# Jill St. John
**Jill St. John** (born Jill Arlyn Oppenheim, 1940) is a retired American actress best known for playing diamond smuggler Tiffany Case opposite [Sean Connery](https://www.edgepedia.org/sean-connery)'s James Bond in *Diamonds Are Forever* (1971), which made her the first American to play a [Bond girl](https://www.edgepedia.org/bond-girl)[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001762/bio/) • [2](https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/jill-st-john-44914.php). Born in Los Angeles, she worked as a child performer on radio, stage, and television before signing a studio contract at 16 and building a film and television career across the 1960s and 1970s[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001762/bio/) • [2](https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/jill-st-john-44914.php).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | Jill Arlyn Oppenheim, 1940, Los Angeles[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001762/bio/) |
| Film debut | *Summer Love* (1958), after signing with Universal Pictures at age 16[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001762/bio/) |
| Signature role | Tiffany Case, the diamond smuggler in *Diamonds Are Forever* (1971), opposite Sean Connery[3](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/PersonDetails/82518) |
| Bond distinction | The first American to play a Bond girl[2](https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/jill-st-john-44914.php) |
| Award recognition | Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress for *Come Blow Your Horn* (1963)[2](https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/jill-st-john-44914.php) |
| Marriage | Married actor Robert Wagner in 1990 after an eight-year courtship; the Wagners live in Aspen[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001762/bio/) |
| Other careers | Cookbook author, cooking expert on *Good Morning America*, food columnist for *USA Weekend*[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001762/bio/) |
## Early career
St. John began performing as a child, appearing on radio programs and on television in the late 1940s and 1950s[2](https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/jill-st-john-44914.php). She signed with [Universal Pictures](https://www.edgepedia.org/universal-pictures) at age 16 and made her film debut in *Summer Love* (1958)[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001762/bio/). A pair of [Clifton Webb](https://www.edgepedia.org/clifton-webb) family comedies, *The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker* and *Holiday for Lovers*, both released in 1959, followed, and in 1960 she co-starred with [Claude Rains](https://www.edgepedia.org/claude-rains) and Michael Rennie in Irwin Allen's big-budget adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle's dinosaur adventure *The Lost World*[4](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/jill-st-john/).
Through the 1960s she worked steadily, with roles in *The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone* (1961) with [Vivien Leigh](https://www.edgepedia.org/vivien-leigh), *Tender Is the Night* (1962), *Come Blow Your Horn* (1963) with [Frank Sinatra](https://www.edgepedia.org/frank-sinatra), *Who's Minding the Store?* (1963) with [Jerry Lewis](https://www.edgepedia.org/jerry-lewis), and *Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed?* (1963) with Dean Martin[3](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/PersonDetails/82518). Her performance as Peggy in *Come Blow Your Horn* earned her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress[2](https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/jill-st-john-44914.php). She kept her profile high with *Honeymoon Hotel* (1964), the spy spoof *The Liquidator* (1965), and the Hollywood melodrama *The Oscar* (1966), and appeared on television in the *Batman* series in 1966[3](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/PersonDetails/82518) • [5](https://www.imfdb.org/wiki/Jill_St._John).
## Diamonds Are Forever and Tiffany Case
In 1971 St. John was cast as Tiffany Case, a red-haired American diamond smuggler who becomes Bond's ally, in *Diamonds Are Forever*, the seventh EON Productions James Bond film, directed by [Guy Hamilton](https://www.edgepedia.org/guy-hamilton)[3](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/PersonDetails/82518) • [6](https://www.tcm.com/watchtcm/titles/24281). In the film, Bond, posing as smuggler Peter Franks, meets Tiffany in Amsterdam and later in Las Vegas, where the stolen diamonds lead him to the villain Blofeld and his laser-satellite plot[6](https://www.tcm.com/watchtcm/titles/24281).
The role made St. John the first American to play a Bond girl[2](https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/jill-st-john-44914.php). Commentators have described her Tiffany as a blend of brash self-confidence, opportunistic pragmatism, and comic exaggeration, a tone suited to the film's lighter, early-1970s style[7](https://jamesbondarchive.ch/personen/jill-st-john/). Her performance drew a range of critical responses; some reviewers counted her among their favorite Bond girls, while others ranked her less highly[8](https://hillplace.blogspot.com/2013/03/a-grudging-reassessment-of-jill-st-john.html). She followed the film with the British thriller *Sitting Target* (1972)[3](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/PersonDetails/82518).
## Later career and life beyond acting
St. John largely left acting in the 1980s and 1990s, returning only on occasion[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001762/bio/). One notable return was against type as the corrupt Warden Fletcher in the women's prison drama *The Concrete Jungle* (1982), a role some critics later saw as better suited to her screen presence than her earlier comedic parts[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001762/bio/) • [8](https://hillplace.blogspot.com/2013/03/a-grudging-reassessment-of-jill-st-john.html). She made cameos alongside [Robert Wagner](https://www.edgepedia.org/robert-wagner) in [Robert Altman](https://www.edgepedia.org/robert-altman)'s Hollywood satire *The Player* (1992) and in a 1997 episode of *Seinfeld*[4](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/jill-st-john/). In the late 1990s she and Wagner toured in A.R. Gurney's two-person stage reading *Love Letters*, and she appeared with him in the films *The Calling* (2002) and *The Trip* (2002) and as Santa and [Mrs. Claus](https://www.edgepedia.org/mrs-claus) in the TV movie *Northpole* (2014)[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001762/bio/).
Cooking became a second career. Her parents were restaurateurs, and she wrote a cookbook, appeared as a TV chef and in-house cooking expert on *Good Morning America*, and served as a food columnist for the *USA Weekend* newspaper[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001762/bio/). On the philanthropic side, she founded the Aunts Club, a Rancho Mirage-based group whose members contribute at least $1,000 per year to provide financial support for a child[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001762/bio/).
She has been married four times, to laundry heir Neil Dubin, sports car racer [Lance Reventlow](https://www.edgepedia.org/lance-reventlow), singer Jack Jones, and Robert Wagner, whom she married in 1990 after meeting him when both were contract players at 20th Century Fox[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001762/bio/). With Wagner she also shared credits in *Banning* (1967), the TV movie *How I Spent My Summer Vacation* (1967), and *Around the World in 80 Days* (1989)[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001762/bio/).
## References
1. [Jill St. John Biography, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001762/bio/)
2. [Jill St. John Biography, The Famous People](https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/jill-st-john-44914.php)
3. [Jill St. John filmography, AFI Catalog of Feature Films](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/PersonDetails/82518)
4. [Jill St. John, TV Insider](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/jill-st-john/)
5. [Jill St. John, Internet Movie Firearms Database](https://www.imfdb.org/wiki/Jill_St._John)
6. [Diamonds Are Forever (1971), Turner Classic Movies](https://www.tcm.com/watchtcm/titles/24281)
7. [Jill St. John, James Bond Archive](https://jamesbondarchive.ch/personen/jill-st-john/)
8. [A Grudging Reassessment of Jill St. John, Hill Place](https://hillplace.blogspot.com/2013/03/a-grudging-reassessment-of-jill-st-john.html)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of the Anglosphere and Europe › American actors: 1940s to 1960s › Surnames J to L*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license