James Garner

The Soldier Who Didn't Want to Fight

James Scott Bumgarner wasn't seeking fame when he returned from the Korean War with two Purple Hearts in his pocket. Before stepping onto a Hollywood set, he worked as a swimwear model, a carpet installer, and a gas station attendant. He had no dramatic training, but he had a square jaw and a natural calm that came through the lens.

In 1957 he signed a deal with Warner Bros. to star in Maverick. The show broke the genre's rules because his character was a gambler who preferred to use his wits rather than his revolver. Garner brought an ironic tone that clashed with the seriousness of the heroes of the era.

And the audience loved him.

But the actor refused to let the studio exploit him with poverty-level salaries. In 1960, he took advantage of a screenwriters' strike to sue the production company and win back his contractual freedom. It was a risky move within the studio system, but James Garner won the lawsuit and walked away in triumph.

He hit the big screen with The Great Escape in 1963. He shared scenes with Steve McQueen and proved he could carry the weight of a major production without breaking a sweat. While filming Grand Prix in 1966, he discovered his passion for racing. He performed all his own stunts without doubles, because professional drivers admitted the actor was faster on the track than many of them.

The Broken Back and the Courts

He returned to television in 1974 with The Rockford Files. Jim Rockford lived in a rundown trailer in Malibu, charged two hundred dollars a day, and always ended up fights with a bloodied face. He was the perfect antihero for a cynical decade.

It was his defining role.

Filming the series took a severe physical toll. Garner insisted on performing his own car stunts, and the hand-to-hand fights left him with chronic back and knee injuries. In 1980, the series was abruptly canceled because the actor could no longer walk without unbearable pain.

But the real conflict played out behind closed doors. Garner sued Universal Studios over the show's profits in a legal battle that dragged on for nearly a decade. Executives tried to hide the production's earnings through creative accounting. The actor received $14 million after an out-of-court settlement that set a precedent in the American television industry.

A Top-Tier Supporting Player in His Later Years

In 1985, he earned his only Oscar nomination for Murphy's Romance. He was 57 years old and no longer had anything to prove to anyone. He worked when the script interested him and preferred to spend his time at the racetrack or playing golf with his lifelong friends.

And the gamble paid off.

Many young viewers first discovered his face in 2004 thanks to The Notebook. He played the older version of the lead in a romantic drama that grossed more than 115 million dollars at box offices worldwide. It was one of his last major roles before health problems limited his public appearances.

James Garner died at his home in Los Angeles in July 2014. The coroner's report stated that the cause of death was an acute myocardial infarction stemming from prior coronary disease. He was 86 years old and left behind a professional legacy of more than fifty films and TV series. His last credited appearance was voicing the wizard Shazam in an animated short film in 2010.