“I don’t like to watch me on the screen. I don’t think I’m very good.”
– James Garner
Most everybody else had a different opinion.
There was a purity about James Garner – as plain and pure as the driven rain.
People sensed it … and liked it.
Some Trivia:
Lost his mother when he was 5, and he & his two brothers were split up & sent off to live with relatives.He has two brothers, Jack Garner & Charlie Bumgarner. Jack died in 2011 and Charlie died in 1985.
Before he was an actor, he had 75 odd jobs including pumping gas to modeling men’s clothing.
Had both knees replaced.
Had quintuple heart bypass surgery.
Inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in 1990.
Had helped organize Martin Luther King’s famous “March on Washington” civil rights demonstration, four years before going to Vietnam. (1963).
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love this tribute! Great pictures. I wasn’t aware of his involvement in the civil rights march. Awesome!
Yes – in looking back I was surprised at some of the people that had been politically active. The 60’s. What an era – turbulent times.
They don’t make ‘em like him anymore. RIP, James.
Amen.
At least we can still enjoy much of his work.
He played a lot of great characters, but I think his best was in “Barbarians at the Gate.”
Thanks Rick. 1993 that was. That was good.
Garner made some good movies – TV and otherwise – but never really achieved Film Stardom. Theory 44: His persona – Maverick/Rockford. People didn’t want him as a serious actor. Take ‘Hour of the Gun’ for instance. The movie jolts you because Garner’s (Sturges) hardbitten portrayal of Earp ‘plays against type’ – what we had come to love and expect from Garner. He couldn’t break away from what people wanted in him.
Just a theory. It made him a brilliant TV Star though.
If you haven’t read it, I think you’d enjoy his autobiography. It’s so very HIM.
Thank you … on my list!