Robert H. Wagner

Biography

Robert Hawley Wagner was a second unit cameraman for First National Pictures from about 1926 to 1940. He was well regarded for his stunt photography due to his small stature and agility. He also operated the Akeley camera used frequently in the early days of motion pictures for aerial, wildlife and general fast-moving cinematography. Wagner was born to William Wallace Wagner (1854-1912) and Edith Gilfillan (1863-1944). His father was a conductor for the Southern Pacific Railroad and his mother was a correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor during the Mexican Revolution. His brothers were Jack, a screenwriter, Blake, a cameraman for Hal Roach and Mack Sennett and later a makeup artist, and Max Wagner, a prolific character actor. Their cousin, Rob Wagner, was a film director and writer for Will Rogers, Charles Ray, Hal Roach and Mack Sennett before he began publishing his film magazine, Rob Wagner's Script. The brothers grew up in Mexico, where their father took a railroad job, but they left for Hollywood to find film work around 1910. However, Bob moved around, first to New Orleans and later to Napanee, Ontario, Canada. After Jack and Blake found acting work for Max in Harry Langdon comedies, Bob followed in about 1926 and joined First National. Bob primarily worked as a second unit cameraman and assistant cameraman. Standing at only 5 feet, 5 inches tall, he often was used to film scenes in cramped spaces when the camera was positioned at an unusual angle. He found frequent work in the early days of talkies when noisy cameras were placed in soundproof boxes to minimize noise during sound recording. In the final scene of The Public Enemy (1931), Bob filmed the body of James Cagney's character, gangster Tom Powers, falling forward face down onto the floor as he lay below floor level with the camera. In the scene in which Cagney's character is shot at on the street with rapid machine gun fire, Bob and his camera were positioned in front of a tall platform with a marksman overhead firing live ammunition at the corner of the building. Bob Wagner left Hollywood in 1940 and returned to Napanee, Canada, with his wife, Ida, and two sons, Richard and William Wallace. William joined the Canadian Royal Air Force in 1942 and was killed in action in a bombing raid over Germany on Feb. 21, 1945. Bob died in 1950.