James Garner
 

One of the last of the good guys. RIP

And he was from Oklahoma and an OU grad.

One of my all time favorites. He didn't seem to be like the typical Hollywood flaming liberal sleazoids either.

James Garner - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It appears that garner didn't even graduate from high school due to a tough upbringing. He was a Sooner supporter, but apparently not a graduate, but in only perused the wiki quickly so I might be wrong.

Only two marriages. That makes him extremely stable by Hollywood measure. A combat soldier, earning a Purple Heart in Korea.

RIP James Garner. One of the good guys.

He was awarded a Degree as an honor by the school due to his strong support over the years. Around here that makes him a grad.

He was also a very strong Democrat and from what I heard once had a script rewritten to change his character from a Republican to a Democrat. What that had to do with the story I can't say because I cannot see how something like that would move the plot, but it seemed important to him. I guess he would feel more natural playing what he really was and apparently it did not distract from the story.

Folks have told me that he was a lot like Ben Johnson. What you saw on the screen was what he was like in person. Honest, witty..... Sort of like a laid back John Wayne.

(Ben Johnson was also from Oklahoma.)

Two things people in show biz say about Garner that you don't hear about a lot of actors....

"I enjoy working with him."

"He never lets the studios push him around."

Those two things alone made him stand out from the crowd.

Ben Johnson once said something like "they're right when they say I can't act, but nobody else can play Ben Johnson."

Ben Johnson went to Hollywood taking care of a load of horses, then stayed on as a wrangler. He took a leave of absence for a rodeo season and won a world championship. Another one of the good guys.

The seventies were a long time ago.

I still watch his old Rockford reruns sometimes. Without Rockford there never could have been a Magnum PI.

I never thought about that before. You're absolutely right!

. . . And Magnum P.I. was great because . . . :D

I think maybe it was mustache envy. I could never pull off that look.

Wow!!! When you go out for breakfast, do you tell the waitstaff to make sure no liberals touch your toast?

James Garner was a great racer also (if I remember correctly mostly off road). Mr. Garner lived north of Santa Barbara for a number of years with his family and I had a chance to see him from afar in the little town of Buellton located on Highway 101.

WTB Rockford files box set (in PAL)