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Native Oklahoman and Hollywood great James Garner has passed away at the age of 86. My first memory of him is on the TV show "Maverick" (which he hated), and he went on to become one of the most versatile male leads in Hollywood, able to move from TV shows to movies and back. He was always proud of being from Oklahoma, and its impossible for me to come up with even a partial list of all the things he did to benefit the people and the State of Oklahoma.
They don't make them like this anymore, and that's our loss. RIP Jim, we're gonna miss you.
Comments
Definitely a One Off
He was quite the actor, and just a lot of fun. His movies are among the classics. "Support Your Local Gun Fighter" and "Support Your Local Sheriff" (I may not have the titles quite right) stick in my memory as being classics of his ability at subtle comedy.
Portia
He Was One Of The Good Guys
I didn't know he hated Maverick....I loved it, and then there was Rockford. Did you know that he was forced to dress as a girl when he was a child?
Joanne
Yes, I knew that and was
Yes, I knew that and was going to bring it up.
Maverick
He started having problems with the studio while shooting Maverick (apparently the studio was doing the "not making any profit" bit to avoid paying Garner the money he was due). He sued the studio to get out of his contract since the studio wasn't fulfilling their end of the contract. The second season was filled with petty slights by the studio and by the third season he was out. (He later settled with the studio and received a payout that by modern standards is just a drop in the bucket.)
It got to be a thorn in his side that every interviewer wanted to know about "Maverick" instead of his current movies that he was much happier with. The local reporters knew him well enough to NOT ask about Maverick, and in return Garner was more relaxed and open when being interviewed here at home. It was during one of these relaxed and open interviews that he first brought up how much he disliked being tied to that show, as it was not a good experience for him and one he'd just as soon forget.
I went outside once. The graphics weren' that great.
Bret was my favourite Maverick brother…
… and I still quote "I'm just passing through on my way to Australia" from Support Your Local Sheriff.
It might be said that James Garner only ever played one part but he played it so well.
Rhona McCloud
One of my favorites...
...if you ever get the chance, watch 36 Hours; a movie he made in the mid-sixties. A terrific film co-starring the beautiful Eve Marie Saint, and for all you folks from Oz, Rod Taylor. Suspense and romance and plot-twists galore. The wonderful thing with artists and musicians and performers is that we never really lose them so long as they're remembered in their body of work.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yg1Cx26-928
Love, Andrea Lena
There are two more movies I
There are two more movies I really loved him and both with Doris Day. The Thrill of It All and Move Over Darling. They were so good together.
James Garner
Was a man with out the macho. I am not into boys but he was very good looking, and quite talented at his craft.
One of the funnest scenes I remember him in was one where he was sitting at his new desk as sheriff when a gun tough walked in and stuck a colt peace maker in his face. Gardeners reaction was to put his finger in the barrel of the gun. The gun tough got upset asking Garner did he { Garner} know what doing that would do to the toughs face and hand.
"Hell with that do you know what that is going to do to my finger," was the reply.
There was an older character actor playing support to Garners sheriff character who after one of the bad guys was Ko ed and Garner had broken the mans right trigger finger was informed by the side kick the gunslinger on the ground was left handed. To which Garner acting squeamish broke the left hand trigger finger.
From everything I ever heard about him he was in person a very good person who people liked to work with. I think and do not quote me on this he was also the victim of Domestic abuse by his wife when he was shooting Rockford files.
Jim Garner was the poster boy for being a good actor and a good person he has left quite a body of work he can be proud of.
RIP to a great actor and person.
With those with open eyes the world reads like a book
Mother
I really have no idea about that (his marriage) except to say its a new one to me. I have read that when his father remarried after his mother died (when he was quite young) that the stepmother was a pretty cruel woman that he was more than happy to get away from.
I went outside once. The graphics weren' that great.
You're right
His step mother was abusive to him.
However, he was not a victim of domestic violence. If he were he'd be quite the masochist as his widow and he had been married for 58 years. It was one of the longest marriages in Hollywood history.
He also had problems with the producers of Rockford Files, suing and winning against them, as well.
I loved all the parts he played (including the "stinkers").
Hugs,
Erica
The Garner Files: A Memoir
Just rushed out to buy his autobiography. Okay, I really didn't rush anywhere, I typed a few characters on this selfsame computer and sent a copy to my handy Kindle. I've almost half finished it this afternoon and find a person I would really have liked to have known.
Bob
James Garner
I don't know that he was any relation to me at all but he looked and sounded like a lot of my relatives and I had a very warm feeling for the man. I saw him in a few stinkers over the years but he always did a creditable, workmanlike job of playing his part and was sometimes brilliant. He had a good reputation in the company town of Los Angeles, he did his work, he was pleasant to everyone and, for the most part, he kept his homelife out of the newspapers.
I felt he never got the recognition he really deserved and there were a several few movies made without him that would have been much better had he had a part in them. And in some he wasn't even in, his influence is recognizable. Watch Blazing Saddles again and you will see that Cleavon Little is often "doing" James Garner and doing him very well at that.
Garner was an original but like a few other western stars, he got his break because of his size and how good he looked on a horse. But whatever part he ended up playing, you believed him in it. That's the actors job and he was very, very good at it.
He hadn't been in very many productions for some years but I miss him already.
Thanks, Jim.
Hugs to all,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Missing Old Hollywood.
I don't disagree and like Garner. I also miss Paul Newman terribly who was a good actor but truly gave back. Look at Newman's Own and Newman's Own Organic products, which was not for profit corporation. Any of the corporation's profits went to charity.
I imagine the people who make the products for the company are also paid a living wage since it's not for profit. Name a celebrity nowadays who is truly so selfless in Hollywood so to contribute to charity as well as trying to alleviate charity the best way: by giving people jobs.
I cry for these people being gone and others.
I miss Charleton Heston, say what you will about his stance on gun rights or likely Conservatism, he wasn't high on his own horse and that goes for most of those celebrities back in the day.