American actor and top star in films, commercials and TV series. With his relaxed manner and whimsical good humor, his shows demonstrate a skilled timing in comedy. Appearing in more than 30 films by 1990 and a believable advertising spokesman, he was a star of the small screen with the TV series “Maverick” and “Rockford Files.” He was nominated for an Oscar as Best Actor in 1987 for “Murphy’s Romance.” He was inducted into the “The Academy of Television’s Hall of Fame” in 1991. Garner’s career was not without battles and he won a few legal bouts, including a multimillion settlement with MCA Universal over his share of profits from “The Rockford Files.”
He was the youngest of three sons of Weldon and Mildred Bumgarner, a country store owner near Norman, OK. When he was five his mom died and he was farmed out to relatives until his father remarried. He was mistreated by his “wicked” stepmother who beat the boys. Garner stood up to her by age 14 when his father discovered his wife’s cruel streak, broke up with her and moved to California for work. Garner stayed behind to work for a dairy farmer. He joined the Merchant Marines at 16 and moved back in with his father in California, returning to school at Hollywood High. During Army military service in Korea, he won the Purple Heart, returned to Hollywood and took a job as an understudy in “The Caine Mutiny Court Martial.” Receiving acting lessons from veteran actor Charles Laughton, Garner gave himself five years to give acting his best shot. It didn’t take that long. After appearances on TV’s “Cheyenne” and a movie breakthrough in “Sayonara,” Garner was signed to play the lead on TV’s “Maverick.”
Garner married Lois Clarke on 17 August 1956. She had a six-year-old daughter, Kimberly, from a previous marriage and two years later their daughter Gigi was born. Garner considers himself a shy man who avoids Hollywood glitz and is a “bleeding-heart liberal.” He has devoted himself to several causes, including the plight of native Americans, coming from a maternal grandfather who was a full-blooded Cherokee. The long hours on “The Rockford Files” took its toll on his health and marriage. He took a two-year hiatus and pulled himself back together, determined to keep the marriage intact. In 1988, Garner underwent quintuple bypass surgery, and three months later he was operated on for an aortic aneurysm. He lives a quiet life with Lois.
The actor suffered a stroke and was hospitalized in Los Angeles on 9 May 2008. He underwent surgery two days later.
James Garner died of acute myocardial infarction (heart attack) on 19 July 2014 in Brentwood, Los Angeles. An ambulance was dispatched at around 8pm and he was pronounced dead when the officers arrived at his home. His death certificate states his time of death as 8:04 PM.
Link to Wikipedia biography