James Garner (born James Scott Bumgarner; April 7, 1928; died July 19, 2014) was an American film and television actor, one of the first Hollywood actors to excel in both media. He has starred in several television series spanning a career of more than five decades. These included his popular roles as Bret Maverick in the 1950s western-comedy series, Maverick, and Jim Rockford in the 1970s detective drama, The Rockford Files. He has starred in more than fifty films, including The Great Escape (1963), Paddy Chayefskys The Americanization of Emily (1964), Blake Edwards Victor Victoria (1982), Murphys Romance (1985), for which he received an Academy Award nomination, and The Notebook (2004). Garner was married to Lois Clarke, whom he met at an Adlai Stevenson for President rally in 1956. They married 14 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. According to Garner, Marriage is like the Army; everyone complains, but youd be surprised at the large number of people who re-enlist. When Garner and Clarke married, her daughter Kim from a previous marriage was seven years old and recovering from polio. Garner has one daughter with wife Lois: Greta Gigi Garner. In an interview in Good Housekeeping with Garner, his wife, and two daughters conducted at their home that was published in March 1976, Gigis age was given as 18 and Kim, 27. Garners knees would become chronic problems during the filming of The Rockford Files in the 1970s, with six or seven knee operations during that time. In 2000 he had both knees surgically replaced. On April 22, 1988, Garner had quintuple bypass heart surgery. Though he rapidly recovered, the doctors insisted that he stop smoking. Garner complied—17 years later. Garner underwent surgery on May 11, 2008, following a minor stroke he had suffered two days earlier. His prognosis was reported to be very positive. On May 28, 2014, The National Enquirer reported that James Garners health was failing rapidly and that he was battling severe depression in addition to the aftermath of his previous strokes. The article cited a source claiming that Garner had been scheduled to make a cameo appearance in a Rockford Files remake, starring Vince Vaughn, but that Garner was too ill to take part in the show and that Garner felt he had nothing left to live for. An Ambulance was dispatched around 8pm 19/07/2014 to the actors home. He was dead when they arrived on the scene.
Posted on: Sun, 20 Jul 2014 07:09:39 +0000
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