Remembering A TV And Movie Trailblazer

He was truly a trailblazer: One of the first actors to conquer both TV and the movies.
And he excelled at both mediums though he is probably best remembered for his TV work.
Still, over more than five decades he starred in more than 50 movies and propelled two TV series to landmark status. John Wayne said he was "the best actor I know."
He was by all accounts a charming man and a consummate professional -- an actor who wore his fame with grace and aplomb.
He was James Garner and his death of natural causes has been confirmed by LA police who were called to his home yesterday morning. Garner was 86.
A native of Norman, Oklahoma Garner (who was born James Scott Bumgarner) was best known as the originator of the role of Maverick in the hit TV series of the same name. He later starred in another huge TV hit, The Rockford Files.
On the screen he is best remembered for his co-starring roles opposite Julie Andrews (three times), Doris Day (twice), Kim Novak, Shirley MacLaine and Audrey Hepburn. His favorite of his screen outings was The Americanization of Emily with Andrews.
A natural, unassuming leading man, Garner said he was a "Spencer Tracy kind of actor." He simply took his spot on the sound stage and delivered the lines, interpreting the character in his own special way -- no internal analysis, no angst, no method. He simply acted.He didn't believe in trying to make acting any harder than it was.
And America loved him that way.
For his contribution to the film and television industry, Garner received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1990, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He was also inducted into the Television Hall of Fame that same year. 

In February 2005, he received the Screen Actors Guild's Lifetime Achievement Award. He was also nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role that year, for The Notebook. When Morgan Freeman won that prize for his work in Million Dollar Baby, he led the audience in a sing-along of the original Maverick theme song as a tribute to Garner. In 2010, the Television Critics Association gave Garner its annual Career Achievement Award.

On April 21, 2006, a 10-foot-tall (3.0 m) bronze statue of Garner as Bret Maverick was unveiled in Garner's hometown of Norman, Oklahoma, with Garner present at the ceremony.
James Garner lost his mother when he was five, and he and his two brothers were split up and sent off to live with relatives. Before he was an actor, he had 75 odd jobs including everything from pumping gas to modeling men's clothing.

Early in his career, Garner appeared as one of the judges in "The Caine Mutiny Court Martial" on Broadway. He said his part consisted mostly of listening to the other actors, and he said it was a great lesson. He felt listening is just as important as speaking as an actor.

Garner was a veteran of the Korean War and a very civic-minded, patriotic man. He involved himself in many charitable and humanitarian causes and more than a few political campaigns.

But he didn't always follow every law on the books. Late in his life he admitted that he smoked marijuana for decades and had even tried cocaine. He endorsed the medicinal power of marijuana and said it should be legalized, while liquor should be made illegal. As for cocaine, he quipped: "I tried it and fortunately I didn't like it."