Italian postcard by Rotalfoto, Milano, no. N 171.
German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/49. Photo: Terb Agency.
French postcard. Photo: Danjaq / United Artists Corporation / Eon Productions. Jill St. John in Diamonds Are Forever (Guy Hamilton, 1971).
A classy, ravishing redhead equipped with a knockout figure and sly, suggestive one-liners
Jill St. John was born Jill Arlyn Oppenheim in Los Angeles in 1940. She was the daughter of Betty Lou Oppenheim née Goldberg and Edward Oppenheim, a prosperous restaurant owner. Jill was on stage and radio from age six, prodded by a typical stage mother. She was a Children's Ballet Company member with Natalie Wood and Stefanie Powers.
She made her TV debut as Missie Cratchett in the first full-length TV film, The Christmas Carol (Arthur Pierson, 1949) starring Vincent Price. Her mother changed Jill's name from Oppenheim to to the more Hollywood-sounding St. John when Jill was 11 and five years later, she gave her daughter a turned-up nose job so she would photograph better. Jill began blossoming and attracting attention in her late teens. In 1957, she signed with Universal Pictures at age 16 and made her film debut in the romantic comedy Summer Love (Charles F. Haas, 1958) starring then-hot John Saxon.
Moving ahead, she filled the bill as an exuberant, slightly dingy teen and as well as shapely love interest in such innocuous but fun films as The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker (Henry Levin, 1959) starring Cliffton Webb, and Holiday for Lovers (Henry Levin, 1959), Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed? (Daniel Mann, 1963) with Dean Martin, Who's Minding the Store? (Frank Tashlin, 1963) starring Jerry Lewis, and Honeymoon Hotel (Henry Levin, 1964). A part of Frank Sinatra's 'in' crowd, she co-starred with him in both the comedy Come Blow Your Horn (Bud Yorkin, 1963) and the detective film Tony Rome (Gordon Douglas, 1967).
By the late 1960s, she had matured into a classy, ravishing redhead equipped with a knockout figure and sly, suggestive one-liners that had her male co-stars (and audiences) panting for more. Gary Brumburgh at IMDb: "An incredible piece of 1960s eye candy, Jill St. John absolutely smoldered on the big screen, a trendy, cosmopolitan presence in lightweight comedy, spirited adventure and spy intrigue who appeared alongside some of Hollywood's most handsome male specimens. Although she was seldom called upon to do much more than frolic in the sun and/or playfully taunt and tempt her leading man as needed, this tangerine-topped stunner managed to do her job very, very well. (...) Whether the extremely photogenic Jill had talent (and she did!) or never seemed to be a fundamental issue with casting agents.
She co-starred with Bob Hope in the dismal Eight on the Lam (George Marshall, 1967), but the connection allowed her to be included in a number of the comedian's NBC specials over the years. She skillfully traded sexy quips with Anthony Franciosa in Fame Is the Name of the Game (Stuart Rosenberg, 1966), the engaging TV pilot to the hit series The Name of the Game (1968). St. John scored a major coup as Bond girl Tiffany Case in Diamonds Are Forever (Guy Hamilton, 1971) opposite Sean Connery. First, she had been offered the role of Plenty O'Toole, but after the directors saw her, she got the bigger role as Tiffany Case. Diamonds Are Forever was a commercial success.
Spanish postcard by Productos Compactos, S.A., no. 3768, 1991. Jerry Lewis and Jill St. John in Who's Minding the Store (Frank Tashlin, 1963).
Italian postcard by Albacolor, no. 604/4.
A glossy, jet-setting femme fatale with a delightful tongue-in-cheek quality
On camera, Jill St. John's glossy, jet-setting femme fatales had a delightful tongue-in-cheek quality to them. Off-camera, she lived the life of a jet-setter too and was known for her various romantic excursions with such eligibles as Frank Sinatra and even Henry Kissinger.
Of her four marriages (she never had children), which included millionaire Neil Dublin, the late sports car racer Lance Reventlow, son of Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton, and singer Jack Jones, she found her soul mate in her fourth husband, actor Robert Wagner, whom she married in 1990 following an eight-year courtship.
Jill worked with Wagner decades before in the soapy drama Banning (Ron Winston, 1967) as well as the TV movie How I Spent My Summer Vacation (William Hale, 1967). Abandoning acting out of boredom, she has returned only on rare occasions. She played against type as a crazed warden in the women in prison drama The Concrete Jungle (Tom DeSimone, 1982) and has had some fun cameos alongside Wagner both on film in The Player (Robert Altman, 1992) and on TV in Seinfeld (1989).
In the late 1990s, they started touring together in A.R. Gurney's popular two-person stage reading of 'Love Letters'. Jill's lifelong passion for cooking (her parents were restaurateurs) turned profitable over the years. She has written several cookbooks and appeared as a TV chef on Good Morning America (1975). She also served as a food columnist for the USA Weekend newspaper.
Jill St. John was glimpsed in the films The Calling (Damian Chapa, 2002) and The Trip (Miles Swain, 2002) and she and her husband had small roles as Santa and Mrs. Claus in the TV movie Northpole (Douglas Barr, 2014). She has since officially retired from acting, but remains involved in civic activities. Jill St. John and Robert Wagner have homes in Aspen and L.A.'s Pacific Palisades.
Vintage postcard in the Bond Girls Series. Jill St. John in Diamonds Are Forever (Guy Hamilton, 1971).
German postcard by ISV, Sort 11/6.
Sources: Gary Brumburgh (IMDb), Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen, Wikipedia and IMDb.
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