James Garner was born James Scott Bumgarner on April 7, 1928, in Norman, Oklahoma.  Garner and his two brothers grew up with an abusive stepmother. Some of the abuse included having Garner wear a dress in public. Eventually Garner’s father left his wife and moved to Los Angeles.  At the age of 17 Garner, joined his dad in Los Angeles and attended Hollywood High School. He got a job modeling bathing suits, which paid $25 an hour, but he hated it and returned to Norman where he finished high school. After that, he joined the National Guard and served 14 months in Korea. During his time in Korea Garner was wounded twice. He received the Purple Heart for both injuries.

In 1954, Paul Gregory, whom Garner had met while attending Hollywood High School, persuaded Garner to take a role in  The Caine Mutiny Court Martial, on Broadway.

Garner then started doing TV commercials and small roles on TV and in film.

After forty supporting feature film roles Garner finally landed the lead in the TV western Maverick. The show premiered in 1957. Garner left the show in 1960, but, this was only the beginning of Garner’s fame. He took lead roles in many films such as, Darby’s Rangers, Up Periscope and Cash McCall.

By the 1960s, Garner was a regular on the silver screen. He starred in The Thrill of it All, Move Over, Darling, The Great Escape and Grand Prix. In 1971, James Garner returned to television for the short-lived drama Nichols.

In 1974, James Garner took the role of Jim Rockford on The Rockford Files and appeared on the show for six seasons. In 1977, he received an Emmy for Best Actor for the role. During the later years on The Rockford Files, Garner started having health problems. He refused to let others do his stunts even though he had knee problems.

In 1982, James Garner revisited his role as Bret Maverick for an NBC remake of the original. In this version, James played a 53 year old Bret but NBC canceled the show after one season. In the 1980s Garner did a run of TV movies including Promise and Heartsounds.

In 1988, Garner underwent quintuple bypass surgery. The following year, he reprised his role as Jim Rockford in eight The Rockford Files made-for-TV movies. In 1991, Garner took the lead role in the TV series,  Man of the People. The show was canceled after 10 episodes.

In 1994, Garner played Marshal Zane Cooper in a movie version of Maverick along side Mel Gibson and a year later he played Woodrow Call in the TV miniseries entitled Streets of Laredo. In 2000, Garner had an operation to replace both knees. After the death of John Ritter, Garner joined the cast of 8 Simple Rules playing the children’s grandfather.

James Garner has contributed to, and starred in, so many films and TV shows, we cannot list them all. On April 21, 2006, a 10 foot bronze statue of James Garner was erected in Norman, Oklahoma.