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chefcraig
07-20-2014, 11:24 AM
James Garner, star of TV and film, dies at 86

Gary Strauss, USATODAY (http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2014/07/20/james-garner-dies-actor/12906967/)

Actor James Garner, whose genial charm and sly humor made him a Hollywood fixture for more than 50 years, has died at 86.

The actor was found dead of natural causes at his home in the Brentwood area of Los Angeles late Saturday, Los Angeles police officer Alonzo Iniquez told the Associated Press on Sunday. Iniquez added that family members confirmed Garner's identity. A more specific cause of death was not available, according to AP.

Tall and handsome, Garner had the leading-man looks that led to roles in big-screen dramas ranging from 1958's Darby's Rangers to 1963's The Great Escape. But his flair for light comedy earned him several starring film roles, and extended to the small screen as well, with series hits Maverick and The Rockford Files.

"I'm a Spencer Tracy-type actor," Garner once said. "His idea was to be on time, know your words, hit your marks and tell the truth. Most every actor tries to make it something it isn't [or] looks for the easy way out. I don't think acting is that difficult if you can put yourself aside and do what the writer wrote."

Garner's acting career began in 1954 with a non-speaking role in the Broadway play The Caine Mutiny Court Martial. Soon after, he landed TV roles, commercials and a movie contract with Warner Bros.

Asked if he would ever do a nude scene, he quipped, "I don't do horror films."

Garner gained widespread popularity in 1957 starring as the wisecracking riverboat gambler in the comedy/western Maverick. But Garner left after three years in a dispute over money.

Twenty years later, he won an Emmy for perhaps the role that gave him his most visibility — as James Rockford, the laid-back, beach-dwelling private detective of NBC's Rockford Files, which ran from 1974 to 1980.

Garner, who did many of his own stunts, ultimately pulled the plug on the show because of the high physical toll on his knees and neck. But the show — and his iconic character — proved so popular that eight Rockford Files TV movies followed.

Garner continued to alternate between film and TV roles. He earned an Oscar nomination for his role in Murphy's Romance, acting opposite Sally Field. He starred as freewheeling CEO F. Ross Johnson in 1993 HBO film Barbarians at the Gate, which earned him a Golden Globe award, his third. He stepped in for more than 40 episodes of ABC's Eight Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter following the 2003 death of series star John Ritter. Garner also starred in 2000's Space Cowboys, 2002's Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood and the 2004 hit The Notebook, in which he and Gena Rowlands played the older versions of a couple portrayed by Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams.

Garner, born James Scott Baumgarner in Norman, Okla., was the son of a carpet layer. His mother, who was part Cherokee Indian, died when he was just 4. After dropping out of high school, Garner joined the Merchant Marines...

He served in the Army during the Korean War, where he was wounded in action and TWICE received the Purple Heart.

Garner married Lois Clarke two weeks after they met in 1956. They remained together until his death.

"Marriage is like the Army; everyone complains," he once said. "But you'd be surprised at the large number of people who re-enlist."

Daughter Greta Garner-Hewitt is the author of The Cop Cookbook: Arresting Recipes from the World's Favorite Cops, Good Guys, and Private Eyes.

Garner also had success as a Madison Avenue pitchman. In the 1970s, he starred in a series of popular Polaroid commercials with actress Mariette Hartley. Their on-camera shtick was so convincing that many believed they were actually married. In the '80s, he was the North American spokesman for automaker Mazda, and later did voiceovers for Chevrolet trucks.

Despite his star status, Garner was never enamored with being in Hollywood's limelight. "I got into the business to put a roof over my head," he said. "I wasn't looking for star status. I just wanted to keep working."

I'm certain there are more than a few of us mourning losses lately. For Garner, I'll offer this bit of inspiration: He had the balls to run the Baja 1000 in a souped-up fucking Oldsmobile. Take that shit!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFrNbifXrLI

I'll miss ya Jim Rockford. In fact, now that I think about it, you taught me how to drive...amongst other things.

Thank you for your time.

Kristy
07-20-2014, 12:33 PM
C'mon - the dude was old.

DONNIEP
07-20-2014, 12:47 PM
The dude was a bad ass. Not like these candy ass Hollyweird types today.

vandeleur
07-20-2014, 12:49 PM
C'mon - the dude was old.

He wasn't always :)

Kristy
07-20-2014, 12:57 PM
86 is more than a full life. Plus the dude was a millionaire in his old age. So whomever he was, I have little sympathy.

Kristy
07-20-2014, 12:57 PM
The dude was a bad ass. Not like these candy ass Hollyweird types today.

So...he was a candyass?

SunisinuS
07-20-2014, 01:43 PM
RIP James.

ELVIS
07-20-2014, 02:05 PM
I smoked marijuana for 50 years and I don’t know where I’d be without it. It opened my mind and now it eases my arthritis. After decades of research I’ve concluded that marijuana should be legal and alcohol illegal.

James Garner

Anonymous
07-20-2014, 03:24 PM
I smoked marijuana for 50 years and I don’t know where I’d be without it. It opened my mind and now it eases my arthritis. After decades of research I’ve concluded that marijuana should be legal and alcohol illegal.

James Garner

So you're saying Kristy should love the old corpse & I should hate him with a passion.

Why bring alcohol to that discussion? What's that got to do with the legalization of Mary Jane?

What a fucking retard. I'm glad he's dead.

Cheers! :beers:

cadaverdog
07-20-2014, 04:06 PM
What a fucking retard. I'm glad he's dead.


I know you're not serious but I think Jim was just trying to make a point that he thought booze was worse than pot but booze was legal and pot wasn't.

FORD
07-20-2014, 04:16 PM
If somebody can't handle their alcohol intake, they can get violent or get behind a wheel of a car and kill somebody.

If somebody can't handle their weed intake, they either fall asleep, or eat too much junk food.

If it comes down to a question of which one places a bigger burden on society, alcohol would be the obvious choice.

But having said that, I don't support the prohibition of either, and still use both, on occasion.

My guess would be this is where Mr. Garner was coming from. He worked in Hollywood for over half a century, so he's probably seen people he worked with and considered friends using every substance available, so his preference of one substance over the other could be based on observations of himself and others.

Anonymous
07-20-2014, 04:24 PM
MY POINT IS, if you want to legalize your exotic weeds, go ahead & do it.

But my booze has nothing to do with it & I don't see why it should be brought up into this discussion in the first place.

Cheers! :beers:

cadaverdog
07-20-2014, 04:40 PM
MY POINT IS, if you want to legalize your exotic weeds, go ahead & do it.

But my booze has nothing to do with it & I don't see why it should be brought up into this discussion in the first place.


Booze is the Devil's work. Weed was a gift from God. Maybe the remark was made in response to a question about his opinion on the subject. Booze and pot are both mind altering substances yet one is legal almost everywhere and the other is illegal almost everywhere.

Anonymous
07-20-2014, 04:49 PM
Booze is the Devil's work. Weed was a gift from God. Maybe the remark was made in response to a question about his opinion on the subject. Booze and pot are both mind altering substances yet one is legal almost everywhere and the other is illegal almost everywhere.

Devil's work???

You may want to change your stance before I hop on a plane just to stick a whole crate of "devil's work" right up your ASS!

Booze is the only thing that kept the human race alive all this time! Without booze, everyone would've killed each other RIGHT AT THE BEGINNING!

But they sat down with a drink & talked it over.

Cheers! :beers:

cadaverdog
07-20-2014, 04:58 PM
Devil's work???

You may want to change your stance before I hop on a plane just to stick a whole crate of "devil's work" right up your ASS!


I'll send you a ticket as long as you don't mind flying on Malaysia Airlines. You can take the scenic route over the Ukraine.

Satan
07-20-2014, 06:47 PM
As much as I would like to take credit for the invention of alcohol, it's sadly not the case. After all, it was JC who turned water to wine, and there are a great many varieties of beer that were invented in monasteries.

Now granted, I did put the idea in some hillbillies heads to create moonshine, but I wouldn't dare try to make the shit myself down here in Hell. It's far too flammable! http://www.cosgan.de/images/smilie/teufel/d070.gif

Nickdfresh
07-20-2014, 07:02 PM
C'mon - the dude was old.

Yeah. 86 he can't complain. But he was great, well thought of and a great guy by all accounts. He was also a U.S. Army veteran from Korea. My mom had that exact Pontiac Firebird he drove in the Rockford Files. God that was a nice car, that was destroyed by my idiot brothers...

RIP James...

Nickdfresh
07-20-2014, 07:06 PM
MY POINT IS, if you want to legalize your exotic weeds, go ahead & do it.

But my booze has nothing to do with it & I don't see why it should be brought up into this discussion in the first place.

Cheers! :beers:

You and I can't stand each other, but I sort of agree with you on this point. But I think you're taking him too literally, I don't think he really wanted alcohol to be banned. He was just making a figurative point and one that isn't too far out there. How many deaths can be linked to alcohol abuse? Tens of thousands a year here and in Europe. However, you can't ban it, we tried and it was a dissmal failure...

Anonymous
07-20-2014, 07:35 PM
You and I can't stand each other, but I sort of agree with you on this point. But I think you're taking him too literally, I don't think he really wanted alcohol to be banned. He was just making a figurative point and one that isn't too far out there. How many deaths can be linked to alcohol abuse? Tens of thousands a year here and in Europe. However, you can't ban it, we tried and it was a dissmal failure...

I wouldn't say we can't stand each other... well, maybe you can't stand me, but that's probably because I like abusing your ridiculous sense of self-importance & tendency to take everything so seriously.

I know I was taking him too literally. And I went over the top on purpose. Because it was one of those things you probably heard about, a joke.

And now I had to explain it & it's not funny anymore. Gee, THANKS NICK!

Still, I suppose it's not your fault. I bet it's extremely hard to laugh with that stick wedged up so tightly up your ass.

Cheers! :beers:

Nickdfresh
07-20-2014, 07:54 PM
I wouldn't say we can't stand each other... well, maybe you can't stand me, but that's probably because I like abusing your ridiculous sense of self-importance & tendency to take everything so seriously.

I know I was taking him too literally. And I went over the top on purpose. Because it was one of those things you probably heard about, a joke.

And now I had to explain it & it's not funny anymore. Gee, THANKS NICK!

Still, I suppose it's not your fault. I bet it's extremely hard to laugh with that stick wedged up so tightly up your ass.

Cheers! :beers:

I rather enjoy that stick...

VetteLS5
07-20-2014, 09:17 PM
I was humming the theme song around the house today after I heard the news.

He was a smooth operator. Me thinks he got some prime LA tail in his time.

SunisinuS
07-20-2014, 10:01 PM
I think we are all so fucking self-important when you cannot just say....a life well lived as far as I know. Ok so he was old (is that a crime) or he was self-aware (slightly political) or do the living have to fucking really make fun of the dead constantly? It shows a fucking hypocritical and Hypercritical fact that anyone has to piss on a grave. Shows more about your own insecurities that making a "point" about another human beings existence seems to justify your own. It is just an exhibition, not a competition, and please: no wagering.

Boring.

Being a fucking piece of shit surely is reserved for the living. The dead are already decomposing and cannot create any more.

ELVIS
07-20-2014, 10:12 PM
I don't support the prohibition of either, and still use both, on occasion.



Yeah, and about a month ago you said you haven't touched it in something like 15 years...

Nice to know you can be trusted...

ELVIS
07-20-2014, 10:16 PM
Boring.

The dead are already decomposing and cannot create any more.

Dude, most of these clowns are nothing more than self propelled stomachs wandering around endlessly 'till they die...

They wouldn't know the first step towards creating something...

Don't even bother...


:elvis:

FORD
07-20-2014, 10:21 PM
Yeah, and about a month ago you said you haven't touched it in something like 15 years...

Nice to know you can be trusted...

And that was true, right up until yesterday. Had the annual Lamefair neighborhood BBQ going on. Neighbors had some, they asked if I wanted in, I said what the Hell?

Irony of it all is that even though it's technically legal here now, the only legal store currently opened in this county sold out their initial supply the first day. So it's not like I'm planning on making it a regular occurance. Only got a slight buzz off the stuff anyway. Don't think the THC level was all that high (pardon the pun) :littlebong:

ELVIS
07-20-2014, 10:23 PM
Get some hydro...

chefcraig
07-20-2014, 11:04 PM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pruex3pgX1g

chefcraig
07-20-2014, 11:16 PM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StcJVOIxLdo

ELVIS
07-20-2014, 11:26 PM
:biggrin:

FORD
07-21-2014, 12:33 AM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pruex3pgX1g

It really was a minor miracle that he managed to keep that old Firebird in one piece for the entire series, wasn't it? :biggrin:

FORD
07-21-2014, 12:48 AM
Let's not forget Angel Martin.... sleaziest sidekick in TV history.......


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNjv35DfSo4

wouldn't have been half as funny of a show without him though.

VetteLS5
07-22-2014, 02:38 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4EGXSuFuIw