71 Facts About James Garner

James Garner starred in several television series, including popular roles such as Bret Maverick in the ABC 1950s Western series Maverick and as Jim Rockford in the NBC 1970s private detective show, The Rockford Files.

James Garner's parents were Weldon Warren Bumgarner, a widower, and Mildred Scott, who died five years after his birth.

James Garner was reunited with his family in 1934, when Weldon remarried.

James Garner had a volatile relationship with one of his stepmothers, Wilma, who beat all three boys.

James Garner said that his stepmother punished him by forcing him to wear a dress in public.

James Garner's brother Jack later commented, "She was a damn no-good woman".

James Garner liked the work and his shipmates, but he had chronic seasickness.

James Garner enlisted in the California Army National Guard, serving his first 7 months in California.

James Garner was wounded twice: first in the face and hand by shrapnel from a mortar round, and second in the buttocks from friendly fire from US fighter jets as he dove into a foxhole.

James Garner received the Purple Heart in Korea for the first wound.

In 1954, Paul Gregory, a friend whom James Garner had met while attending Hollywood High School, persuaded James 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.

James Garner subsequently moved to television commercials and eventually to television roles.

In 1955, James 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 James Garner in time.

James Garner was the lone star of Maverick for the first seven episodes but production demands forced the studio, Warner Bros.

James Garner won in court, left the series, and the episode was run in the middle of the season instead.

James Garner performed well as William Orlando Darby, who was approximately Garner's age during World War II.

James Garner starred opposite Day in Move Over, Darling, a 1963 remake of 1940's My Favorite Wife in which James Garner portrayed the role originally played by Cary Grant.

The film was released in the same month as The Thrill Of It All, giving James Garner two hit films at the box office at the same time.

James Garner made Mister Buddwing, a picture depicting a man suddenly suffering from amnesia while sitting on a bench in Central Park.

In 1969, despite opposition from some at MGM and having to plead his case, James Garner played Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe in Marlowe, a detective drama featuring an early extended kung fu scene with the great martial artist and actor Bruce Lee.

In 1971, James 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.

However, according to James Garner's 1999 videotaped Archive of American Television interview, James Garner killed his character because they had already cancelled the show and played his own twin because they had to finish the episode.

James Garner appeared in two Disney films starring Vera Miles as his leading lady, One Little Indian, featuring Jodie Foster in an early minor role, and The Castaway Cowboy with Robert Culp.

James Garner appeared for six seasons, for which he received an Emmy Award for Best Actor in 1977.

Between 1978 and 1985, James Garner co-starred with Mariette Hartley, who had made an Emmy-nominated appearance on The Rockford Files, in 250 TV commercials for Polaroid, a manufacturer of instant film and cameras.

The physical toll on James Garner resulted in his doctor ordering him to take some time off to rest.

When James Garner's physician ordered him to rest, the studio immediately cancelled The Rockford Files.

When James Garner later made The Rockford Files television movies, he said that 22 people came out of retirement to participate.

In July 1983, James Garner filed suit against Universal Studios for US$16.5 million in connection with his ongoing dispute from The Rockford Files.

James Garner alleged that Universal was "creatively accounting", two words that are now part of the Hollywood lexicon.

James Garner sued Universal again in 1998 for $2.2 million over syndication royalties.

James Garner was supposed to receive $25,000 per episode that ran in syndication, but Universal charged him "distribution fees".

James Garner felt that the studio did not release the show to the highest bidder for the episode reruns.

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 James Garner saying the word "Coke," and having Coke signs appear prominently in the film.

James Garner played Wyatt Earp in two very different movies shot 21 years apart, John Sturges' Hour of the Gun in 1967 and Blake Edwards' Sunset in 1988.

In 1991, James 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.

In 1993, James 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.

In 1994, James Garner played Marshal Zane Cooper in a movie version of Maverick, with Mel Gibson as Bret Maverick and Jodie Foster as a gambling lass with a fake Southern accent.

In 2000, after an operation to replace both knees, James 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, featuring Tommy Lee Jones and Donald Sutherland.

In 2001, James 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.

James Garner continued to voice the commercials until the end of the campaign.

In 2004, James 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.

In 2006, James Garner made his last personal appearance in the film The Ultimate Gift as billionaire Howard "Red" Stevens.

The "most explosive revelation" in his autobiography was that James Garner smoked marijuana for much of his adult life.

James Garner was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame that same year.

James Garner was nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role that year, for The Notebook.

James Garner was married to Lois Josephine Fleischman Clarke, whom he met at a party in 1956.

James Garner had one daughter with Lois, Greta "Gigi" James Garner who was born on January 4,1958.

James Garner stated when he quit the series in 1979 he simply needed to spend time alone in order to recover from the stress.

James Garner's wife died seven years later, on October 30,2021.

James Garner underwent surgery on May 11,2008, following a severe stroke he had suffered two days earlier.

James Garner had an interest in auto racing since his youth, but his interest was magnified during preparations for the filming of Grand Prix.

James Garner was trying to determine which actor he could focus on for high speed takes.

Bondurant noted all the actors became quite frightened over 240 kph, all except James Garner, who returned to the pit laughing like an excited child.

James Garner proved to be a good student, a hard worker and a talented driver.

From 1967 through 1969 James Garner was an owner of the "American International Racers" auto racing team.

James Garner signed a three-year sponsorship contract with American Motors Corporation.

James Garner did not drive in this event because of a film commitment in Spain that year.

James Garner drove the pace car at the Indianapolis 500 race in 1975,1977, and 1985.

In 1987 James Garner announced plans to partner with Larry Cahill to form a racing team to compete in the 1988 Indycar season.

James Garner took it up again in the late 1950s to see if he could beat Jack.

James Garner was a regular for years at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

James Garner was noted as an enthusiastic fan of the Raiders in the NFL; he regularly attended games and mixed with the players.

James Garner was present when the Raiders won Super Bowl XVIII over the Washington Redskins in January 1984 at Tampa, Florida.

James Garner was a supporter of the University of Oklahoma, often returning to Norman for school functions.

James Garner received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree at OU in 1995.

James Garner became a friend, supporter and main benefactor of African-American sculptor Richmond Barthe, from the time the latter returned from Europe in 1977 and settled in Pasadena, until Barthe's death in 1989.

James Garner was a private and introverted man, according to family and friends.

James Garner had a heart attack caused by coronary artery disease.

James Garner had been in poor health since his stroke in 2008.