Robert Wagner: “Barbara Stanwyck Was A Cougar!”

Robert Wagner, best known as Number Two from the Austin Powers movies to anyone under 30 (and the guy from Hart To Hart to everyone older), alleges that he had a clandestine four-year affair with Hollywood legend Barbara Stanwyck in his new memoir, Piece Of My Heart. The pair met on the set of 1953′s Titanic, when Wagner was 22 and Stanwyck was 45. In an excerpt published in The Daily Mail, Wagner describes how the bigwigs in Hollywood tried to wreck their love by announcing he was engaged to actress Terry Moore.

The studio blindsided both of us by releasing a story that we were engaged! They never called, they never told me they were going to do this, it just appeared in the papers. I was livid; for one thing, I was very involved with Barbara and called her from Tarpon Springs every night. Terry was also a much younger woman, and Barbara was – how to put this delicately? – not pleased about that.

Growl! Check out a video after the jump of Wagner paying tribute to Stanwyck at a 1987 AFI salute to the actress. His emotion (“Barbara…it’s an honor to be a part of your life”)—and an aging Jimmy Stewart‘s interest in what Wagner’s going to say—makes a lot more sense in this new context.

Along with tales of Stanwyck’s forbidden love, Wagner’s book promises to be the final word on the death of his wife, Natalie Wood (whom he married after Stanwyck dumped him), who allegedly fell out of a dinghy after an argument with Wagner over her own potentially cougarific relationship with young Christopher Walken in 1981.

For fans of old Hollywood, this book promises to be juicy. Maybe they’ll make a movie out of it: star-crossed lovers meet on the Titanic…sounds like a hit!