Garner was born James Scott Bumgarner on April 7, 1928, inNorman, Oklahoma,[2] the last child of Weldon Warren Bumgarner (1901–1986) and Mildred Scott (née Meek; 1907–1933). His father was of part German ancestry,[3] and his mother, who died when he was five years old, was half Cherokee.[4][5] His older brothers wereJack Garner (1926-2011), also an actor, and Charles Warren Bumgarner (1924–1984), a school administrator.[6][7] His family was Methodist.[8] The family ran a general store at Denver Corner on the east side of Norman. After their mother's death, Garner and his brothers were sent to live with relatives.
Garner was reunited with his family in 1934 when his father remarried,[10] the first of several times.[11] He had a volatile relationship with one of his stepmothers, Wilma, who beat all three boys. 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 retaliating against him physically. 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 he felt that she was more of a mother to him than anyone else had been.[11]
Shortly after Garner's father's marriage to Wilma broke up, his father moved toLos Angeles, leaving Garner and his brothers in Norman. After working at several jobs he disliked, Garner joined theU.S. Merchant Marine at age 16 near the end ofWorld War II. He liked the work and his shipmates, but he had chronicseasickness[10] and only lasted a year.[14]
Garner followed his father to Los Angeles in 1945, attending Hollywood High while helping his dad lay carpet. The next five years were back and forth between California and Oklahoma, during which Garner worked in chick hatcheries and the oil fields, as a truck driver and grocery clerk, and even as a swim trunks model for Jantzen...[14]
After World War II, Garner joined his father in Los Angeles and was enrolled atHollywood High School, where he was voted the most popular student. A high school gym teacher recommended him for a job modelingJantzen bathing suits.[15] It paid well ($25 an hour) but, in his first interview for the Archives of American Television,[16] he said he hated modeling. He soon quit and returned to Norman.
There he played football and basketball atNorman High School and competed on the track and golf teams.[17] However, he dropped out in his senior year. In a 1976Good 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."[5]
Garner enlisted in theCalifornia Army National Guard, serving his first 7 months inCalifornia. He was deployed toKorea during theKorean War, and spent 14 months as a rifleman in the5th Regimental Combat Team, then part of the 24th Infantry Division. He was wounded twice: in the face and hand byfragmentation from amortar round, and in the buttocks byfriendly fire from U.S. fighter jets as he dove into a foxhole. Garner would later joke that "there was a lot of room involving my rear end. How could they miss?"[18]
Garner received thePurple Heart in Korea for his initial wounding. He also qualified for a second Purple Heart (for which he was eligible, since he was hit by friendly fire which "was released with the full intent of inflicting damage or destroying enemy troops or equipment"),[19] but did not actually receive it until 1983, 32 years after the event.[15][20][21][22] This was apparently the result of an error which was not rectified until Garner appeared onGood Morning America in November 1982, with presenterDavid Hartman making inquiries "after he learned of the case on his television show".[18] At the ceremony where he received his second Purple Heart, Garner understated: "After 32 years, it's better to receive this now than posthumously".[23] Reflecting on his military service, Garner recalled: "Do I have fond memories? I guess if you get together with some buddies it's fond. But it really wasn't. It was cold and hard. I was one of the lucky ones."
In 1954,Paul Gregory, a theatre and future film producer whom Garner had met while attending Hollywood High School, persuaded Garner to take a nonspeaking role in theBroadway production ofThe Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, where he was able to studyHenry Fonda night after night.[10] During the week of Garner's death in 2014,TCM broadcast a marathon, July 28, of a dozen of his movies,[24][25][26][27] introduced byRobert Osborne, who said that Fonda's gentle, sincere persona rubbed off on Garner, greatly to Garner's benefit.
Garner subsequently moved to television commercials[28] and eventually to television roles. In 1955, Garner was considered for the lead role in the Western seriesCheyenne, which went toClint 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 1955Cheyenne pilot titled "Mountain Fortress". His first film appearances were inThe Girl He Left Behind andToward the Unknown in 1956. Also in 1956, Garner appeared withRalph Bellamy andGloria Talbott in a half-hour television episode ofDick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre titled "Star Over Texas" in which a rivalry exists between Bellamy and Garner over Talbott until they're attacked by a group ofNative Americans.
In 1957, he had a supporting role in the TV anthology series episode onConflict entitled "Man from 1997," portraying Maureen's brother "Red"; the show starsJacques Sernas as Johnny Vlakos, Gloria Talbott as Maureen, andCharlie Ruggles as elderly Mr. Boyne, atime-travellinglibrarian from 1997, and involved a 1997 Almanac that was mistakenly left in the past by Boyne and found by Johnny in a bookstore.[29] The series' producerRoy Huggins noted in hisArchive of American Television interview that he subsequently cast Garner as the lead inMaverick due to his comedic facial expressions while playing scenes in "Man from 1997" that were not originally written to be comical (Huggins knew this because he'd written the episode himself). Garner 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 child, when he decided she had too many names.[16]
Only Garner and series creatorRoy Huggins thoughtMaverick could compete withThe Ed Sullivan Show andThe 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 ofMaverick for the first seven episodes but production demands forced the studio,Warner Bros., to create a Maverick brother,Bart Maverick, played byJack 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-overepisodes 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 movieThe Sting appears to be based, according to Roy Huggins'Archive of American Television interview. Garner and guest starClint 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 Warner Bros.,[10] he did make one fourth-seasonMaverick appearance, in an episode titled "The Maverick Line" starring both Garner and Jack Kelly that had been filmed in the third season but held back to run as the season's first episode if Garner lost his lawsuit against Warner Bros. 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 gain an English accent, featuringRoger Moore asBeau Maverick, but Moore left the series after filming only14 episodes. Warner Bros. had also hiredRobert Colbert, a Garnerlook-alike, to play a third Maverick brother namedBrent Maverick. Colbert only appeared in two episodes toward the end of the season. 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 thebilling, at the beginning of each show and in advertisements during the fifth season, billing Kelly above Garner.[31]: 74
Garner played thelead role inDarby's Rangers (1958). Originally slated for a supporting role, he was given the lead whenCharlton Heston turned down the part. He performed well asWilliam Orlando Darby, who was approximately Garner's age during World War II. Following Garner's success inMaverick andDarby's Rangers, Warner Bros. gave Garner two more major theatrical films to be filmed during breaks in hisMaverick shooting schedule:Up Periscope (1959) withEdmond O'Brien and the romantic dramaCash McCall (1960) withNatalie Wood.[32]
Compounding this, playing a Grand Prix racer - and drivingFormula 3 cars in that picture's filming - gave Garner the urge to race for real,[30] distracting him from his career in front of the camera. He formed his own American International Racing team and both competed in and backed as team owner racing in numerous classes, captured in a documentary he co-produced and starred in,The Racing Scene, in 1969.
In 1971, Garner returned to television in an offbeat series,Nichols, in which his character was killed and replaced by a less colorful twin brother at the end of the series. In one explanation for the unusual denouement, the recast as the character's somewhat more normal twin brother would have hopefully created a more popular series with few cast changes.[46] However, according to Garner's 1999 videotaped Archive of American Television interview, Garner killed his character because they had already cancelled the show and played his own twin because they had to finish the episode.[47]
Between 1978 and 1985, Garner co-starred withMariette Hartley, who had made anEmmy-nominated appearance onThe Rockford Files, in 250 TV commercials forPolaroid, a manufacturer ofinstant film and cameras.[51][52][53] They portrayed a bantering, bickering couple so convincingly that some viewers believed that the two were married.[54] After six seasons,The Rockford Files was cancelled in 1980. The physical toll on Garner resulted in his doctor ordering him to take some time off to rest.[55] Appearing in nearly every scene of the series, doing many of his own stunts—including one that injured his back—was wearing him out.[55] 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.[55] When Garner's physician ordered him to rest, the studio immediately cancelledThe Rockford Files.
Stuart Margolin (who played Angel Martin inThe Rockford Files) said that despite Garner's health problems in the later years ofThe 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.[55] When Garner later madeThe 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.[55]
In July 1983, Garner filed suit againstUniversal Studios forUS$16.5 million in connection with his ongoing dispute fromThe 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.[56] 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][57]
"The industry is like it always has been. It's a bunch of greedy people," he stated in 1990.[58] 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.[57]
Garner and Jack Kelly reappeared as Bret and Bart Maverick in a 1978 made-for-television film titledThe New Maverick written byJuanita Bartlett, directed byHy Averback, and also starringSusan Sullivan asPoker Alice. As had often been the case inepisodes 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 bothThe New Maverick andYoung Maverick byCharles Frank. The series itself, which presented Garner for only 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.
After the abrupt disappearance ofYoung 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 seriesBret 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 theepisodes starring Garner inthe 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.
During the 1980s, Garner played dramatic roles in a number of television films, includingHeartsounds withMary 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 withJames Woods andPiper Laurie, about dealing with a mentally ill adult sibling; andMy Name Is Bill W. with James Woods, in which Garner portrays the founder ofAlcoholics Anonymous. In 1984, he played the lead inJoseph Wambaugh'sThe Glitter Dome forHBO Pictures, which was directed by hisRockford Files co-starStuart Margolin. The film generated a mild controversy for a bondage sequence featuring Garner and co-starMargot Kidder.[59]In 1984 he also starred in the movieTank, about a soon-to-be retiring US Army Command Sergeant Major named Zack Carey who butted heads with a corrupt local sheriff after an incident with one of his deputies off base and used a privately ownedSherman tank to exact justice.
Garner's onlyOscar nomination was forBest Actor in a Leading Role for the filmMurphy's Romance (1985), oppositeSally Field. Field and directorMartin 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 hitVictor/Victoria oppositeJulie 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 ofNorma Rae (1979), with the same star (Field), director, and screenplay writing team (Harriet Frank Jr. andIrving Ravetch), and with Field's new production company (Fogwood Films) producing, Columbia agreed. L wantedMarlon Brando to play the part of Murphy, so Field and Ritt had to insist on Garner.[60][61][62] Part of the deal from the studio, which at that time was owned byThe 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.[63][64] InA&E'sBiography of Garner, Field reported that her on-screen kiss with Garner was the best cinematic kiss she had ever experienced.[65]
Garner playedWyatt Earp in two very different movies shot 21 years apart,John Sturges'sHour of the Gun in 1967 andBlake Edwards'sSunset in 1988. The first film was a realistic depiction of theO.K. Corral shootout and its aftermath, while the second centered around a comedic fictional adventure shared by Earp and silent movie cowboy starTom Mix. Earp had actually worked as a consultant for Western films during thesilent film era toward the end of his life. The movie featuresBruce 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 marketMazda television commercials as an on-screen spokesman.[66]
In 1991, Garner starred inMan of the People, a television series about a con man chosen to fill an empty seat on a city council, withKate Mulgrew andCorinne Bohrer.[67] Despite reasonably fair ratings, the show was canceled after only 10 episodes.
In 1993, Garner played the lead in a well-receivedHBO movie, the true storyBarbarians at the Gate, and went on to reprise his role as Jim Rockford in eightThe Rockford Files made-for-TV movies beginning the following year.[68] Practically everyone in the original cast of recurring characters returned for the new episodes except Noah Beery Jr., who had died in the interim.[69] According to Garner's memoirThe 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 ofMaverick, withMel Gibson asBret Maverick (in the end it is revealed that Garner's character is the father of Gibson's Maverick) andJodie Foster as a gambling lass with a fake Southern accent.[70]
In 2001, Garner voiced Commander Rourke inAtlantis: The Lost Empire. In 2002, following the death ofJames 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 playedSandra Bullock's father inDivine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood as Shepard James "Shep" Walker. After the death ofJohn Ritter in 2003, Garner joined the cast of8 Simple Rules asGrandpa Jim Egan (Cate's father)[74] and remained with the series until it finished in 2005.
On November 1, 2011,Simon & Schuster published Garner's autobiographyThe 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, sometimes unflattering assessments of some of Garner's co-stars, particularlySteve McQueen andCharles Bronson, though he was also quite effusive in his praise for many others. 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. (His favorite:The Americanization of Emily. His least favorite:Mister Buddwing.) Garner's three-time co-starJulie 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.[77]
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.[77]
Garner was nominated for 15 Emmy Awards during his television career, winning twice: in 1977 as Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series (The Rockford Files), and in 1987 as executive producer ofPromise.[78]
For his contribution to the television industry, Garner received a star on theHollywood Walk of Fame at 6927 Hollywood Boulevard.[73]
On April 21, 2006, a 10-foot-tall (3.0 m) bronze statue of Garner asBret Maverick was unveiled in Garner's hometown ofNorman, Oklahoma,[73] with Garner present at the ceremony.
Despite his popularity and sociable nature, Garner was seen by others as a down-to-earth man who kept his family life private.[80]
Lois, Garner and family
Garner was married once, to Lois Josephine Fleischman Clarke,[81] whom he met at a party in 1956. They wed 16 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."[15] According to Garner, "Marriage is like the Army; everyone complains, but you'd be surprised at the large number of people who re-enlist."[82] His wife practicedJudaism.[83]
At the time of their marriage, Clarke had a nine-year-old daughter from a previous marriage who was recovering frompolio.[5] Garner and Clarke had one daughter together, Greta, nicknamed "Gigi", born on January 4, 1958.[5]
Garner and his wife Lois were still married at his death in 2014, although they had had two periods of separation: the first for three months in 1970, and the second in 1979. The couple reunited two years later in September 1981.[84][85]
Garner stated that during this second period apart he split his time between Canada and "a rented house in the Valley." In each case Garner said the separations were caused by the stress of his acting career and were not due to marital problems. In the case ofThe Rockford Files he was in almost every scene while in constant pain due to his arthritic knees, and under tremendous stress from the studio.[15] Garner stated that when he quit the series in 1979, he simply needed to spend time alone in order to recover.[86]
Garner's death in 2014 was less than a month before their 58th wedding anniversary. His wife died seven years later, on October 21, 2021, aged 94.
In his youth, Garner had raced with "hot cars" in "chases", but his interest in auto racing was magnified during preparations for the filming ofGrand Prix.John Frankenheimer, the director and impetus behind the project, was determined to make the film as realistic as possible. He was trying to determine which actor he could focus on for high speed takes. At his disposal were the services ofBob Bondurant, a Formula 1 racer who was serving as technical consultant for the film. The first step was to place the actors in a two-seater version of a Formula 1 car to see how they would handle the high speeds. Bondurant noted that all the actors became quite frightened going over 240 kph, (149 mph) except Garner, who returned to the pit laughing like an excited child. Said Bondurant, "This is your man".[87] From there on out, all the actors were placed in a race driver training program except for Garner, whom Bonderant was assigned to personally train. Garner proved to be a good student, a hard worker and a talented driver. Compared to the other actors in the movie, Bondurant tagged Garner as being 'light years' ahead.[87] By the end of the film Bonderant asserted that Garner could compete on a Formula 1 team, and would best some of the drivers currently in the field.[88]
Following the completion ofGrand Prix, Garner become involved in auto racing. From 1967 through 1969 Garner was an owner of the "American International Racers" (AIR)auto racing team.[89] Motorsports writer William Edgar and Hollywood directorAndy Sidaris teamed with Garner for the racing documentaryThe Racing Scene, filmed in 1969 and released in 1970.[90] The team fielded cars at theLe Mans,Daytona, andSebring endurance races, but is best known for raising public awareness in early off-road motor-sports events, in many of which Garner competed.[89] In 1978, he was one of the inaugural inductees in theOff-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame.[89]
Garner signed a three-year sponsorship contract withAmerican Motors Corporation (AMC).[91] His shops prepared ten 1969SC/Ramblers for the Baja 500 race.[92] 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.[93] Garner also drove thepace car at theIndianapolis 500 race in 1975, 1977, and 1985 (see:list of Indianapolis 500 pace cars).[89]
In 1987, Garner announced plans to partner with Larry Cahill to form a racing team to compete in the1988 Indycar season. The intention was to base the team inCedar Rapids, Iowa, where Cahill operated his businesses. The estimated budget was $3.5 million. Plans for this team never came to fruition.[94]Cahill later formed his ownteam to compete in theIndy Racing League.
Garner was an avid golfer for many years. Along with his brother, Jack, he played golf in high school.[17] Jack even attempted a professional golfing career after a brief stint in thePittsburgh Pirates baseball farm system.[95] Garner took it up again in the late 1950s to see if he could beat Jack.[15] He was a regular for years at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am.[95] In February 1990 at the AT&T Golf Tournament, he won the Most Valuable Amateur Trophy.[96] 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.[31] He was a member of Bel Air Country Club.
Garner was a supporter of theUniversity of Oklahoma, often returning toNorman for school functions. When he attendedOklahoma 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.[98]
In 2003, to endow the James Garner Chair in the School of Drama, he donated$500,000 towards a total $1 million endowment for the first endowed position at the drama school.[98][99][100]
From 1982, Garner gave at least $29,000 to Federal campaigns, of which over $24,000 was to Democratic Party candidates, includingDennis Kucinich (for Congress in 2002),Dick Gephardt,John Kerry,Barbara Boxer, and various Democratic committees and groups.[110]
For his role in the 1985 CBS miniseriesSpace, the character's party affiliation was changed fromRepublican to Democrat, as in the book, to reflect Garner's personal views. Garner said, "My wife would leave me if I played a Republican."[111]
Garner became a friend, supporter and main benefactor of African-American sculptorRichmond Barthé, from the time the latter returned from Europe in 1977 and settled in Pasadena,[112] until Barthé's death in 1989.
Garner's knees became a chronic problem during the filming ofThe Rockford Files in the 1970s, with "six or seven knee operations during that time." In 2000, he underwent knee replacement surgery for both knees.[15]
On April 22, 1988, Garner hadquintuple bypass heart surgery.[113] Though he recovered rapidly, he was advised to stop smoking. Garner eventually quit smoking 17 years later in 2005.[114] "My dad had smoked since he was 12 years old," recalled daughter Gigi Garner.[115]
Garner underwent surgery on May 11, 2008, following astroke he had suffered two days earlier.[116] His prognosis was reported to be "very positive".[116]
On July 19, 2014, police and rescue personnel were summoned to Garner'sBrentwood, Los Angeles home, where they found the actor dead at the age of 86.[117][118][119][120] He had a heart attack caused bycoronary artery disease.[121] He had been in poor health since his stroke in 2008.[122]
Longtime friendsTom Selleck (who worked with Garner onThe Rockford Files),Sally Field (who starred with Garner inMurphy's Romance), andClint Eastwood (who guest-starred with Garner onMaverick and starred inSpace Cowboys) reflected on his death. Selleck said, "Jim was a mentor to me and a friend, and I will miss him."[123] 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."[124] Eastwood said, "Garner opened the door for people likeSteve McQueen and myself."[125]
^abYantz, Mickel (Summer 2024). "The Maverick Comes Home to Oklahoma".Chronicles of Oklahoma.102 (2):192–197.
^Garner attested in an interview ("Archive of American Television Interview with James Garner (Part 1 of 6)) his surname is spelled, 'Bumgarner', which derives from the GermanBaumgartner andBaumgärtner, in English often written Baumgardner, Bumgardner, and Bumgartner
^abcd ("James Garner: A Really Nice Guy makes Good".Good Housekeeping. New York City: The Hearst Corporation. March 1976. US Census records for 1900 show that Mr. Garner's maternal ancestor, Charles Meek, listed as "white", resided on the Choctaw Nation in Oklahoma. p. 46; "Jim's mother, who was half Cherokee Indian, a beautiful woman who died when he was five." p. 58.
^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
^'Doris Day Heads Top 10'The Washington Post and Times-Herald (1959–1973) [Washington, D.C.] Jan 14, 1964: A27. Also 1965 Classic "36 Hours"
^abcBeaupre, Lee (May 15, 1968). "Rising Skepticism On Stars".Variety. p. 1.
^"The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California on October 22, 1964 · 74".Newspapers.com. October 22, 1964. RetrievedJune 2, 2021.No Longer a Maverick: Wooing James Garner into an extended contract of any kind is difficult. Once burned, he dreads the fire, but if Metro has their way his Cherokee Productions will be making three films for the studio Garner's take $1,500,000. The first. "Caravans," with a locale in Afghanistan, involves a beautiful heiress and an adventurer. The studio admits they'll settle for this one if they can't tie up the package deal.
^abMontgomery, Ed."Maverick coming home". Archived fromthe original on January 8, 2013.The Norman Transcript (c/oThe Weatherford Democrat; April 6, 2006)
