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This article is about the American actor. For other uses, see James Garner (disambiguation).

James Garner
Garner as Maverick (1959)
Born
James Scott Baumgarner

(1928-04-07)April 7, 1928
Norman, Oklahoma, U.S.
DiedJuly 19, 2014(2014-07-19) (aged 86)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Alma materUniversity of Oklahoma
Occupation(s)Actor, producer
Years active1954–2014
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse
Lois Josephine Fleischman Clarke
​
​
(m. 1956)​
Children2
FamilyJack Garner (brother)

James Garner (born James Scott Baumgarner; April 7, 1928 – July 19, 2014) was an American actor and producer. He starred in several television series over more than five decades, including popular roles such as Bret Maverick in the 1950s Western series Maverick and as Jim Rockford in the 1970s private detective show, 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, 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 decade in movies like Space Cowboys (2000) with Clint Eastwood, and The Notebook (2004) with Gena Rowlands.

Early life

Garner was born James Scott Bumgarner on April 7, 1928 in Denver, Oklahoma (now a part of Norman, Oklahoma). His parents were German American 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 (1926–2011) and Charles Bumgarner (1924-1984), a school administrator.[7][8] His family 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 father remarried several times.[11] Garner came to hate one of his stepmothers, Wilma, who beat all three boys (especially him). He said that his stepmother also punished him by forcing him to wear a dress in public. When he was 14 years old, he fought with her, knocking her down and choking her to keep her from killing him in retaliation. She left the family and never returned.[12][13] His brother Jack later commented, "She was a damn no-good 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 gym teacher recommended him for a job modeling Jantzen bathing suits.[14] It paid well ($25 an hour), but in his first interview for the Archives of American Television,[15] he said he hated modeling; he soon quit and returned to Norman. He played football and basketball at Norman High School, and competed on the track and golf teams.[16] However, he dropped out in his senior year. In a 1976 Good Housekeeping magazine interview, he admitted, "I was a terrible student and I never actually graduated from high school, but I got my diploma in the Army."[6]

Military service

File:James Garner receives the Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster.jpg
Garner receives a belated Korean War Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster at Los Angeles in 1983

Shortly after his father's marriage to Wilma broke up, his father 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 work 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 5th Regimental Combat Team during the Korean War, then part of the 24th Infantry Division. He was wounded twice, first in the face and hand by shrapnel from a mortar round, and the second time in the buttocks from friendly fire from U.S. fighter jets as he dived into a foxhole. Garner received the Purple Heart in Korea for the first wound. He qualified for a second Purple Heart (eligibility requirement: "As the result of friendly fire while actively engaging the enemy"), but he did not actually receive it until 1983, 32 years after the event.[14][17][18][19]

Bronze oak leaf cluster
Purple
Heart Medal 		World War II
Victory Medal 		National Defense
Service Medal 		Korean
Service Medal 		United Nations Service
Medal for Korea

Career

Earliest acting roles

In 1954, Paul Gregory, a friend whom Garner had met while attending Hollywood High School, persuaded Garner to take a nonspeaking role in the Broadway production of The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, where he was able to study Henry Fonda night after night.[10] During the week of Garner's death, TCM broadcast most of his movies, introduced by Robert Osborne, who said that Fonda's gentle, sincere persona rubbed off on Garner, greatly to Garner's benefit.

Garner subsequently moved to television commercials[20] and eventually to television roles. In 1955, Garner was considered for the lead role in the Western series Cheyenne, but that role went to Clint Walker because the casting director could not reach Garner in time (according to Garner's autobiography). Garner wound up playing an Army officer in the 1955 Cheyenne pilot titled "Mountain Fortress." His first film appearances were in The Girl He Left Behind and Toward the Unknown in 1956.

In 1957, he had a supporting role in the TV anthology series episode on Conflict entitled "Man from 1997," portraying Maureen (Gloria Talbott)'s brother "Red"; the show stars Jacques Sernas as Johnny Vlakos and Charlie Ruggles as elderly Mr. Boyne, a librarian from 1997, and involved a 1997 Almanac that was mistakenly left in the past by Boyne and found by Johnny in a bookstore.[21] The series' producer Roy Huggins noted in his Archive of American Television interview that he subsequently cast Garner as the lead in Maverick due to his comedic facial expressions while playing scenes in "Man from 1997" that were not originally written to be comical. He changed his last name from Bumgarner to Garner after the studio had credited him as "James Garner" without permission. He then legally changed it upon the birth of his first child, when he decided she had too many names.[15]

Maverick

With Karen Steele in Maverick
With Louise Fletcher in Maverick
With Jack Kelly in Maverick

After several feature film roles, including Sayonara (1957) with Marlon Brando, Garner got his big break playing the role of professional gambler Bret Maverick in the Western series Maverick from 1957-1962.[22]

Only Garner and series creator 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 show almost immediately made Garner a household name.[10]

Garner was the lone star of Maverick for the first seven episodes, but production demands forced the studio, Warner Bros. (Warners), to create a Maverick brother, Bart, played by Jack Kelly. This allowed two production units to film different story lines and episodes simultaneously, necessary because each episode took an extra day to complete, meaning that eventually the studio would run out of finished episodes to air partway through the season unless another actor was added.

Critics were positive about the chemistry between Garner and Kelly and the series occasionally featured popular cross-over episodes starring both Maverick brothers as well as numerous brief appearances by Kelly in Garner episodes. This included the famous "Shady Deal at Sunny Acres," upon which the first 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 vicious and cowardly gunslinger. Although Garner quit the series after the third season because of a dispute with Warners,[10] he did make one fourth-season Maverick appearance, in an episode titled "The Maverick Line" starring both Garner and Jack Kelly filmed in the third season but held back to run as the season's first episode if Garner lost his lawsuit against Warners. Garner won in court, left the series, and the episode was run in the middle of the season instead.

The studio attempted to replace Garner's character with a Maverick cousin who had lived in Britain long enough to pick up an English accent, portrayed by Roger Moore, but Moore quit the series after filming only 14 episodes as Beau Maverick. Warners then dressed Robert Colbert, a Garner look-alike, in Bret Maverick's outfit and called the character Brent Maverick, but Brent Maverick did not have a chance to catch on with viewers since Colbert made only two episodes toward the end of the season.[citation needed] That left the rest of the series' run to Kelly, alternating with reruns of episodes with Garner during the fifth season. Garner still received billing during the opening series credits for these newly produced Kelly episodes, aired in the 1961–1962 season, although he did not appear in them and had left the series two years previously. The studio did, however, reverse the billing at the beginning of each show and in advertisements during the fifth season, billing Kelly above Garner.[citation needed]

When Charlton Heston turned down the lead role in Darby's Rangers (1958), before Garner's departure from Maverick, Garner (originally slated to play a large supporting part that was given to Stuart Whitman) was selected and performed well in the role. As a result of Garner's performance in Darby's Rangers, coupled with his enormous Maverick popularity, Warners subsequently gave him lead roles in two other 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

With Audrey Hepburn and Shirley MacLaine in The Children's Hour

After his acrimonious departure from Warner Bros. in the 1960s, Garner briefly found himself graylisted by Warner until director William Wyler hired him for a starring role in The Children's Hour (1961) with Audrey Hepburn and Shirley MacLaine, a drama about two teachers surviving scandal started by a student. After that, Garner abruptly became one of the busiest leading men in cinema. 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 also starred opposite Day in Move Over, Darling, a 1963 remake of 1940's My Favorite Wife in which Garner portrayed the role originally 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.)

Next came the war dramas 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 lead for the only time during the decade, supporting fellow 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 story depicting a mass escape from a German prisoner of war camp based on a true story. The film was released in the same month as The Thrill Of It All, giving Garner two films at the box office at the same time. The Americanization of Emily, a literate antiwar D-Day comedy, featured a screenplay written by Paddy Chayefsky and has remained Garner's favorite of all his work.[24][25] In 1963, exhibitors voted him the 16th most popular star in the US[26] and it was hoped that he might be a successor to Clark Gable.[27] He also made Mister Buddwing (1964), a picture depicting a man suddenly suffering from amnesia while sitting on a bench in Central Park.

He next made the romantic comedy The Art of Love (1965) with Dick Van Dyke and Elke Sommer; and 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; and the comedy A Man Could Get Killed (1966) with Melina Mercouri and Tony Franciosa. Grand Prix with Toshiro Mifune, directed by John Frankenheimer, left Garner with a fascination for car racing that he often explored by actually racing during the ensuing years.[22] The expensive Cinerama epic by MGM did not fare as well as expected at the box office and, together 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 opposition from some at MGM and having to plead his case, Garner played Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe in Marlowe,[27][28] a detective drama featuring an early extended kung fu fight scene with the great martial artist and actor Bruce Lee.[29] The same year, Garner scored a hit with the comedy Western Support Your Local Sheriff!.

1970s

Nichols

With Margot Kidder in Nichols

In 1971, Garner returned to television in an offbeat series, Nichols, in which his character was killed and replaced by a more colorless twin brother at the end of the series. In one explanation for the unusual denouement, the motorcycle-riding antihero character was killed in the final episode of the single-season series with Garner recast as the character's somewhat more normal twin brother in the hopes of creating a more popular series with few cast changes.[30] However, according to Garner's 1999 videotaped Archive of American Television interview, not only did the network change the name of the series to James Garner as Nichols, Garner had Nichols killed in the last episode and replaced by a less flamboyant twin brother so that a sequel could never be made.[31]

Feature films

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

The Rockford Files

Garner in the 1974 episode "Tall Woman in Red Wagon" featuring Sian Barbara Allen with David Morick as the county coroner
With James Whitmore Jr. in The Rockford Files (1977)

In the 1970s, Roy Huggins had an idea to remake Maverick, but this time as a modern-day private detective. Huggins worked with co-creator Stephen J. Cannell, and the pair selected Garner to attempt to rekindle the success of Maverick, eventually 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 private investigator Jim Rockford in The Rockford Files. He appeared for six seasons, for which he received an Emmy Award for Best Actor[32] in 1977. In the 2016 book titled TV (The Book), film and television critic Matt Zoller Seitz stated that the series gave Garner "the role he was put on earth to play."[33] Veteran character actor Noah Beery Jr., nephew of Wallace Beery, played Rockford's father "Rocky" in numerous episodes.

Garner appeared with Mariette Hartley, who guest-starred in an episode of Rockford Files, in a lengthy series of extremely popular Polaroid Camera commercials. After six seasons, The Rockford Files was cancelled in 1980. Although low ratings were primarily to blame, the physical toll on Garner was also an issue.[34] Appearing in nearly every scene of the series, doing many of his own stunts—including one that injured his back—was wearing him out.[34] A knee injury from his National Guard days worsened in the wake of the continuous jumping and rolling, and he was hospitalized with a bleeding ulcer in 1979.[34] When Garner's physician ordered him to rest, the studio cancelled The Rockford Files.

Margolin said of his longtime colleague that despite Garner's health problems in the later years of The Rockford Files, he would often work long shifts, unusual for a starring actor, staying to do off-camera lines with other actors, doing his own stunts despite his knee problems.[34] When Garner later 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.[34]

In July 1983, Garner filed suit against Universal Studios for US$16.5 million in connection with his ongoing dispute from The Rockford Files. The suit charged Universal with "breach of contract; failure to deal in good faith and fairly; and fraud and deceit". Garner alleged that Universal was "creatively accounting", two words that are now part of the Hollywood lexicon.[35] The suit was eventually settled out of court in 1989. As part of the agreement, Garner could not disclose the amount of the settlement.[13][36]

"The industry is like it always has been. It's a bunch of greedy people," he stated in 1990.[37] Garner sued Universal again in 1998 for $2.2 million over syndication royalties. In this suit, he charged the studio 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 also felt that the studio did not release the show to the highest bidder for the episode reruns.[36]

The New Maverick

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 also starring Susan Sullivan as Poker Alice. As had often been the case in episodes of the original series, Bret's brother Bart shows up only briefly toward the end.

The New Maverick served as the pilot for a failed television 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 series itself, which only presented Garner for a few moments at the beginning of the first show, was canceled so rapidly that some of the episodes filmed were never broadcast in the United States. Despite the title, Frank was three years older than Garner had been at the launch of the original series.

1980s

Garner in 1987

Bret Maverick

After the abrupt disappearance of Young Maverick two seasons earlier, an attempt to make a "Maverick" series without Garner, he returned to his earlier TV role in 1981 in the revival series Bret Maverick, but NBC unexpectedly canceled the show after only one season despite reasonably good ratings. Critics noted that the scripts did not measure up to the episodes starring Garner in the first series. Jack Kelly (Bart Maverick) was slated to become a series regular had the show been picked up for another season. Kelly was presented with a stack of finished scripts featuring Bart Maverick for the upcoming second season, and he appeared in the last scene of the final episode in a surprise guest appearance.

TV-movies

During the 1980s, Garner played dramatic roles in a number of television films, including Heartsounds with Mary Tyler Moore featuring the true story of a doctor (played by Garner) who is deprived of oxygen for too long during an operation and wakes up mentally impaired; 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 mild controversy for a bondage sequence featuring Garner and co-star Margot Kidder.[38]

Murphy's Romance

Garner was nominated for his only Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role for the film Murphy's Romance (1985), opposite Sally Field. Field and director Martin Ritt had to fight the studio, Columbia Pictures, to have Garner cast, since he was regarded as a TV actor by then despite having co-starred in the box office hit Victor/Victoria opposite Julie Andrews two years earlier. Columbia did not want to make the movie, because it had no "sex or violence" in it. But because of the success of Norma Rae (1979), with the same star (Field), director, and screenplay writing team (Harriet Frank Jr. and Irving Ravetch), and with Field's new 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.[39][40][41] Part of the deal 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 word "Coke," and also having Coke signs appear prominently in the film.[42][43] In A&E's Biography of Garner, Field reported that her on-screen kiss with Garner was the best cinematic kiss she had ever experienced.[44]

Sunset

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 film was a realistic depiction of the O.K. Corral shootout and its aftermath, while the second centered around a comedic fictional adventure shared by Earp and silent movie cowboy star Tom Mix. Earp had actually worked as a consultant for Western films during the silent film era toward the end of his life. The movie features Bruce Willis as Mix in only his second movie role. Although Willis was billed over Garner, the film actually gave more screen time and emphasis to Earp.[citation needed]

For the second half of the 1980s, Garner also appeared in several of the North American market Mazda television commercials as an on-screen spokesman.[45]

1990s

In 1991, Garner starred in Man of the People, a television series about a con man chosen to fill an empty seat on a city council, with Kate Mulgrew and Corinne Bohrer.[46] Despite reasonably fair ratings, the show was canceled after only 10 episodes.

In 1993, Garner played the lead in a well-received HBO movie, the true story 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.[47] Practically everyone in the original cast of recurring characters returned for the new 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 fully paid in cash before the shooting began on each of the Rockford TV-movies.

In 1994, Garner played Marshal Zane Cooper in a movie version of Maverick, with Mel Gibson as Bret Maverick (in the end it is revealed that Garner's character is the father of Gibson's Maverick) and Jodie Foster as a gambling lass with a fake Southern accent.[48]

In 1995, he played lead character Woodrow Call, an ex-lawman, in the TV miniseries sequel to Lonesome Dove entitled Streets of Laredo, based on Larry McMurtry's book. In 1996, Garner and Jack Lemmon teamed up in My Fellow Americans, playing two former presidents who uncover scandalous activity by their successor (Dan Aykroyd) and are pursued by murderous NSA agents.[49] In addition to a major recurring role during the last part of the run of TV series Chicago Hope, Garner also starred in two short-lived 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

In 2000, after an operation to replace both knees,[50] Garner appeared with Clint Eastwood, who had played a villain in the original Maverick series in the episode "Duel at Sundown," as astronauts in the movie Space Cowboys,[51] also 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 TV commercial voiceover for Chevrolet's "Like a Rock" advertising campaign. Garner continued to voice the commercials until the end of the campaign. Also 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 father)[52] and remained with the series until it finished in 2005.

In 2004, Garner starred as the older version of Ryan Gosling's character in the film version of Nicholas Sparks's The Notebook alongside 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 Supporting Role".[53] In 2010, Garner voiced Shazam in Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam.[54]

Garner's memoir

With step-daughter Kim in 1958

On November 1, 2011, Simon & Schuster published Garner's autobiography The Garner Files: A Memoir. In addition 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 also 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 also featured a section where the star provided individual critiques for every one of his acting projects accompanied by a star rating for each. Garner's three-time co-star Julie Andrews wrote the book'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 star in the book's coda.[55]

The "most explosive revelation" in his autobiography was that Garner smoked marijuana for much of his adult life. "I started smoking it in my late teens," Garner wrote.

I drank to get drunk but ultimately didn't like the effect. Not so with grass. It had the opposite effect from alcohol: it made me more tolerant and forgiving. I did a little bit of cocaine in the Eighties, courtesy of John Belushi, but fortunately I didn't like it. But I smoked marijuana for 50 years and I don't know where I'd be without it. It opened my mind and now it eases my arthritis. After decades of research I've concluded that marijuana should be legal and alcohol illegal.[55]

Awards and nominations

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.[56]

For his contribution to the film and television industry, Garner received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (at 6927 Hollywood Boulevard).[51]

In 1990, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He was also inducted into the Television Hall of Fame that same year. In February 2005, he received the Screen Actors Guild's Lifetime Achievement Award.[1][51] He was also 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.[57]

In 2010, the Television Critics Association gave Garner its annual Career Achievement Award.

Year Association Category Nominated work Result
1958 Golden Globe Award Most Promising Newcomer – Male Won
1959 Primetime Emmy Award Best Actor in a Leading Role (Continuing Character) in a Dramatic Series Maverick Nominated
1963 Golden Globe Award Best Motion Picture Actor – Musical/Comedy The Wheeler Dealers Nominated
1978–1980 Golden Globe Award Best TV Actor – Drama The Rockford Files Nominated
1977 Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series Won
1976, 1978–1980 Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series Nominated
1981 Golden Globe Award Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series – Comedy/Musical Bret Maverick Nominated
1982 Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series Nominated
1984 Golden Globe Award Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV Heartsounds Nominated
1985 Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or a Special Nominated
1985 Academy Awards Best Actor in a Leading Role Murphy's Romance Nominated
1985 Golden Globe Award Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Comedy/Musical Nominated
1986 Golden Globe Award Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV Promise Nominated
1987 Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Drama/Comedy Special Won
1987 Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Special Nominated
1989 Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Drama/Comedy Special My Name is Bill W. Nominated
1989 Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Special Nominated
1990 Golden Globe Award Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV Decoration Day Won
1991 Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Special Nominated
1993 Golden Globe Award Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV Barbarians at the Gate Won
1993 Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Special Nominated
1994 Golden Globe Award Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV Breathing Lessons Nominated
1994 Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Special Nominated
1994 Screen Actors Guild Award Outstanding Performance in a TV Movie or Miniseries The Rockford Files: I Still Love L.A. Nominated
1995 Screen Actors Guild Award Outstanding Performance in a TV Movie or Miniseries The Rockford Files: A Blessing in Disguise Nominated
1998 Screen Actors Guild Award Outstanding Performance in a TV Movie or Miniseries Lagalese Nominated
2004 Screen Actors Guild Award Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role The Notebook Nominated
2004 Screen Actors Guild Award Life Achievement Award Won
2008 TCA Awards TCA Career Achievement Award Nominated
2010 TCA Awards TCA Career Achievement Award Won

Statue

On April 21, 2006, a 10-foot-tall (3.0 m) bronze statue of Garner as Bret Maverick was unveiled in Garner's hometown of Norman, Oklahoma,[51] with Garner present at the ceremony.

Personal life

Marriage and family

The Garners in 1961. Greta is on Garner's lap; Kim is looking out between Garner and his wife Lois.

Garner was married to Lois Josephine Fleischman Clarke,[58][59] whom he met at a party in 1956. They married 14 days later on August 17, 1956. "We went to dinner every night for 14 nights. I was just absolutely nuts 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 number of people who re-enlist."[60] His wife was Jewish.[61]

When Garner and Clarke married, her daughter Kim from a previous marriage was seven years old and recovering from polio.[6] Garner had one daughter with Lois: Greta "Gigi" Garner.[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 age was given as 18 and Kim's as 27.[6]

In 1970, Garner and his wife briefly lived separately for three months. In late 1979, Garner again separated from his wife (around the time The Rockford Files stopped filming), splitting his time between living in Canada and "a rented house in the Valley".[62][63] The two resumed living together in September 1981, and remained married for the rest of his life. Garner said that the separations were not caused by marital problems, instead stating that he simply needed to spend time alone in order to recover from the stress of acting.[64] Garner died less than a month before their 58th wedding anniversary.

Health problems

Garner's knees became a chronic problem during the filming of The Rockford Files in the 1970s, with "six or seven knee operations during that time". In 2000, he underwent knee replacement surgery for both of them.[14]

On April 22, 1988, Garner had quintuple bypass heart surgery.[65] Though he recovered rapidly, he was advised to stop smoking. Garner quit smoking 17 years later.[66]

Garner underwent surgery on May 11, 2008, following a severe stroke he had suffered two days earlier.[67] His prognosis was reported to be "very positive".[67]

Racing

Garner was an owner of the "American International Racers" (AIR) auto racing team from 1967 through 1969.[68] Motorsports writer William Edgar and Hollywood director Andy Sidaris teamed with Garner for the racing documentary The Racing Scene, filmed in 1969 and released in 1970.[69] The team fielded cars at Le Mans, Daytona, and Sebring endurance races, but is best known for Garner's celebrity status raising publicity in early off-road motor-sports events.[68] In 1978, he was one of the inaugural inductees in the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame.[68]

Garner signed a three-year sponsorship contract with American Motors Corporation (AMC).[70] His shops prepared ten 1969 SC/Ramblers for the Baja 500 race.[71] Garner did not drive in this event because of a film commitment in Spain that year. Nevertheless, seven of his cars finished the grueling race, taking three of the top five places in the sedan class.[72] Garner also drove the pace car at the Indianapolis 500 race in 1975, 1977, and 1985 (see: list of Indianapolis 500 pace cars).[68]

Golf

Garner was an avid golfer for many years. Along with his brother, 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.[73] 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.[73] 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.[74]

American Football

Garner was noted as an enthusiastic fan of the Raiders in the NFL; he regularly attended games and mixed with the players.[75] He was also present when the Raiders won Super Bowl XVIII over the Washington Redskins in January 1984 at Tampa, Florida.

University of Oklahoma

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 press box. Garner received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree at OU in 1995.[76]

In 2003, to endow the James Garner Chair in the School of Drama, he donated $500,000, half of a pledged $1 million, for the first endowed position at the drama school.[76][77] Tom H. Orr, the Director for the School of Drama (Acting/Camera Acting) and the Artistic Director of the University Theatre, currently holds the James Garner Chair at the university.[78]

Politics

1959 Warner Bros. series leads Will Hutchins (Sugarfoot), Peter Brown (Lawman), Jack Kelly (Maverick), Ty Hardin (Bronco), James Garner (Maverick), Wayde Preston (Colt .45), and John Russell (Lawman)

Garner was a strong Democratic Party supporter. 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 various Democratic committees and groups.[79]

On August 28, 1963, Garner was one of several 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 role in the 1985 CBS miniseries Space, the character's party affiliation was changed from Republican as in the book to reflect Garner's personal views. Garner said, "My wife would leave me if I played a Republican."[80]

There was an effort by California Democratic party leaders, led by state Senator Herschel Rosenthal, to persuade Garner to seek the Democratic nomination for Governor of California in the 1990 election. However, future United States Senator and former San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein received the nomination instead, losing to Republican Pete Wilson in the election.[81][82]

Friendship with Richmond Barthé

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[83] until his death in 1989.

Death

Children's Hour trailer

Garner was a private and introverted man, according to family and friends.[84] On July 19, 2014, police and rescue personnel were summoned to Garner's Los Angeles-area home, where they found the actor dead at the age of 86.[85][86][87] He had suffered a heart attack caused by coronary artery disease.[88] He had been in poor health since his stroke in 2008.[89]

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."[90] Field said, "My heart just broke. There are few people on this planet I have adored as much as Jimmy Garner. I cherish every moment I spent with him and relive them over and over in my head. He was a diamond."[91] Eastwood said, "Garner opened the door for people like Steve McQueen and myself."[92]

Filmography

Main article: James Garner filmography

See also

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

References

Notes

  1. ^ a b Micheal Moynihan (July 23, 2014). "James Garner in the 'Rockford Files' was an irresistible force on our TV screens". Irish Examiner.
  2. ^ Bumgarner is a surname of German origin, often also written as Baumgartner, Baumgärtner, Baumgardner, Bumgardner, and Bumgartner
  3. ^ His surname is spelled, 'Bumgarner', as stated by Garner in an interview at Archive of American Television Interview with James Garner (Part 1 of 6)
  4. ^ The Garner Files: A Memoir. Simon and Schuster. 2011. p. 5. ISBN 9781451642629. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authors= ignored (help)
  5. ^ a b "James Garner". WCHS TV. Archived from the original on May 19, 2009. Retrieved September 12, 2009.
  6. ^ a b c d e
    (US Census records for 1900 show that Mr. Garner's maternal ancestor, Charles Meek, listed as "white", resided on the Choctaw Nation in Oklahoma.) "James Garner: A Really Nice Guy makes Good". Good Housekeeping. New York City: The Hearst Corporation. March 1976. Page: 46, photo caption: "Though Gigi Garner, 18, ..." Page 46, JG: "I was a terrible student and I never actually graduated from high school, but I got my diploma in the Army." Page 48: "my two daughters, Kim and Gigi" Page 48: "to his darkly pretty, very bright wife, Lois" Page 48, Lois: "When I first met him, I was an emotional wreck. My seven-year-old daughter, Kim, was in a hospital with polio." Page 58: "Jim's mother, who was half Cherokee Indian, a beautiful woman who died when he was five." (The interview was conducted on the set of Rockford Files and at his home with his wife and two daughters present, who lived at home. Kim's age was given as "27").
  7. ^ Rieger, Andy (September 15, 2011). "Jack Garner dies at age 84". Norman Transcript. Archived from the original on January 4, 2013. Retrieved September 28, 2011.
  8. ^ "Dame Bernice Lake dies". Variety. September 14, 2011. Retrieved September 28, 2011.
  9. ^ "BOOK REVIEW: 'The Garner Files': Jim Rockford a Curmudgeon? Say It Ain't So!". Huntington News. Retrieved April 4, 2012.
  10. ^ a b c d e Robert Sellers. "James Garner: The actor known for his portrayals of an honourable man in a dishonourable world | Obituaries | News". The Independent. Retrieved July 24, 2016.
  11. ^ a b The Garner Files: A Memoir. Simon and Schuster. 2011. p. 15. ISBN 9781451642612. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |authors= ignored (help)
  12. ^ Grobel, Lawrence. The Art of the Interview. New York: Three Rivers Press. 2004, p. 161. ISBN 1-4000-5071-5
  13. ^ a b c Strait, Raymond . James Garner. New York, New York: St. Martin's Press. 1985. ISBN 0-312-43967-9
  14. ^ a b c d e Cunneff, Tom. "Jim Dandy" Archived March 3, 2016, at the Wayback Machine. People (February 7, 2005) Retrieved on May 30, 2008
  15. ^ a b James Garner interview[permanent dead link‍] at Archive of American Television – (c/o Google Video; March 17, 1999)
  16. ^ a b "Proud to be an OKIE". Tulsa World (July 15, 2007)
  17. ^ "Actor James Garner Receives Purple Heart 32 Years Late". Associated Press (c/o The Daily Oklahoman; January 25, 1983)
  18. ^ "Garner Has a Heart ... 30 Years Late" – United Press International c/o Philadelphia Daily News. January 25, 1983
  19. ^ "Jim Garner Gets Behind a Cause". Philadelphia Daily News (May 12, 1995). Retrieved on August 3, 2008
  20. ^ Brian Pendreigh (July 21, 2014). "Obituary: James Garner, actor". The Scotsman. Retrieved July 24, 2016.
  21. ^ The Man From 1997 (TV Pilot) on YouTube
  22. ^ a b "James Garner, Witty, Handsome Leading Man, Dies at 86". New York Times. July 20, 2014. Retrieved July 21, 2014.
  23. ^ "James Garner: Obituary". The Telegraph. July 20, 2014. Retrieved July 14, 2017.
  24. ^ "Lowly Brother Amidst The Sisterhood" Archived March 3, 2016, at the Wayback Machine Film Monthly (June 3, 2002); retrieved on June 2, 2008
  25. ^ Murray, Rebecca. Press Release: "James Garner Honored with the Screen Actors Guild's Life Achievement Award". Screen Actors Guild (January 29, 2005) Retrieved on June 2, 2008
  26. ^ 'Doris Day Heads Top 10' The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959–1973) [Washington, D.C] Jan 14, 1964: A27. Also 1965 Classic "36 Hours"
  27. ^ a b c Beaupre, Lee (May 15, 1968). "Rising Skepticism On Stars". Variety. p. 1.
  28. ^ McNamara, Mary (July 20, 2014). "James Garner dies; actor changed what a hero could be like". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 21, 2014.
  29. ^ Gerstenzang, Peter (July 21, 2014). "James Garner's Five Best Sleeper Films". Village Voice. Retrieved July 21, 2014.
  30. ^ "Appreciation: James Garner, reluctant hero". USA Today. Retrieved July 20, 2014.
  31. ^ Garner, James (March 17, 1999). "Interview with James Garner". Archive of American Television (Interview). Interviewed by Karen Herman, Morrie Gelman. Los Angeles, California. Retrieved July 21, 2014.
  32. ^ "James Garner | Television Academy". Emmys.com. July 19, 2014. Retrieved July 24, 2016.
  33. ^ Sepinwall, Alan; Seitz, Matt Zoller (September 6, 2016). TV (The Book): Two Experts Pick the Greatest American Shows of All Time. Grand Central Publishing. pp. 237–238. ISBN 978-1455588190.
  34. ^ a b c d e "James Garner: Hollywood Maverick." Biography (October 2, 2000)
  35. ^ Neville Johnson (July 23, 2014). "James Garner: A Lawyer Reflect0s on the Actor's Legal Legacy". The Hollywood Reporter.
  36. ^ a b Garner files 'Files' suit Archived January 19, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. – Reuters. – (c/o Variety; September 14, 1998). Retrieved on June 1, 2008
  37. ^ Todd Leopold (July 21, 2014). "Famed actor James Garner dies at 86". CNN.
  38. ^ "The Glitter Dome". The New York Times.
  39. ^ Cameron, Julia. – "Garner Fits Romantic Role, Not Hollywood Pigeonhole." Chicago Tribune (January 19, 1986)
  40. ^ Laurence, Robert P. "Garner doesn't go by the book in role in 'Breathing Lessons.'" San Diego Union-Tribune (February 6, 1994)
  41. ^ Rosenthal, Phil. "Garner Remains TV's Class Act." Daily News of Los Angeles (February 6, 1994). Retrieved on August 3, 2008
  42. ^ Baltake, Joe. "The Packaging of Hollywood of Advertising." Sacramento Bee (May 13, 1990)
  43. ^ "Blowing Smoke—They've Coma a Long Way, Baby, In pushing Cigarettes on Screen. Sacramento Bee (January 14, 1996). Retrieved on August 3, 2008
  44. ^ Nelson, Ted. – "James Garner: Hollywood Maverick." A&E Biography (October 2, 2000). New York: A & E Home Video; ISBN 978-0-7670-3361-9
  45. ^ Horovitz, Bruce (February 10, 1989). "Mazda Drops Garner to Try New Route in Commercials". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 22, 2014. "four-year stint as a spokesman for Mazda... contract expires in March" (i.e. March 1985–89)
  46. ^ TV Guide. "Man of the People Cast and Details". TV Guide. Retrieved October 23, 2012.
  47. ^ Strait, Raymond (1985). James Garner. New York: St. Martin's. p. 295. ISBN 978-0-312-43967-5.
  48. ^ Hall, Carla (May 15, 1994). "SUMMER SNEAKS '94: Was, Is and Always a Maverick: His signatures are Rockford and Maverick—can anybody in Hollywood do cool and canny better than James Garner?". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 23, 2010.
  49. ^ "Box Office Mojo – My Fellow Americans". Retrieved September 14, 2011.
  50. ^ King, Susan (April 12, 2000). "At 'Chicago Hope,' They've Called In a Maverick Talent". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 23, 2014.
  51. ^ a b c d Ella Alexander (July 20, 2014). "James Garner death: The Notebook, Maverick and Rockford Files actor dies aged 86". The Independent. Retrieved July 24, 2016.
  52. ^ "James Garner to Join '8 Simple Rules'". People. October 16, 2003. Retrieved July 21, 2014.
  53. ^ "The 11th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards". Sagawards.org. Retrieved July 24, 2016.
  54. ^ "R.I.P. TV and Film Icon James Garner, 1928–2014". Comicbook.com. Retrieved July 21, 2014.
  55. ^ a b "James Garner: Why Steve McQueen was like my little brother". December 3, 2011. Retrieved July 20, 2014.
  56. ^ "James Garner". Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Retrieved August 16, 2014.
  57. ^ "James Garner honored at SAG awards". Today. The Associated Press. Retrieved March 27, 2020.
  58. ^ "James Garner and Lois Clarke The Most Romantic Love Story". Daily E News. June 20, 2014. Retrieved July 19, 2014.
  59. ^ Walsten, Jessika (July 20, 2014). "'Rockford Files' Star James Garner Dies | Broadcasting & Cable". Broadcastingcable.com. Retrieved July 24, 2016.
  60. ^ Garner, James, with Charlie Rose. – "An Hour with Actor James Garner." Charlie Rose (March 26, 2002)
  61. ^ "James Garner and Lois Clarke Dated for 14 Days Before Getting Married". August 18, 2017.
  62. ^ "Beck, Marilyn. Garner: 'I like people who care'". The Bangor Daily News. January 2, 1982. Retrieved December 19, 2014.
  63. ^ "James Garner: The actor known for his portrayals of an honourable man in a dishonourable world". The Independent. Retrieved December 19, 2014.
  64. ^ "The Man Is Back". PEOPLE.com. Retrieved August 9, 2018.
  65. ^ "Garner OK after Heart Bypass Operation." Chicago Sun-Times (April 24, 1988)
  66. ^ Garner, James; Jon Winokur, introduction by Julie Andrews (2011). The Garner Files: A Memoir, p. 200.
  67. ^ a b Gorman, Steve. "James Garner undergoes surgery after stroke" Archived January 10, 2009, at the Wayback Machine. Reuters (May 14, 2008). Retrieved on May 14, 2008
  68. ^ a b c d "Garner – 1978 inductee, Off-Road Hall Of Fame". Ormhof.com. April 7, 1928. Retrieved April 25, 2010.
  69. ^ "James Garner's "The Racing Scene"". Thisweekinmotors.com. July 20, 2014. Retrieved July 24, 2016.
  70. ^ Foster, Pat. Maverick's Movin' Machine: James Garner's Racing SC/Rambler" Archived June 28, 2009, at the Wayback Machine. Hemmings Muscle Machines magazine (c/o Rambler Rogue Registry)
  71. ^ "1969 Rambler Americans in Baja" Archived August 6, 2016, at the Wayback Machine – at ArcticBoy's Baja Scramble Pictures
  72. ^ "Like Bounding Gazelles" Archived March 12, 2016, at the Wayback Machine Motor Trend – (c/o JavelinAMX.com). August 1969
  73. ^ a b Montgomery, Ed. "Maverick coming home". Archived from the original on January 8, 2013. The Norman Transcript (c/o The Weatherford Democrat; April 6, 2006)[permanent dead link‍]>
  74. ^ Strait, Raymond (June 13, 2016). James Garner: A Biography. Crossroad Press.
  75. ^ "James Garner, who died at 86, was a huge Raiders fan" Archived March 9, 2016, at the Wayback Machine – CBS Sports – July 20, 2014
  76. ^ a b "Favorite son returns for '89er Days" – The Norman Transcript—March 30, 2006
  77. ^ "Garner will choose movie for Norman celebration", The Norman Transcript (March 12, 2006)
  78. ^ "Tom H. Orr bio, School of Drama, College of Fine Arts, University of Oklahoma". Ou.edu. Retrieved April 25, 2010.
  79. ^ "NEWSMEAT - James Garner's federal campaign contributions". March 9, 2005. Archived from the original on March 9, 2005. Retrieved May 9, 2017.
  80. ^ Thomas, Jack. "Keep Your Eye On This Space". Boston Globe (April 13, 1985)
  81. ^ Kasindorf, Martin. – "From Hollywood". Newsday (June 4, 1989)
  82. ^ McGreevy, Patrick. "Garner Asked to Run for Governor—But Actor Declines to Follow in Reagan's Path". Daily News of Los Angeles (July 25, 1989)
  83. ^ Encyclopedia Britannica: Richmond-Barthe
  84. ^ "I Know A Story: Meeting James Garner, a down-to-earth star". LancasterOnline.com. August 3, 2014. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
  85. ^ Leopold, Todd (July 21, 2014). "Famed actor James Garner dies at 86". CNN.com. Retrieved July 24, 2016.
  86. ^ "Leading Man, Dies at 86 James Garner, Witty, Handsome". New York Times. July 20, 2014. Retrieved July 21, 2014.
  87. ^ "James Garner – obituary". Daily Telegraph. July 20, 2014. Retrieved July 21, 2014.
  88. ^ "James Garner died of a massive heart attack". The Arizona Republic. July 29, 2014. Retrieved December 4, 2016.
  89. ^ "Actor James Garner dies aged 86". BBC News. July 20, 2014.
  90. ^ "James Garner: In His Own Words on The Notebook, Maverick and More". People.com. July 21, 2014. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
  91. ^ "Hollywood Mourns James Garner". The Hollywood Reporter. July 20, 2014. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
  92. ^ "Film and television world pays tribute to actor James Garner". TheGuardian.com. July 20, 2014. Retrieved October 23, 2017.

Bibliography

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