For five seasons, they were television’s most stylish married couple, solving murders between cocktails and charity galas. They were never married in real life, yet almost half a century later, the bond between the two stars is still very much intact, and one birthday message just proved it.
In short
- Robert Wagner, 96, wished his Hart to Hart co-star Stefanie Powers a happy 84th birthday on Instagram on November 2.
- He called her “Mrs. H” and “my favorite partner in crime-solving.”
- The series ran from 1979 to 1984, and the pair reunited for TV movies from 1993 to 1996.
‘Happy Birthday, Mrs. H!’
Robert Wagner marked Stefanie Powers‘s birthday with a post that sent fans straight back to the early 1980s. “Happy Birthday, Mrs. H! ❤️ Wishing my favorite partner in crime-solving a fabulous birthday!” he wrote, adding: “Some things never go out of style… especially you!” Wagner is 96. Powers turned 84 on November 2.
The show that made them a couple
Created by novelist Sidney Sheldon, Hart to Hart premiered on ABC in 1979 and ran for five seasons, until 1984. Wagner and Powers played Jonathan and Jennifer Hart, a wealthy, glamorous couple who kept stumbling into murder cases, helped by their gravel-voiced butler Max and their dog, Freeway.
The casting was no accident. Wagner suggested Powers for the role after they had worked together on his earlier series, It Takes a Thief. The chemistry was so convincing that audiences kept them together long after the show ended: the pair reunited for a series of Hart to Hart TV movies from 1993 to 1996.
Both stars kept busy long after the show. Wagner found a new generation of fans as Number Two in the Austin Powers films and as Tony DiNozzo’s father on NCIS. Powers, who was in a relationship with actor William Holden until his death in 1981, has continued to act on stage and screen and has spoken warmly about the show and her co-star in interviews ever since.
‘He’s like my brother’
Off screen, the two have remained close for decades. Powers has said they still talk often and that she considers Wagner part of her family. “He’s like my brother,” she has said, recalling that they were “just really, really lucky to have that chemistry and continue it throughout the years.” In February, she visited Wagner to celebrate his birthday.
Few TV partnerships last this long. Like the original Charlie’s Angels reuniting 50 years later or the Matilda cast coming back together after 30 years, their story shows how much these screen families still mean to viewers who grew up with them.
The limit
Wagner’s birthday message comes from his own Instagram account. Powers’ comments about their friendship were made in earlier interviews, not in response to this post, and neither star has said whether a new on-screen reunion is planned.
The bottom line
Forty-seven years after they first played husband and wife, Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers are still each other’s favorite partner in crime-solving. Some on-screen couples fade with the credits. This one clearly never did.
