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.
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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. With regard to religion, St. John has indicated she believes in God.
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 and/or co-star with actor Robert Wagner. As a young girl, St. John 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. If she were not an actress, she would have become a marine biologist, having studied the subject at college.
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.
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.
According to an account of a 1972 party organized to support Republican Richard Nixon's re-election campaign, St. John claimed that after three years, Henry Kissinger had convinced her to vote for Nixon, though she had earlier supported Democrat Eugene McCarthy in his 1968 challenge to incumbent president Lyndon B. Johnson.
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, Brazilian entrepreneur Francisco 'Baby' Pignatari and Massachusetts Justice of the Peace Philip L. Robo. She was engaged to Miami real estate developer Robert Blum in 1974, but called off the engagement.