Here's a great, totally adoring piece on James Garner by the Australian poet and critic Clive James. Ostensibly a 'review' of Garner's autobiography, it's almost a love letter to an actor who never made it quite as big as some of his contemporaries, but should have - though that would have been television's (and our?) loss. You might not agree with all the details, but the sentiment is hard to deny. Certainly one of the few movie stars whose death that really hit me. http://fridaynightboys300.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/james-garner-man-for-all-seasons.html
Smart thinker that Clive James! yes James Garner was pretty big here in Australia ! To me having James Garner in anything was a pretty good guarantee that you were in for something good ! I still think the film 36 hours was his finest film and a film that really is hidden ! most of all James Garner stuff was repeated films & tv regularly here in Australia.
He was actually a decent villain in Twilight--a really good movie where Paul Newman and Hackman got all the laurels.
2014-wise, the deaths of James Garner, Robin Williams, and Lauren Bacall have hit the hardest for me.
I remember when I was in my first year at university. No-one watched TV because they were all out having a good time - except that when you wanted to watch Rockford in one of the television rooms, you could barely get in unless you got there early.
I just started the series. The Pilot episode is just "ok" but it picks up after a few episodes. It seems to really hit it's stride by episode 8 (Peanuts and Crackerjack). I'm still making my way through the series.
Hour of the gun, where he played Wyatt Earp in a film which started with the Gunfight at OK Corral and went onto show the aftermath. At the time it must have been the first film to portray the event with some degree of historical accuracy and also show Earp as a more conflicted character. Very well performed by James Garner, showing he could play a more complex character than the western role he is most famous for as Brett Maverick.
I'll put the first 3 seasons of the Rockford Files up against ANYTHING on Network television right now.
He's from right here in Norman, Oklahoma. There is a statue of him on Main Street. http://www.koco.com/news/oklahomans-remember-norman-native-james-garner/27051384