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James Garner (born April 7, 1928) is an American
film and television actor.

Born James Scott Bumgarner in Norman, Oklahoma, he
has found fame in both movies and television. At
16, he joined the Merchant Marine.  He was later
in the National Guard, before he was drafted.  He
received a Purple Heart in the Korean War.

After modeling Jantzen bathing suits in print ads,
in 1954 Garner had a non-speaking role in the
Broadway production of The_Caine_Mutiny|The Caine
Mutiny Court Martial.  He moved on to television
commercials, and then to television roles. His
first film role was in 1956, in two movies The
Girl He Left Behind and Toward the Unknown.

After four smaller feature film roles, playing a
military man, in the late 1950s he got his big
break when he starred in a popular Western series,
Maverick (television program)|Maverick, playing
the role of Brett Maverick from 1957 to 1960.
Other actors had prominent roles in the series as
well, but Garner was the big star of the show,
making him a household favorite. One of the
producers for Maverick was Roy Huggins, a
relationship that would again pay dividends for
Garner later on. Garner's popularity eventually
made him the sole star of the series. In 2004,
Garner became one of the first three honorees in
the World Poker Tour Walk of Fame for this
portrayal.

In the 1960s he starred in such films as The
Thrill of It All, Move Over, Darling, Boys' Night
Out (1962 movie)|Boys' Night Out, The Great
Escape, The Americanization of Emily, Grand Prix
(movie)|Grand Prix (which gave him a car racing
bug; he was also executive producer), and Support
Your Local Sheriff!.

In the 1970s Roy Huggins had an idea to redo
Maverick, but this time do it in the form of a
modern day private detective. Huggins teamed with
co-creator and TV icon Stephen J. Cannell, and the
pair tapped Garner to help re-kindle the success
of Maverick. Starting with the 1974 television
season, Garner was back on television as private
investigator Jim Rockford in The Rockford Files.
For six solid seasons Rockford was arguably his
best role, for which he received an Emmy Award for
Best Actor in 1977. Garner pulled the plug on the
show, despite consistent ratings, because it was
taking too much of a physical toll on his body.
Being in almost every scene, and a practice of
doing many of his own stunts – including one
that injured his back – was wearing him out. In
addition a knee injury that he had received in the
National Guard was coming back bother him. He was
also hospitalized with a bleeding ulcer in 1979.
Between his knee, back, and ulcer, he was done.   

In 1986, he received a nomination for the Academy
Award for Best Actor for Murphy's Romance. In
1994, Garner co-starred with Mel Gibson and Jodie
Foster, in the movie version of his original
Maverick (movie)|Maverick role.

On the death of John Ritter, Garner joined the
cast of 8 Simple Rules, as Grandpa Egan (Cate's
father). Originally intended to be a one-shot
guest role, he received a starring role and stayed
with the series until its end.

He recently starred as "Duke" in
Nicholas_Sparks_%28author%29|Nicholas Spark's The
Notebook.

For his contribution to the film and television
industry, James Garner received a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame (6927 Hollywood Blvd). In
1990, he was inducted into the Western Performers
Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western
Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. On 9
February 2005 he received the Screen Actors
Guild|Screen Actor's Guild Lifetime Achievement
Award.

Quote from Jim: "Marriage is like the Army;
everyone complains, but you'd be surprised at the
large number of people who re-enlist."

==External links==
*http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/G/htmlG/garnerj
ames/garnerjames.htm Jim's bio @ the Museum of
Broadcast Communications
*imdb name | id=0001258 | name=James Garner
*http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hc&cf=gen&id=18000
17365&intl=us Yahoo! Movies entry for James Garner
*http://www.thesandbox.net/arm/rockford/ Rockford
Files site
*http://boardgames.about.com/cs/poker/a/walk_of_fa
me.htm Poker Walk of Fame