Actor Robert Wagner has been Hollywood royalty for nearly 70 years, a fixture of film and television whose career spans from the Golden Age of the studio system to the modern streaming era. And on February 10, as the screen legend celebrates his 96th birthday, audiences are once again reflecting on the roles that made him an icon. For most folks, he remains best known as the debonair amateur sleuth Jonathan Hart on the hit series Hart to Hart, while in the current era fans know him as Anthony “Tony” DiNozzo Sr., the charming, globe-trotting father of Michael Weatherly‘s agent on NCIS.
Wagner revealed how he got the role of playing Tony DiNozzo’s dad in a chat with NCIS star Cote de Pablo, best known as Ziva David on the show. “It was Michael’s idea to have me on the show, and to be [Tony’s] father,” said the actor. “He played me once in a movie.”
ABC
According to the actor, Weatherly was instrumental in bringing Wagner to the CBS series by actively campaigning for him for the role of Tony DiNozzo’s father, after having already established a connection with the Hart to Hart actor by portraying a young Wagner in a 2004 TV miniseries, The Mystery of Natalie Wood, directed by Peter Bogdanovich.
The limited series The Mystery of Natalie Wood featured Justine Waddell as the iconic actress and Weatherly as Wagner, tracing Wood’s journey from celebrated child performer to one of Hollywood’s most luminous and complex leading ladies.
CBS
“I’ve been told about you, and I’ve seen your work. I was a very big admirer of NCIS, and of Mark [Harmon],” explained Wagner. “When you had the idea of me being your father, I knew about the show, and I knew about you, and several people said that we looked so much alike that you looked like my son. And I was very flattered with that.”
“I loved doing this show, and I loved being with you,” said Wagner.