Stefanie Powers Played Jennifer Hart on "Hart to Hart." See Her Now at 80.
This octogenarian star says she's living a "double life" these days.
In the mid-'70s, Hart to Hart became one of the most popular shows on television. It told the story of Jonathan and Jennifer Hart, a wealthy, globe-trotting couple (he a businessman, and she a freelance journalist) who moonlight as amateur detectives with the help of their chauffeur, Max. The headlining roles were famously played by Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers, and the pair were adored for their onscreen chemistry. Today, Powers is 80, and says she's been leading a "double life" that may surprise you. Read on to see the actor now and to find out where her career has taken her since the show wrapped.
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Powers never stopped working in Hollywood.
Powers already had an impressive resume before Hart to Hart began in 1979, and she's had a long career in the decades since. Though her work on the show remains her most recognizable performance, the actor has continued to appear in popular shows including The Six Million Dollar Man, The Bionic Woman, The Feather and Father Gang, The Rockford Files, Doctors, and more. She has also starred in scores of made-for-TV movies, including eight Hart to Hart movies in which she reprised her role of Jennifer.
Most recently, Powers joined the cast of the 2021 TV series On the Verge, acting alongside Julie Delpy, Elisabeth Shue, Sarah Jones, and Alexia Landeau.
She also loves performing in live theater.
In the biography of her official website, Powers says that she "has never neglected her theatrical roots" at any point in her career, appearing in plays both stateside and in the U.K. She has appeared in productions of plays and musicals including View from the Bridge, Oliver, Annie Get Your Gun, Sunset Boulevard, and The Vagina Monologues, among others.
She also acted on stage opposite her former Hart to Hart co-star, Wagner, in Love Letters, touring the U.S. with the show and "becoming the cast most associated with the play after over 500 performances," as she says in her bio.
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These days, Powers says she's living a "double life."
Though Powers still works in Hollywood, the actor says she only spends part of her time there. She also has a farm on the South Downs in East Sussex, England, and a home in Kenya. In Kenya, she runs the William Holden Wildlife Foundation (WHWF), an organization that promotes conservation and environmental stewardship through educational programs. On her website, she refers to this as a "double life, one in front of the camera or on a stage and one in absolute dedication to the preservation of animals and the natural world."
In a 2021 episode of the WHWF podcast, Powers shared that her "first step into the complicated world of charitable enterprise was more of a leap of faith than a dainty step." She formed the organization in 1982 in honor of her longtime partner, Oscar-winning Network actor William Holden, who died after suffering a fall the year prior.
Powers shared with Closer Weekly the same year that the couple had bonded over their love of wildlife. "We loved it," Powers recalled. "Being outdoors, sleeping under the sky, tracking animals. It was sort of a real-life adventure," she told the magazine.
Speaking to John Contratti for his podcast Up Next in 2022, Powers shared that her "longest relationship with anyone" is with her parrot, who the animal lover has had for "50 years."
She says she's still close with her Hart to Hart co-star.
Powers had world-famous onscreen chemistry with Wagner on Hart to Hart and, in a 2019 interview with The Daily Mail, she shared that the pair are still close to this day. The actor revealed that she often makes an effort to get together with her former costar when Wagner visits Los Angeles from his home in Aspen.
Though fans often speculated about their TV romance continuing offscreen, which Powers called "absolutely hysterical," she maintains that theirs was akin to a sibling relationship. "Siblings who really like each other—when we were working together, sometimes we would get into laughing fits and they'd have to send us home. We can still push each other's buttons today," Powers told the outlet. "We laugh all the time."
Powers said that even she can't describe the magic of the pair's chemistry. "If I knew what the ingredients were, I would bottle it and make a fortune," the actor explained.
