cover image Pieces of My Heart: A Life

Pieces of My Heart: A Life

Robert Wagner, , read by the author. . HarperAudio, $29.95 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-06-166462-5

Wagner, who moved smoothly from films (A Kiss Before Dying ; The Pink Panther ) to TV (It Takes a Thief ; Hart to Hart ), discusses his life, career and four marriages in this dishy tell-all. His strong performance makes the audio a standout among Hollywood memoirs. His voice reveals a great emotional range: the anger he nursed for his remote and critical father; his joy at the births of his daughters; his frustration at some Hollywood insiders' pettiness. At times his voice dips into an intimate tone just above a whisper, such as when describing his first love tryst with Barbara Stanwyck in the early 1950s (he was 22, she was 46) or narrating his devastation after the accidental drowning of wife Natalie Wood in 1981. The final disc features 24 pages of personal photos, which add a good deal to the overall package and should be standard issue with all audio celebrity memoirs. A Harper Entertainment hardcover (Reviews, Aug. 11). (Oct.)