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This Hart to Hart producer revealed that without Robert Wagner, the series would have died before it had a chance to begin
"If we hadn’t been able to get him, we probably would have put the project on the shelf."
No one can say for sure what can guarantee a show’s success. Television is a fickle industry; what works in one series may be a death knell for another. A popular television show is a lot like capturing lightning in a bottle.
There were plenty of excellent qualities to Hart to Hart, though they paled in comparison to the delightful chemistry between the show’s leads, Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers.
Tom Mankiewicz, who developed and directed the pilot episode, understood that the actors were a crucial component of the show’s success.
“The show works because of RJ and Stefanie,” said Mankiewicz during an interview with The Globe and Mail. “The couple has now hit just the right note for viewers.”
Executive producer Leonard Goldberg revealed that at the beginning of the pre-production process, casting the series remained a mystery.
“Tom delivered the screenplay in July. ABC loved it, but they wanted to know how we were going to cast it.”
However, Goldberg developed an ingenious casting idea for the show’s leading man, Jonathan Hart.
“There’s only one man who might be available who can play Jonathan Hart the way Cary Grant would play him,” Goldberg recalled saying. “That’s Robert Wagner.”
In fact, Wagner wasn’t just the lead who popularized the series; he was the linchpin that kept the entire show alive. “If we hadn’t been able to get him, we probably would have put the project on the shelf,” said Goldberg.
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