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 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] After Garner's death in 2014,TCM[24][25][26][27] hostRobert Osborne said that Fonda's gentle, sincere persona rubbed off on Garner.
Garner subsequently moved to television commercials[28] and eventually to television roles. In 1955, Garner was considered for the lead role inCheyenne, which went toClint Walker; Garner wound up playing an Army officer in the series pilot titled "Mountain Fortress".
In 1957, he had a supporting role in the TV anthology series episode onConflict entitled "Man from 1997."[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 Huggins had not written to be comical. Garner changed his last name from Bumgarner to Garner after the studio credited him as "James Garner" without permission. He then changed it legally upon the birth of his child, when he decided she had too many names.[16]
Garner was the lone star ofMaverick for the first seven episodes but production demands forcedWarner Bros. to create a brother, 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 partway through the season unless another actor was added.
Critics were positive about the chemistry with Kelly and Garner. The series occasionally featured popular cross-overepisodes starring both Maverick brothers as well as brief appearances by Kelly in Garner episodes. This included "Shady Deal at Sunny Acres," upon which the first half ofThe Sting appears to be based, according to Roy Huggins'Archive of American Television interview. Garner quit after the third season due to a dispute with Warner Bros.[10] but was in a fourth-seasonMaverick that had been held back to run as that season's first episode if Garner lost his lawsuit. Garner won, left the series, and the episode ran in midseason.
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 after filming only fourteen episodes. Warner Bros. also hiredRobert Colbert as a third Maverick brother for two episodes at the end of the season. That left the rest of the run to Kelly, alternating with reruns of episodes with Garner for the fifth season. Garner still received billing in the new Kelly episodes, aired in 1961–1962, although the studio did reverse the billing at the beginning of each show and in advertisements, putting Kelly above Garner.
Garner played thelead role inDarby's Rangers (1958). Originally slated for a supporting role, he got the lead whenCharlton Heston turned it down. Following this success, Warner Bros. gave Garner two more films, made during breaks in hisMaverick shooting schedule:Up Periscope (1959) andCash McCall (1960) oppositeNatalie Wood.[31]
The Americanization of Emily, a literateantiwarD-Day comedy, featured ascreenplay written byPaddy Chayefsky and remained Garner's favorite of all his work.[32][33] In 1963, exhibitors voted him the 16th most popular star in the US[34] and it was thought he might be a successor toClark Gable.[35] InMister Buddwing (1966), he starred as a man who finds himself sitting on a bench inCentral Park without knowing how he got there.
In 1964, Garner formed his own company, Cherokee Productions.[30][36][37][38][39][40][41] After several lackluster entries,Grand Prix (1966), directed byJohn Frankenheimer and co-produced by Cherokee, co-starred him withYves Montand andEva Marie Saint on the EuropeanGrand Prix circuit. The expensiveCinerama epic byMGM did not fare as well as expected, and in light of his recent films, Garner was blamed for the disappointing box office onGrand Prix, which damaged his film career.[35]
However, drivingFormula 3 cars for the 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.
Along with his undistinguished early 1970s films, includingSupport Your Local Gunfighter, Garner returned to television for the offbeatNichols which lasted one season.[44]
From 1978 to 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.[47][48][49] They portrayed a bantering, bickering couple so convincingly that some viewers believed that the two were married.[50] After six seasons,The Rockford Files was cancelled in 1980.[51] Appearing in nearly every scene and doing many of his own stunts, including one that injured his back, was wearing him out.[51] A knee injury from his National Guard days worsened, and he was hospitalized with a bleeding ulcer.[51] When Garner's physician ordered him to rest, NBC immediately cancelledThe Rockford Files.
Garner's co-starStuart Margolin said that despite Garner's health problems in the later years ofThe Rockford Files, he often worked long shifts, unusual for a starring actor, staying to do off-camera lines with other actors, and doing his own stunts despite his knee problems.[51] When Garner later madeThe Rockford Files television movies, he said that 22 people, with the exception of co-starNoah Beery Jr., who died late in 1994, came out of retirement to participate.[51]
In July 1983, Garner filed suit againstUniversal Studios forUS$16.5 million in connection withThe Rockford Files, charging Universal with "breach of contract; failure to deal in good faith and fairly; and fraud and deceit". Garner alleged "creative accounting", two words that are now part of the Hollywood lexicon.[52] 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][53]
"The industry is like it always has been. It's a bunch of greedy people," he stated in 1990.[54] 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 reruns.[53]
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 co-starringSusan Sullivan asPoker Alice. As was often the case in the original series, Bart shows up only briefly toward the end.The New Maverick was a pilot for a failed series,Young Maverick, featuring their younger cousin Ben Maverick, portrayed byCharles Frank.Young Maverick, which presented Garner for only a few moments at the beginning of the first show, was canceled so rapidly that some of the episodes were never broadcast in the United States. Despite the title, Frank was three years older than Garner at the launch of the original series.
After a failed season ofBret Maverick in 1981-82, Garner played dramatic roles in television films, includingHeartsounds featuring the true story of a doctor (Garner) deprived of oxygen for too long during an operation who woke up mentally impaired,Promise, which dealt with a mentally ill adult sibling, andMy Name Is Bill W. in which Garner portrayed the founder ofAlcoholics Anonymous. In 1984, he ledJoseph Wambaugh'sThe Glitter Dome forHBO Pictures, directed byStuart Margolin. The film generated some controversy for a bondage sequence featuring Garner andMargot Kidder.[55]
Garner also resumed his movie career, enjoying success at the box office withVictor/Victoria withJulie Andrews forBlake Edwards in 1982, and in 1984 withTank. His onlyOscar nomination was forBest Actor in a Leading Role forMurphy's Romance (1985), oppositeSally Field. Field andMartin Ritt had to fightColumbia Pictures to have Garner cast, since he was by then regarded as a TV actor who occasionally made films. But after the success of Field'sNorma Rae (1979), with the same director and screenplay writing team (Harriet Frank Jr. andIrving Ravetch), and with Field's production company (Fogwood Films) producing, Columbia agreed, despite being lukewarm about the film itself. The studio wantedMarlon Brando as Murphy, but Field and Ritt insisted on Garner.[56][57][58] Part of the deal with the studio, which at that time was owned byThe Coca-Cola Company, included both Field and Garner mentioning "Coke," and Coca-Cola signs had to appear prominently in the film.[59][60] InA&E'sBiography of Garner, Field said that her on-screen kiss with Garner was the best cinematic kiss she ever experienced.[61]
Garner playedWyatt Earp in two different movies shot 21 years apart, first inJohn Sturges'sHour of the Gun in 1967, and then in Blake Edwards'Sunset in 1988. While the first film was a realistic depiction of theO.K. Corral shootout and its aftermath, the second was a comedy centered on a fictional adventure shared by Earp with silent movie cowboy starTom Mix, inspired by Earp's real career as a consultant on Western movies in his later years. The movie featuresBruce Willis as Mix, billed above Garner, though the film gave more screen time and emphasis to Earp.[citation needed]
For the second half of the 1980s, continuing his career as a pitchman, Garner also appeared inMazda television commercials as an on-screen spokesman.[62]
In 1991, Garner starred inMan of the People, an NBC series about a con man filling an empty seat on a city council[63] which was cancelled after only ten of its episodes were aired.
In 1993, Garner starred in a well-regardedHBO movie,Barbarians at the Gate, then reprised his role as Jim Rockford in eightRockford Files TV movies for CBS beginning the following year.[64][65] According to Garner's memoir, he insisted upon being fully paid in cash before shooting each of the Rockford movies.
In 2000, after having both knees replaced,[68] Garner appeared withClint Eastwood as astronauts inSpace Cowboys. In 2002, following the death ofJames Coburn, Garner took over the TV commercial voiceovers for Chevrolet's "Like a Rock" advertising campaign, on which Garner continued through the end of the campaign. Also in 2002, he wasSandra Bullock's father inDivine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, and after the death ofJohn Ritter, Garner joined the cast of8 Simple Rules in 2003,[69] remaining with the series until it ended in 2005.
On November 1, 2011,Simon & Schuster published Garner's autobiographyThe Garner Files: A Memoir, co-written with Jon Winokur. In addition to recounting his career, it detailed the childhood abuses Garner suffered at the hands of his stepmother. It also offered unflattering assessments ofSteve McQueen,Charles Bronson, andGlen Larson, though he was effusive in praise for others. In addition to recalling the genesis of his hit films and television shows, the book featured a section in which the star critiqued each of his acting projects, accompanied by a star rating for each. (His favorite:The Americanization of Emily; least favorite:Mister Buddwing.) Garner's three-time co-starJulie Andrews wrote the foreword.Lauren Bacall,Diahann Carroll,Doris Day,Tom Selleck,Stephen J. Cannell, and other associates, friends, and relatives provided memories in the book's coda.[72]
The "most explosive revelation" in his autobiography was that Garner smoked marijuana for most of his 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.[72]
Despite his popularity and sociable nature, Garner was seen as a down-to-earth man who kept his family life private.[73]
James Garner family, 1959
Garner married Lois Josephine Fleischman Clarke[74] on August 17, 1956 after a two-week courtship. "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] 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]
Their marriage endured two periods of separation: the first for three months in 1970, and the second in 1979. The couple reunited in 1981 and remained together until his death in 2014.[75][76] Garner said, "Marriage is like the Army; everyone complains, but you'd be surprised at the large number of people who re-enlist."[77][78]
Garner stated that during this second period apart he split his time between Canada and "a rented house in the Valley." In both cases Garner attributed the separations to the stress of his career and not 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 pressure from the studio.[15] Garner stated that when the series ended, he needed to spend time alone in order to recover.[79]
Garner's death in 2014 was less than a month before their 58th anniversary. His wife died in 2021, aged 94.
In his youth, Garner raced with "hot cars" in "chases", but his interest in auto racing grew 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 wanted to determine which actor he could focus on for high speed takes. At his disposal were the services ofBob Bondurant, a Formula 1 racer serving as technical consultant on 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".[80] From there, the actors were placed in a race driver training program except for Garner, whom Bondurant was assigned to train. Garner proved 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.[80] By the end of the film Bondurant asserted that Garner could compete on a Formula 1 team, and would best some of the drivers in the field.[81]
From 1967 through 1969 Garner was an owner of the "American International Racers" (AIR)auto racing team.[82] Motorsports writer William Edgar and Hollywood directorAndy Sidaris teamed with Garner for the racing documentaryThe Racing Scene, filmed in 1969 and released in 1970.[83] The team fielded cars at theLe Mans,Daytona, andSebring endurance races, as well as early off-road motor-sports events, in many of which Garner competed.[82] In 1978, he was one of the inaugural inductees in theOff-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame.[82]
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 with an estimated budget of $3.5 million, but the plans never came to fruition.[87] 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.[88] 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.[88] In February 1990 at the AT&T Golf Tournament, he won the Most Valuable Amateur Trophy.[89] 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.[90] 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.[92]
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.[92][93][94]
"If there was an environmental cause, James Garner was there" —Zev Yaroslavsky[97]
In July 1964, Garner, over a master plan for a 92-square-mile Santa Monica Mountains area, engaged in a public quarrel withKarl L. Rundberg, a Los Angeles City Council member, at a council meeting.[98][99][100][101] Later, Garner,Steve McQueen andBurt Lancaster, became founding members of theFriends of theSanta Monica Mountains conservancy group, according to the bookTransforming California by Stephanie S. Pincetl, but contested by Dash Stolarz, spokesperson for the state'sSanta Monica Mountains Conservancy.[95][97][102]
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.[104]
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."[105]
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,[106] 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.[107] Though he recovered rapidly, he was advised to stop smoking. Garner eventually quit smoking 17 years later in 2005.[108] "My dad had smoked since he was 12 years old," recalled daughter Gigi Garner.[109]
Garner underwent surgery on May 11, 2008, following astroke he had suffered two days earlier.[110] His prognosis was reported to be "very positive".[110]
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.[111][112][113][114] He had a heart attack caused bycoronary artery disease.[115] He had been in poor health since his stroke in 2008.[116]
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."[117] 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."[118] Eastwood said, "Garner opened the door for people likeSteve McQueen and myself."[119]
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.[120]
For contributions to the television industry, Garner received a star on theHollywood Walk of Fame at 6927 Hollywood Boulevard.[121]
^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)
