JAMES GARNER BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:

James Garner was born April 7th, 1928 in Norman, Oklahoma with the birth name James Scott Baumgarner.  His father was a carpet layer and Garner attended Hollywood high school.  It is said, James was the first draftee from the State of Oklahoma during the Korean War.  He joined the army and merchant marines briefly and won two purple hearts while fighting in Korea.  Garner started out working various jobs from gas station attendant to working as a model before turning to acting as a career.  
 
He began with stage work in the Broadway play The, "Caine Mutiny Court Martial" (1954) with a non speaking role.  It was working on this performance that give him a great introduction to the world of acting.  He was able to run lines with some well known actors such as, Lloyd Nolan, Henry Fonda and John Hodiak. 
 
After working briefly on stage, Garner proceeded to get some more acting experience doing commercials and was then signed to contract with Warner Bothers in 1956.  His first film was a credited role, but a very small part in, "The Girl He Left Behind" (1956).  Garner's first major screen credit was in, "Shoot-Out a Medicine Bend" (1957) followed by being cast in another Warner Brothers Television film, "Maverick".  He was content with his role on this series, but by season three he began to voice his opinion about his low salary and lack of good treatment.   The studio refused to make any changes so Garner walked out.  There was a lawsuit involved but the final outcome was just relieving Garner of his contract.
 
Garner became involved in mostly free lance projects for a while such as, "Boys Night Out" (1962), "The Great Escape" (1963), "The Thrill of it All" (1963), "Move Over Darling" (1963), "Americanization of Emily" (1964) and "Grand Prix" (1966).  He was becoming slightly worn out always portraying the cowboy western character and it was taking a toll on him physically as well so he then returned to television work with the series, "Nichols" (1971) where he played a more peaceful western character.  However, the public did not take too much interest in his role and therefore he was killed off the series. 
 
Determined to shed his Maverick persona, he finally got a role with a long running television series, "The Rockford Files" (1974-1978), for which he was nominated for the Outstanding Lead Actor Emmy in 1976 and won in 1977.  Rockford resulted in even more injuries for the increasingly battered actor, and soon he was showing up on TV talk shows telling the world about the many physical activities which he could no longer perform.
 
His later roles he portrayed in TV and film had more of a dark edge to them.  He received an Oscar nomination for his role on, "Murphy's Romance" (1985) and had roles on the television movies, "Promise" (1986) and "My Name is Bill W." (1989).  
 
Garner continued to work into the 90's playing Zane Cooper in the modern day film version of, "Maverick", which starred Mel Gibson in the title role.  He also worked on other films such as on the made for TV thriller, "Dead Silence" (1997), "Space Cowboys" (2000)," Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood" (2002), "The Notebook" (2004) and he even provided the voice over for the animated feature, "Atlantis: The Lost Empire" (2001).   
 
Garner was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 1986 and the Western Heritage Museum in 1990.  He married Lois Clarke August 17th 1956 to present and together they have two children.  He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.  Garner is very involved in humanitarian causes and is a volunteer of Save The Children.

Filmography

2005   Dust to Glory 
2004   The Notebook 
2002   Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood 
2002   One Special Night 
2001   Atlantis: the Lost Empire 
2000   Space Cowboys 
1998   Twilight 
1996   My Fellow Americans 
1994   Breathing Lessons 
1994   Maverick 
1993   Fire in the Sky 
1992   Barbarians at the Gate 
1992   The Distinguished Gentleman 
1990   Decoration Day 
1989   My Name Is Bill W. 
1988   Sunset 
1985   Murphy's Romance 
1984   Tank 
1982   Victor/Victoria 
1981   The Fan 
1974   The Castaway Cowboy 
1973   One Little Indian 
1972   They Only Kill Their Masters 
1971   Skin Game 
1971   Support Your Local Gunfighter 
1971   A Man Called Sledge 
1969   Marlowe 
1969   Support Your Local Sheriff 
1968   How Sweet It Is 
1968   The Pink Jungle 
1967   Hour of the Gun 
1966   Duel at Diablo 
1966   Grand Prix 
1964   36 Hours 
1964   The Americanization of Emily 
1963   The Great Escape 
1963   The Thrill of It All 
1963   The Wheeler Dealers 
1962   Boys' Night Out 
1962   The Children's Hour 
1959   Cash McCall 
1959   Up Periscope
1957   Shoot Out at Medicine Bend 
1957   Darby's Rangers
1957   Sayonara 
1956   Towards the Unknown
1956   The Girl He Left Behind