreign Exchange (1970). She guested on The Name of the Game. Decisions! Decisions! (1971) was a TV movie St. John did with Bob Newhart and Jean Simmons.

With Lana Wood on the set of Diamonds Are Forever (1971). In 2019, Wood questioned whether this photo was real.

St. John achieved her biggest success starring as diamond smuggler Tiffany Case, the love interest of James Bond in Diamonds Are Forever (1971), opposite Sean Connery. She was the first American to play a Bond girl. The character Tiffany is argumentative, abrasive, loud, and brash when compared to previous Bond girls who were more demure; film scholars have inferred that she is meant to be a stereotypical commentary on American women. In a 2015 poll conducted by Moviefone, St. John ranked #9 in The 25 Best Bond Girls for her portrayal of Tiffany, and in 2023, Men's Journal named her 11th on their list of Best Bond Girls of All Time.

In 1972, St. John appeared alongside Oliver Reed in the British crime drama Sitting Target. After the shoot wrapped, she took a break from her career. She later explained that "two pictures in a row was exhausting... I decided I needed a new way of life."

St. John did the TV movies Saga of Sonora (1973) and Brenda Starr (1976) (playing the title role), and guest-starred on Vega$, The Love Boat, Magnum, P.I., Fantasy Island, and Matt Houston. She also appeared in the pilot of Hart to Hart. She was cast as the princess in Day of the Assassin (1979), but bowed out when her deposit failed to arrive on time; Susana Dosamantes replaced her.

In 1981, following a decade-long sabbatical in Aspen, Colorado, St. John made Hollywood her primary residence again. "I really don't have to work," she said of her return. "But you know what? I got bored." St. John did the TV movies Two Guys from Muck (1982) and Rooster (1982) and was top-billed in the feature The Concrete Jungle (1982), a woman in prison film in which she played Warden Fletcher. She had a small role in The Act (1983).

During 1983–1984, she starred with Dennis Weaver on the short-lived soap opera Emerald Point N.A.S., in which she played Deanna Kinkaid, Thomas Mallory's conniving former sister-in-law. It also starred another former Bond girl, Maud Adams. St. John was to appear in the pilot for Lime Street (1985) but when it was reduced from two hours to 90 minutes, her scenes ended up on the cutting room floor.

St. John and Wagner were in 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 Hollywood satire The Player (1992). Between 1996 and 2004, they performed together on stage in a national touring production of Love Letters. The couple also appeared on the television sitcom Seinfeld in 1997, playing the parents of Mickey Abbott (Danny Woodburn) in "The Yada Yada" episode.

St. John appeared without Wagner in Out There (1995) and The Trip (2002).

In 2014, St. John played Mrs. Claus in the TV movie Northpole alongside Wagner, who played the part of Santa Claus. The film marked her first acting role after a 12-year absence from the screen. She has since officially retired from acting, but remains involved in civic activities.

Avocation

In 1972, St. John largely left Hollywood behind and moved to Aspen, where she focused on personal interests and cooking. She is among the celebrities credited with increasing the popularity of the town along with Goldie Hawn and Jack Nicholson.

Her interest in cooking eventually led to her becoming a culinary personality, appearing in monthly cooking segments on ABC-TV's Good Morning America and her writing a column in USA Weekend magazine through the 1980s. This culminated in authoring The Jill St. John Cookbook (1987), a healthy, but not health food, collection of recipes and some anecdotes.

St. John also developed a handmade Angora sweater business, and became interested in orchid growing, skiing, hiking, river rafting, camping, and gardening. In 1987, she said "I'm a mountain gal now. I love the outdoors and I love harvesting and using fresh vegetables and herbs."

A 2005 skiing accident forced her to give up the sport and curtailed her dream of becoming "the oldest woman on the ski lift."

Charity work

During the Vietnam War, St. John entertained American soldiers at United Service Organizations (USO) shows. She is founder of the Aunts Club, a Rancho Mirage-based group of women who contribute at least $1,000 per year to provide financial support for a child. In 2015, she and her husband auctioned off a private lunch to raise money for Aspen Film. St. John has also made donations to Aspen Community Foundation.

Politics

St. John ran unsuccessfully in 2023 for a seat on the board of the Aspen Fire Department. She is a registered Republican, though in the distant past she supported Democratic Presidential candidates.

Personal life

St. John has been married four times. Her husbands:

• Neil Dubin (May 12, 1957 – July 3, 1958; divorced) St. John was 16 years old when they eloped to Yuma, Arizona. Dubin was heir to a linen fortune. St. John complained that he 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. St. John received a settlement of $86,000. Despite their divorce and subsequent remarriages, she refers to Reventlow as "my late husband" in interviews.
• Jack Jones (October 14, 1967 – February 28, 1969; divorced) Jones said demands on his singing career and the traveling involved contributed to the breakup.
• Robert Wagner (May 26, 1990 – present) The couple met in 1959 when they were contract players at 20th Century Fox, and have been together since Valentine's Day 1982.

Between marriages, St. John dated entertainment, sports, and political personalities including David Bailey, Gianni Bulgari, Sammy Cahn, Michael Caine, Oleg Cassini, Barry Coe, Sean Connery, Robert Evans, Glenn Ford, David Frost, Jack Haley Jr., Bill Hudson, Henry Kissinger, Sidney Korshak, Peter Lawford, George Lazenby, Jim Lonborg, Trini López, Tom Mankiewicz, George Montgomery, Joe Namath, Jack Nicholson, Hugh O'Brian, Ogden Mills Phipps, Roman Polanski, Alejandro Rey, Tom Selleck, Frank Sinatra, Robert Vaughn, Giovanni Volpi, Adam West and David L. Wolper.

St. John gained a reputation for sugar dating in 1966, when garment manufacturer Henry Rosenfeld sued the actress to retrieve $25,800 he loaned her the previous year. St. John contended the money was a gift, but lost the case and had to repay with 5.75% interest. She has also been romantically linked to criminal court judge Jerome M. Becker, ski instructor Ricky Head, Olympic ski champion Brownie Barnes, plastic surgeon Steven Zax, investment broker Lenny Ross, Chicago businessman Delbert W. Coleman and Brazilian entrepreneur Francisco 'Baby' Pignatari. She was engaged to Miami real estate developer Robert Blum in 1974, but called off the engagement.

She has three stepdaughters:

• Katie Wagner, born 1964 to Wagner and Marion Marshall
• Natasha Gregson, born 1970 to Richard Gregson and Natalie Wood, but raised in the Wagner/St. John household after Wood died
• Courtney Wagner, born 1974 to Wagner and Wood

In 2007, Wagner and St. John sold the Brentwood ranchette they'd lived on since 1983 for a reported $14 million and relocated full-time to Aspen.

Mutual animosity between St. John and her husband's former sister-in-law, Lana Wood, extends back to 1971, when Sean Connery was simultaneously involved with both women during the filming of Diamonds Are Forever. The half-century feud has been highlighted by two well-documented public altercations: one in 1999, in which St. John refused to be photographed with Wood at a Bond girl reunion for Vanity Fair magazine, and another in 2016 when Wood crashed an event honoring St. John in Palm Springs to confront Wagner over the reopened homicide case of her sister Natalie, who drowned in 1981 while yachting with Wagner off the coast of Santa Catalina Island.

St. John has said she will not write an autobiography, stating emphatically, "The only books I write are cookbooks."