American actor ( 1928–2014 )
This article is about the american actor. For early uses, see James Garner ( disambiguation )
James Garner ( digest James Scott Bumgarner, April 7, 1928 – July 19, 2014 ) was an american actor and producer. He starred in respective television series over more than seven decades, including popular roles such as Bret Maverick in the 1950s western series Maverick and as Jim Rockford in the 1970s individual detective indicate, The Rockford Files. [ 1 ] He played leading roles in more than 50 theatrical films, including The Great Escape ( 1963 ) with Steve McQueen, Paddy Chayefsky ‘s The Americanization of Emily ( 1964 ) with Julie Andrews, Grand Prix ( 1966 ) with Toshiro Mifune, Marlowe ( 1969 ) with Bruce Lee, Support Your Local Sheriff! ( 1969 ), Support Your Local Gunfighter ( 1971 ), The Castaway Cowboy ( 1974 ), Blake Edwards ‘s Victor/Victoria ( 1982 ) with Julie Andrews, and Murphy’s Romance ( 1985 ) with Sally Field, for which he received an Academy Award nomination. Garner ‘s career and popularity continued through another ten in movies like Space Cowboys ( 2000 ) with Clint Eastwood, voicing an animate film titled Atlantis: The Lost Empire ( 2001 ) with Michael J. Fox and Cree Summer, and The Notebook ( 2004 ) with Gena Rowlands, and his television receiver situation comedy function as Jim Egan in 8 Simple Rules ( 2003–2005 ).

early life [edit ]

Garner was born James Scott Bumgarner in Denver, Oklahoma ( immediately a part of Norman, Oklahoma ). His parents were german Americans, Weldon Warren Bumgarner, [ 2 ] a widower, and Mildred Scott ( Meek ), who died five years after his birth. [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] [ 6 ] His older brothers were Jack Garner and Charles Bumgarner, a school administrator. [ 7 ] [ 8 ] His syndicate was Methodist. [ 9 ] After their mother ‘s death, Garner and his brothers were sent to live with relatives. Garner was reunited with his family in 1934, when Weldon remarried. [ 10 ] Garner ‘s beget remarried several times. [ 11 ] Garner came to hate one of his stepmothers, Wilma, who beat all three boys ( particularly him ). He said that his stepmother besides punished him by forcing him to wear a dress in populace. When he was 14 years previous, he fought with her, knocking her polish and choking her to keep her from killing him in retaliation. She left the class and never returned. [ 12 ] [ 13 ] His brother Jack subsequently commented, “ She was a curse rubber woman ”. [ 13 ] Garner ‘s last stepmother was Grace, whom he said he loved and called “ Mama Grace ”, and felt that she was more of a mother to him than anyone else had been. [ 11 ] After World War II, Garner joined his father in Los Angeles and enrolled at Hollywood High School, where he was voted the most popular student. A high school gymnasium teacher recommended him for a job modeling Jantzen bathing suits. [ 14 ] It paid well ( $ 25 an hour ), but in his inaugural interview for the Archives of american Television, [ 15 ] he said he hated model ; he soon quit and returned to Norman. He played football and basketball at Norman High School, and competed on the lead and golf teams. [ 16 ] however, he dropped out in his senior year. In a 1976 Good Housekeeping magazine interview, he admitted, “ I was a atrocious scholar and I never actually graduated from high school, but I got my diploma in the Army. ” [ 6 ]

military military service [edit ]

shortly after his forefather ‘s marriage to Wilma broke up, his don moved to Los Angeles, leaving Garner and his brothers in Norman. After working at several jobs he disliked, Garner worked as a merchant mariner in the United States Merchant Marine at age 16 near the end of World War II. He liked the knead and his shipmates, but he suffered from chronic seasickness. [ 10 ] Garner enlisted in the California Army National Guard, serving his first 7 months in California. He then went to Korea for 14 months, as a rifleman in the fifth Regimental Combat Team during the Korean War, then part of the 24th Infantry Division. He was wounded doubly, first in the face and hand by shrapnel from a mortar round, and the second gear time in the buttocks from friendly fire from U.S. fighter jets as he dove into a foxhole. Garner received the Purple Heart in Korea for the inaugural hoist. He qualified for a second Purple Heart ( eligibility necessity : “ As the solution of friendly displace while actively engaging the enemy ” ), but he did not actually receive it until 1983, 32 years after the event. [ 14 ] [ 17 ] [ 18 ] [ 19 ]

Awards [edit ]

career [edit ]

Earliest act roles [edit ]

In 1954, Paul Gregory, a ally whom Garner had met while attending Hollywood High School, persuaded Garner to take a nonspeaking character in the Broadway production of The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, where he was able to study Henry Fonda night after night. [ 10 ] During the workweek of Garner ‘s death in 2014, TCM broadcast several of his movies, introduced by Robert Osborne, who said that Fonda ‘s pacify, earnest persona rubbed off on Garner, greatly to Garner ‘s benefit. Garner subsequently moved to television commercials [ 20 ] and finally to television roles. In 1955, Garner was considered for the lead character in the western series Cheyenne, but that role went to Clint Walker because the cast director could not reach Garner in time ( according to Garner ‘s autobiography ). Garner wound up playing an Army military officer in the 1955 Cheyenne pilot titled “ Mountain Fortress. ” His foremost movie appearances were in The Girl He Left Behind and Toward the Unknown in 1956. besides in 1956, Garner appeared with Ralph Bellamy and Gloria Talbott in a half-hour television receiver episode of Dick Powell’s Zane Grey Theater titled “ Star Over Texas ” in which a competition exists between Bellamy and Garner over Talbott until they ‘re attacked by a tribe of rampaging native Americans. In 1957, he had a support role in the television anthology series episode on Conflict entitled “ valet from 1997, ” portraying Maureen ‘s brother “ Red ” ; the prove stars Jacques Sernas as Johnny Vlakos, Gloria Talbott as Maureen, and Charlie Ruggles as aged Mr. Boyne, a time-traveling librarian from 1997, and involved a 1997 Almanac that was mistakenly left in the past by Boyne and found by Johnny in a bookshop. [ 21 ] The series ‘ manufacturer Roy Huggins noted in his archive of american english Television interview that he subsequently cast Garner as the conduct in Maverick due to his comedic facial expressions while playing scenes in “ man from 1997 ” that were not primitively written to be amusing ( Huggins knew this because he ‘d written the episode himself ). Garner changed his last name from Bumgarner to Garner after the studio apartment had credited him as “ James Garner ” without permission. He then legally changed it upon the birth of his foremost child, when he decided she had excessively many names. [ 15 ]

Maverick ( 1957–1960 ) [edit ]

After several feature film roles, including Sayonara ( 1957 ) with Marlon Brando, Garner got his big fracture playing the character of professional gambler Bret Maverick in the western series Maverick from 1957 to 1960. [ 22 ] only Garner and serial godhead Roy Huggins thought Maverick could compete with The Ed Sullivan Show and The Steve Allen Show but for two years it beat both in the time slot. The read about immediately made Garner a family identify. [ 10 ] Garner was the alone star of Maverick for the first seven episodes, but production demands forced the studio apartment, Warner Bros., to create a Maverick brother, Bart, played by Jack Kelly. This allowed two production units to movie different narrative lines and episodes simultaneously, necessity because each episode took an extra day to complete, meaning that finally the studio apartment would run out of complete episodes to air partway through the season unless another actor was added. Critics were positive about the chemistry between Garner and Kelly and the serial occasionally featured democratic cross-over episodes starring both Maverick brothers a well as numerous brief appearances by Kelly in Garner episodes. This included the celebrated “ fly-by-night Deal at Sunny Acres, ” upon which the first one-half of the 1973 movie The Sting appears to be based, according to Roy Huggins ‘ Archive of American Television interview. Garner and guest star Clint Eastwood staged a fistfight in an episode titled “ Duel at Sundown “, in which Eastwood played a condemnable and cowardly gunman. Although Garner quit the series after the third base season because of a dispute with Warner Bros., [ 10 ] he did make one fourth-season Maverick appearance, in an episode titled “ The Maverick Line ” starring both Garner and Jack Kelly that had been filmed in the third season but held rear to run as the season ‘s first sequence if Garner lost his lawsuit against Warner Bros. Garner won in motor hotel, left the series, and the episode was run in the middle of the season rather. The studio attempted to replace Garner ‘s quality with a Maverick cousin who had lived in Britain long adequate to gain an english stress, featuring Roger Moore as Beau Maverick, but Moore left the series after filming only 14 episodes. Warner Bros. had besides hired Robert Colbert, a Garner double, to play a third Maverick brother named Brent Maverick. Colbert entirely appeared in two episodes toward the end of the season. That left the rest of the series ‘ run to Kelly, alternating with reruns of episodes with Garner during the fifth season. Garner still received charge during the hatchway series credits for these newly produced Kelly episodes, aired in the 1961–1962 temper, although he did not appear in them and had left the series two years previously. The studio apartment did, however, reverse the placard at the get down of each display and in advertisements during the fifth season, billing Kelly above Garner. [ citation needed ] When Charlton Heston turned down the lead character in Darby’s Rangers ( 1958 ), before Garner ‘s departure from Maverick, Garner ( in the first place slated to play a big supporting character that was given to Stuart Whitman ) was selected and performed well in the function. As a result of Garner ‘s performance in Darby’s Rangers, coupled with his enormous Maverick popularity, Warner Bros. subsequently gave him conduct roles in two early major theatrical films during his breaks from shooting the series, Up Periscope ( 1959 ) with Edmond O’Brien and Cash McCall ( 1960 ) with Natalie Wood. [ 23 ]

1960s [edit ]

After his acrimonious departure from Warner Bros. in 1960, Garner concisely found himself graylisted by Warner until director William Wyler hired him for a star role in The Children’s Hour ( 1961 ) with Audrey Hepburn and Shirley MacLaine, a play about two teachers surviving scandal started by a student. After that, graylist was broken and Garner abruptly became one of the busiest leading men in film. In Boys’ Night Out ( 1962 ) with Kim Novak and Tony Randall and The Thrill of It All ( 1963 ) with Doris Day, he returned to comedy. Garner besides starred opposite Day in Move Over, Darling, a 1963 remake of 1940 ‘s My Favorite Wife in which Garner portrayed the function primitively played by Cary Grant. ( The remake had begun as Something’s Got to Give, but was recast and retitled after Marilyn Monroe died and Dean Martin chose to withdraw as a result. ) following came the war play The Great Escape ( 1963 ) with Steve McQueen, Paddy Chayefsky ‘s The Americanization of Emily ( 1964 ) with Julie Andrews, and Roald Dahl ‘s 36 Hours ( 1965 ) with Eva Marie Saint ( all three pictures are set in World War II and both the latter two films involve D-Day ). In the smash hit The Great Escape, Garner played the second tip for the only prison term during the ten, supporting colleague ex-TV series cowboy McQueen among a cast of british and american screen veterans including Richard Attenborough, Donald Pleasence, David McCallum, James Coburn, and Charles Bronson in a history depicting a mass evasion from a german prisoner of war camp based on a on-key floor. The film was released in the same month as The Thrill Of It All, giving Garner two films at the corner agency at the lapp time. The Americanization of Emily, a literate antiwar D-Day comedy, featured a screenplay written by Paddy Chayefsky and has remained Garner ‘s darling of all his work. [ 24 ] [ 25 ] In 1963, exhibitors voted him the 16th most democratic leading in the US [ 26 ] and it was hoped that he might be a successor to Clark Gable. [ 27 ]
He besides made Mister Buddwing ( 1966 ), a picture depicting a man abruptly suffering from amnesia while sitting on a bench in Central Park. In 1964, Garner formed his own independent film production company, Cherokee Productions. [ 28 ] He next starred in Norman Jewison ‘s quixotic drollery The Art of Love ( 1965 ) with Dick Van Dyke and Elke Sommer. The Westerns Duel at Diablo ( 1966 ) with Sidney Poitier and Hour of the Gun ( 1967 ) with Garner as Wyatt Earp and Jason Robards Jr. as Doc Holliday followed, vitamin a well as the comedy A Man Could Get Killed ( 1966 ) with Melina Mercouri and Tony Franciosa. Grand Prix with Toshiro Mifune, directed by John Frankenheimer and co-produced through Garner ‘s own film production company Cherokee Productions, left Garner with a captivation for car racing that he much explored by actually racing during the ensuing years. [ 22 ] The expensive Cinerama epic by MGM did not fare american samoa well as expected at the box position and, in concert with the poor performance of his last six films, he was blamed for the movie not doing better, which damaged Garner ‘s theatrical film career. [ 27 ] In 1969, despite confrontation from some at MGM and having to plead his case, Garner played Raymond Chandler ‘s Philip Marlowe in Marlowe, [ 27 ] [ 29 ] a detective play featuring an early extend kung fu setting with the bang-up martial artist and actor Bruce Lee. [ 30 ] The same year, Garner scored a collision with the comedy Western Support Your Local Sheriff! with Walter Brennan .

1970s [edit ]

Nichols ( 1971–1972 ) [edit ]

In 1971, Garner returned to television in an far-out series, Nichols, in which his fictional character was killed and replaced by a more colorless duplicate brother at the end of the series. In one explanation for the strange denouement, the recast as the character ‘s reasonably more normal twin buddy would have hopefully created a more democratic series with few cast changes. [ 31 ] however, according to Garner ‘s 1999 videotaped Archive of American Television consultation, Garner killed his character because they had already cancelled the picture and played his own twin because they had to finish the episode. [ 32 ]

feature films [edit ]

besides in 1971 he starred in Support Your Local Gunfighter! ( like to the western parody Support Your Local Sheriff! ), while in the frontier comedy Skin Game, Garner and Louis Gossett Jr. starred as convict men pretending to be an owner and his slave during the pre- Civil War era. [ citation needed ] The be class, Garner played a little town sheriff investigating a murder in They Only Kill Their Masters, with Katharine Ross. He appeared in two Disney films besides starring Vera Miles as his leading dame, One Little Indian ( 1973 ), featuring Jodie Foster in an early minor role, and The Castaway Cowboy ( 1974 ) with Robert Culp .

The Rockford Files ( 1974–1980 ) [edit ]

Garner in the 1974 sequence “ Tall Woman in Red Wagon ” featuring xian Barbara Allen with David Morick as the county coroner In the 1970s, Roy Huggins had an idea to remake Maverick, but this time as a contemporary secret detective. Huggins worked with co-creator Stephen J. Cannell, and the match selected Garner to attempt to rekindle the achiever of Maverick, finally recycling many of the plots from the original series, according to both Huggins ‘ and Cannell ‘s Archive of American Television interviews. Starting with the 1974 season, Garner appeared as secret investigator Jim Rockford in The Rockford Files. He appeared for six seasons, for which he received an Emmy Award for Best Actor [ 33 ] in 1977. In the 2016 bible titled TV (The Book), film and television critic Matt Zoller Seitz stated that the series gave Garner “ the character he was put on earth to play. ” [ 34 ] Veteran character actor Noah Beery Jr., nephew of riddle caption Wallace Beery, played Rockford ‘s founder “ rocky ” in numerous episodes. Garner appeared with Mariette Hartley, who guest-starred in an sequence of Rockford Files, in a drawn-out series of highly democratic Polaroid Camera commercials. After six seasons, The Rockford Files was cancelled in 1980. Although low ratings were chiefly to blame, the physical toll on Garner was besides an topic. [ 35 ] Appearing in closely every scene of the series, doing many of his own stunts—including one that injured his back—was wearing him out. [ 35 ] A knee injury from his National Guard days worsened in the awaken of the continuous jump and roll, and he was hospitalized with a bleeding ulcer in 1979. [ 35 ] When Garner ‘s doctor ordered him to rest, the studio cancelled The Rockford Files. Margolin said of his longtime colleague that despite Garner ‘s health problems in the belated years of The Rockford Files, he would much work retentive shifts, unusual for a star actor, staying to do off-camera lines with other actors, doing his own stunts despite his stifle problems. [ 35 ] When Garner late made The Rockford Files television movies, he said that 22 people ( with the exception of series co-star Beery, who died late in 1994 ) came out of retirement to participate. [ 35 ] In July 1983, Garner filed suit against Universal Studios for US $ 16.5 million in connection with his ongoing quarrel from The Rockford Files. The suit charged Universal with “ transgress of narrow ; failure to deal in good faith and fairly ; and fraud and deception ”. Garner alleged that Universal was “ creatively accounting “, two words that are immediately part of the Hollywood dictionary. [ 36 ] The suit was finally settled out of court in 1989. As part of the agreement, Garner could not disclose the sum of the village. [ 13 ] [ 37 ] “ The industry is like it always has been. It ‘s a bunch of avid people, ” he stated in 1990. [ 38 ] Garner sued Universal again in 1998 for $ 2.2 million over syndication royalties. In this suit, he charged the studio apartment with “ deceiving him and suppressing information about syndication ”. He was supposed to receive $ 25,000 per episode that ran in syndication, but Universal charged him “ distribution fees ”. He besides felt that the studio did not release the display to the highest bidder for the episode rerun. [ 37 ]

The New Maverick ( 1978 ) [edit ]

Garner and Jack Kelly reappeared as Bret and Bart Maverick in a 1978 made-for-television film titled The New Maverick written by Juanita Bartlett, directed by Hy Averback, and besides starring Susan Sullivan as Poker Alice. As had frequently been the font in episodes of the master serial, Bret ‘s buddy baronet shows up only briefly toward the end. The New Maverick served as the pilot program for a fail television receiver series, Young Maverick, featuring the adventures of Bret and Bart ‘s younger cousin Ben Maverick, portrayed in both The New Maverick and Young Maverick by Charles Frank. The serial itself, which only presented Garner for a few moments at the begin of the first base picture, was canceled sol quickly that some of the episodes filmed were never broadcast in the United States. Despite the entitle, Frank was three years older than Garner had been at the launch of the original series .

1980s [edit ]

Garner in 1987

Bret Maverick ( 1981–1982 ) [edit ]

After the abrupt disappearance of Young Maverick two seasons earlier, an attack to make a “ Maverick ” series without Garner, he returned to his earlier television receiver function in 1981 in the revival series Bret Maverick, but NBC unexpectedly canceled the show after only one temper despite sanely beneficial ratings. Critics noted that the scripts did not measure up to the episodes starring Garner in the first serial. Jack Kelly ( Bart Maverick ) was slated to become a serial regular had the show been picked up for another season. Kelly was presented with a smokestack of finished scripts featuring Bart Maverick for the approaching second season, and he appeared in the last scene of the concluding episode in a surprise guest appearance .

television movies [edit ]

During the 1980s, Garner played dramatic roles in a phone number of television films, including Heartsounds with Mary Tyler Moore featuring the true narrative of a sophisticate ( played by Garner ) who is deprived of oxygen for besides long during an operation and wakes up mentally mar ; Promise with James Woods and Piper Laurie, about dealing with a mentally ill adult sibling ; and My Name Is Bill W. with James Woods, in which Garner portrays the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous. In 1984, he played the lead in Joseph Wambaugh ‘s The Glitter Dome for HBO Pictures, which was directed by his Rockford Files co-star Stuart Margolin. The film generated a meek controversy for a bondage sequence featuring Garner and co-star Margot Kidder. [ 39 ]

Murphy’s Romance ( 1985 )

[edit ]

Garner ‘s only Oscar nomination was for Best Actor in a conduct function for the film Murphy’s Romance ( 1985 ), face-to-face Sally Field. Field and film director Martin Ritt had to fight the studio, Columbia Pictures, to have Garner cast, since he was regarded as a television receiver actor by then despite having co-starred in the box office hit Victor/Victoria inverse Julie Andrews two years earlier. Columbia did not want to make the movie, because it had no “ arouse or violence ” in it. But because of the achiever of Norma Rae ( 1979 ), with the like leading ( Field ), conductor, and screenplay writing team ( Harriet Frank Jr. and Irving Ravetch ), and with Field ‘s fresh production company ( Fogwood Films ) producing, Columbia agreed. Columbia wanted Marlon Brando to play the part of Murphy, so Field and Ritt had to insist on Garner. [ 40 ] [ 41 ] [ 42 ] Part of the softwood from the studio, which at that time was owned by The Coca-Cola Company, included an eight-line sequence of Field and Garner saying the parole “ Coke, ” and besides having Coke signs appear prominently in the film. [ 43 ] [ 44 ] In A & E ‘s Biography of Garner, Field reported that her on-screen kiss with Garner was the best cinematic kiss she had always experienced. [ 45 ]

Sunset ( 1988 ) [edit ]

Garner played Wyatt Earp ( whom he physically resembled ) in two very different movies shot 21 years apart, John Sturges ‘ Hour of the Gun in 1967 and Blake Edwards ‘ Sunset in 1988. The first movie was a realistic word picture of the O.K. Corral gunfight and its consequence, while the second centered around a comedic fabricated venture shared by Earp and silent movie cowboy star Tom Mix. Earp had actually worked as a adviser for western films during the mum film earned run average toward the end of his life. The movie features Bruce Willis as Mix in merely his second movie role. Although Willis was billed over Garner, the movie actually gave more filmdom clock and emphasis to Earp. [ citation needed ] For the second base half of the 1980s, Garner besides appeared in several of the north american marketplace Mazda television receiver commercials as an on-screen spokesman. [ 46 ]

1990s [edit ]

In 1991, Garner starred in Man of the People, a television series about a memorize man chosen to fill an empty seat on a city council, with Kate Mulgrew and Corinne Bohrer. [ 47 ] Despite reasonably bazaar ratings, the show was canceled after only 10 episodes. In 1993, Garner played the spark advance in a well-received HBO movie, the true floor Barbarians at the Gate, and went on to reprise his role as Jim Rockford in eight The Rockford Files made-for-TV movies beginning the following year. [ 48 ] practically everyone in the original casting of recurring characters returned for the newfangled episodes except Noah Beery Jr., who had died in the interim. [ citation needed ] According to Garner ‘s memoir The Garner Files, he insisted upon being in full paid in cash before the shooting began on each of the Rockford TV-movies. In 1994, Garner played Marshal Zane Cooper in a movie translation of Maverick, with Mel Gibson as Bret Maverick ( in the conclusion it is revealed that Garner ‘s character is the beget of Gibson ‘s Maverick ) and Jodie Foster as a gambling lass with a fake southern stress. [ 49 ] In 1995, he played precede character Woodrow Call, an ex-lawman, in the television miniseries sequel to Lonesome Dove entitled Streets of Laredo, based on Larry McMurtry ‘s koran. In 1996, Garner and Jack Lemmon teamed up in My Fellow Americans, playing two former presidents who uncover disgraceful bodily process by their successor ( Dan Aykroyd ) and are pursued by homicidal NSA agents. [ 50 ] In summation to a major recurring function during the last separate of the run of television serial Chicago Hope, Garner besides starred in two ephemeral series, the animated God, the Devil and Bob and First Monday, in which he played the Supreme Court ‘s Chief Justice of the United States. [ citation needed ]

2000s and 2010s [edit ]

In 2000, after an operation to replace both knees, [ 51 ] Garner appeared with Clint Eastwood, who had played a villain in the master Maverick series in the episode “ Duel at Sundown, ” as astronauts in the movie Space Cowboys, [ 52 ] besides featuring Tommy Lee Jones and Donald Sutherland. In 2001, Garner voiced Commander Rourke in Atlantis: The Lost Empire. In 2002, following the death of James Coburn, Garner took over Coburn ‘s role as television receiver commercial voiceover for Chevrolet ‘s “ Like a Rock ” advertise campaign. Garner continued to voice the commercials until the end of the campaign. besides in 2002, he played Sandra Bullock ‘s father in Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (film) as Shepard James “ Shep ” Walker. After the death of John Ritter in 2003, Garner joined the cast of 8 Simple Rules as Grandpa Jim Egan ( Cate ‘s beget ) [ 53 ] and remained with the serial until it finished in 2005. In 2004, Garner starred as the older version of Ryan Gosling ‘s quality in the film adaptation of Nicholas Sparks ‘s The Notebook aboard Gena Rowlands as his wife, directed by Nick Cassavetes, Rowlands ‘s son. The screen Actors Guild nominated Garner as best actor for “ Outstanding performance by a Male Actor in a encouraging Role ”. [ 54 ] In 2010, Garner voiced Shazam in Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam. [ 55 ]

Garner ‘s memoir [edit ]

With step-daughter Kim in 1958 On November 1, 2011, Simon & Schuster published Garner ‘s autobiography The Garner Files: A Memoir. In accession to recounting his career, the memoir, co-written with nonfiction writer Jon Winokur, detailed the childhood abuses Garner suffered at the hands of his stepmother. It besides offered frank, unflattering assessments of some of Garner ‘s co-stars such as Steve McQueen and Charles Bronson. In addition to recalling the genesis of most of Garner ‘s hit films and television shows, the book besides featured a department where the star provided individual critiques for every one of his acting projects accompanied by a star rat for each. Garner ‘s three-time co-star Julie Andrews wrote the record ‘s foreword. Lauren Bacall, Diahann Carroll, Doris Day, Tom Selleck, Stephen J. Cannell, and many other Garner associates, friends, and relatives provided their memories of the ace in the book ‘s finale. [ 56 ] The “ most explosive disclosure ” in his autobiography was that Garner smoked marijuana for much of his adult liveliness. “ I started smoking it in my late teens, ” Garner wrote .

I drank to get drink but ultimately did n’t like the effect. not thus with eatage. It had the inverse effect from alcohol : it made me more tolerant and forgiving. I did a little snatch of cocaine in the Eighties, courtesy of John Belushi, but fortunately I did n’t like it. But I smoked marijuana for 50 years and I do n’t know where I ‘d be without it. It opened my mind and now it eases my arthritis. After decades of inquiry I ‘ve concluded that cannabis should be legal and alcohol illegal. [ 56 ]

Awards and nominations [edit ]

Nominated for 15 Emmy Awards during his television career, Garner received the award in 1977 as Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series ( The Rockford Files ) and in 1987 as executive producer of Promise. [ 57 ] For his contribution to the movie and television receiver industry, Garner received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame ( at 6927 Hollywood Boulevard ). [ 52 ] In 1990, he was inducted into the westerly Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He was besides inducted into the Television Hall of Fame that lapp year. In February 2005, he received the Screen Actors Guild ‘s Lifetime Achievement Award. [ 1 ] [ 52 ] He was besides nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role that year, for The Notebook. When Morgan Freeman won that prize for his work in Million Dollar Baby, Freeman led the audience in a sing-along of the original Maverick theme song, written by David Buttolph and Paul Francis Webster. [ 58 ] In 2010, the Television Critics Association gave Garner its annual Career Achievement Award .

statue [edit ]

On April 21, 2006, a 10-foot-tall ( 3.0 meter ) bronze statue of Garner as Bret Maverick was unveiled in Garner ‘s hometown of Norman, Oklahoma, [ 52 ] with Garner portray at the ceremony .

personal liveliness [edit ]

marriage and family [edit ]

The Garners in 1961. Greta is on Garner ‘s lick ; Kim is looking out between Garner and his wife Lois. Garner was married to Lois Josephine Fleischman Clarke, [ 59 ] [ 60 ] whom he met at a party in 1956. They married 14 days late on August 17, 1956. “ We went to dinner every night for 14 nights. I was precisely absolutely en about her. I spent $ 77 on our honeymoon, and it about broke me. ” [ 14 ] According to Garner, “ marriage is like the Army ; everyone complains, but you ‘d be surprised at the large count of people who re-enlist. ” [ 61 ] His wife practiced Judaism. [ 62 ] When Garner and Clarke married, her daughter Kim from a former marriage was seven years old and recovering from poliomyelitis. [ 6 ] Garner had one daughter with Lois, published writer, songwriter, philanthropist, artist Greta “ Gigi ” Garner on January 4, 1958. [ 6 ] In an interview in Good Housekeeping with Garner, his wife, and two daughters, conducted at their home, and published in March 1976, Gigi ‘s old age was given as 18 and Kim ‘s as 27. [ 6 ] In 1970, Garner and his wife briefly lived individually for three months. In late 1979, Garner again separated from his wife ( around the time The Rockford Files stopped filming ), splitting his time between live in Canada and “ a rent house in the Valley ”. [ 63 ] [ 64 ] The two resumed living together in September 1981, and remained married for the pillow of his biography. Garner said that the separations were not caused by marital problems, rather stating that he just needed to spend time alone in order to recover from the tension of acting. [ 65 ] Garner died less than a month before their 58th wedding anniversary. On October 30, 2021, Gigi Garner announced on chitter that her mother, Lois Garner had passed away .

Health problems [edit ]

Garner ‘s knees became a chronic trouble during the film of The Rockford Files in the 1970s, with “ six or seven knee operations during that time ”. In 2000, he undergo knee substitute operating room for both of them. [ 14 ] On April 22, 1988, Garner had quintuple shunt heart surgery. [ 66 ] Though he recovered quickly, he was advised to stop smoke. Garner quit smoking 17 years later. [ 67 ] Garner undergo operation on May 11, 2008, following a severe stroke he had suffered two days earlier. [ 68 ] His prognosis was reported to be “ very positive ”. [ 68 ]

Racing [edit ]

Garner was an owner of the “ American International Racers ” ( AIR ) car racing team from 1967 through 1969. [ 69 ] Motorsports writer William Edgar and Hollywood director Andy Sidaris teamed with Garner for the race objective The Racing Scene, filmed in 1969 and released in 1970. [ 70 ] The team fielded cars at Le Mans, Daytona, and Sebring survival races, but is best known for Garner ‘s celebrity condition raising promotion in early off-road motor-sports events. [ 69 ] In 1978, he was one of the inauguration inductees in the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame. [ 69 ] Garner signed a three-year sponsorship abridge with American Motors Corporation ( AMC ). [ 71 ] His shops prepared ten 1969 SC/Ramblers for the Baja 500 race. [ 72 ] Garner did not drive in this consequence because of a film commitment in Spain that year. Nevertheless, seven of his cars finished the arduous race, taking three of the peak five places in the sedan class. [ 73 ] Garner besides drove the pace cable car at the Indianapolis 500 race in 1975, 1977, and 1985 ( see : list of Indianapolis 500 pace cars ). [ 69 ]

golf [edit ]

Garner was an avid golfer for many years. Along with his buddy, Jack, he played golf in high school. [ 16 ] Jack even attempted a professional golfing career after a brief stint in the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball farm system. [ 74 ] Garner took it up again in the late 1950s to see if he could beat Jack. [ 14 ] He was a regular for years at pebble Beach Pro-Am. [ 74 ] In February 1990 at the AT & T Golf Tournament, he won the Most Valuable Amateur Trophy. [ 5 ] Garner appeared on Sam Snead ‘s Celebrity Golf TV series which aired from 1960 – 1963. These matches were 9-hole charity events pitting Snead against Hollywood celebrities. [ 75 ]
Garner was noted as an enthusiastic fan of the Raiders in the NFL ; he regularly attended games and mix with the players. [ 76 ] He was besides show when the Raiders won Super Bowl XVIII over the Washington Redskins in January 1984 at Tampa, Florida .

University of Oklahoma [edit ]

Garner was a supporter of the University of Oklahoma, often returning to Norman for school functions. When he attended Oklahoma Sooners football games, he frequently could be seen on the sidelines or in the compress box. Garner received an honorary doctor of the church of Humane Letters degree at OU in 1995. [ 77 ] In 2003, to endow the James Garner Chair in the School of Drama, he donated $ 500,000, half of a pledge $ 1 million, for the first endowed place at the drama school. [ 77 ] [ 78 ] Tom H. Orr, the Director for the School of Drama ( Acting/Camera Acting ) and the Artistic Director of the University Theatre, presently holds the James Garner Chair at the university. [ 79 ]

Politics [edit ]

Garner was a potent Democratic Party garter. From 1982, Garner gave at least $ 29,000 to Federal campaigns, of which over $ 24,000 was to Democratic Party candidates, including Dennis Kucinich ( for Congress in 2002 ), Dick Gephardt, John Kerry, Barbara Boxer, and assorted democratic committees and groups. [ 80 ] On August 28, 1963, Garner was one of respective celebrities to join Martin Luther King Jr. in the “ March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom “. In his autobiography, Garner recalled sitting in the third row listening to King ‘s “ I Have a Dream “ speech. [ citation needed ] For his function in the 1985 CBS miniseries Space, the character ‘s party affiliation was changed from Republican as in the record to reflect Garner ‘s personal views. Garner said, “ My wife would leave me if I played a republican. ” [ 81 ] There was an attempt by California Democratic party leaders, led by submit Senator Herschel Rosenthal, to persuade Garner to seek the democratic nominating speech for Governor of California in the 1990 election. however, future United States Senator and erstwhile San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein received the nomination alternatively, losing to Republican Pete Wilson in the election. [ 82 ] [ 83 ]

friendship with Richmond Barthé [edit ]

Garner became a friend and supporter of african-american sculptor Richmond Barthé, from the time the latter returned from Europe in 1977 and settled in Pasadena [ 84 ] until his death in 1989 .

death [edit ]

Children’s Hour preview Garner was a private and introspective homo, according to family and friends. [ 85 ] On July 19, 2014, police and rescue personnel were summoned to Garner ‘s Brentwood, Los Angeles home, where they found the actor abruptly at the historic period of 86. [ 86 ] [ 87 ] [ 88 ] [ 89 ] He had suffered a heart attack caused by coronary artery disease. [ 90 ] He had been in poor health since his stroke in 2008. [ 91 ] longtime friends Tom Selleck ( who worked with Garner on The Rockford Files ), Sally Field ( who starred with Garner in Murphy’s Romance ) and Clint Eastwood ( who guest-starred with Garner on Maverick and starred in Space Cowboys ) reflected on his death. Selleck said, “ Jim was a mentor to me and a friend, and I will miss him. ” [ 92 ] Field said, “ My heart precisely broke. There are few people on this satellite I have adored arsenic much as Jimmy Garner. I care for every moment I spent with him and relive them over and over in my point. He was a baseball diamond. ” [ 93 ] Eastwood said, “ Garner opened the door for people like Steve McQueen and myself. ” [ 94 ]

Filmography [edit ]

See besides [edit ]

  • Karl L. Rundberg, a Los Angeles City Council member who engaged in a public quarrel with Garner at a council meeting

References [edit ]

Notes [edit ]

bibliography [edit ]