Extremely sad news about American actor James Garner who on Sunday July 19th 2014, passed away at the age of 86.

Actually, when you think about it he had a good innings but as with most big movie and TV stars you tend to remember them as they were. For me James Garner will always be Jim Rockford. In the TV series The Rockford Files Garner starred as a Private Investigator who had spent time behind bars after being wrongfully accused of a crime.

The series ran from 1974 to 1980 and the show’s creators Roy Huggins and Stephen J. Cannell had previously worked with Garner in a popular TV Western series called Maverick (1957-1962) where the actor played a sharp dressed gambler called Bret Maverick who with his two brothers helped people who were taken advantage of. The brothers were later joined by an English cousin called Beau Maverick played by our very own 007 Roger Moore.

Huggins and Cannell wanted to update the Maverick idea using similar humour and came up with The Rockford Files which differed from the usual detective, P.I. series with the good guys brandishing guns which were all doing the rounds at the time. Rockford would use his charm and wit to out think the bad guys with the help of his Dad “Rocky” (Noah Beery Jr.), an unwitting ex-con “Angel” (Stuart Margolin) and LA Cop "Dennis Becker" (Joe Santos). I can hear you humming the Minimoog synthesizer theme tune now.

Wandsworth Times:

The Rockford Files

James Garner was born in Oklahoma, and was drafted in 1950 to fight in the Korean War where he was awarded the Purple Heart after being wounded in action. After leaving the Army he was spotted by a talent scout and despite his lack of acting experience he turned out to be a natural and the rest is history.

After his TV success he made four movies in 1963. One was Move Over Darling a rom com with Doris Day which showed his timing for comedy and another movie called The Great Escape in which he played Hendley the Scrounger and the film had a cast mostly consisting of a who’s who of British talent such as Richard Attenborough, David McCallum and Gordon Jackson to name a few. There were also a few other relatively new American actors featured such as Steve McQueen (Hilts the cooler king) and James Coburn (Sedgwick the Manufacturer). This film projected Garner into the spotlight and he went on to make a number of movies including Grand Prix (1966), Dual at Diablo (1966) with Sidney Poitier, Hour of the Gun (1967) as Wyatt Earp, Marlowe (1969) as Raymond Chandler’s private eye Philip Marlowe, Western comedies Support Your Local Sheriff (1969) and Skin Game (1971). He was nominated for an Oscar for Murphy’s Romance (1986) with Sally Field and in 2000 he joined other Hollywood legends Tommy Lee Jones, Clint Eastwood and Donald Sutherland for Space Cowboys.

Wandsworth Times:

Garner might be more familiar to a new younger audience from his appearance as the Granddad Jim Egan in the American hit TV comedy 8 Simple Rules. The series continued with Garner and David Spade as C.J. from 2003 to 2005 following the premature death of John Ritter who played the Dad Paul Hennessy.

James Garner was presented with a lifetime achievement award by the Screen Actors Guild in 2005. He is survived by his wife and actress Lois Clarke, daughter Greta “Gigi” Garner; and an adopted daughter, Kimberly, from Clarke’s first marriage.

A sad loss, rest in peace Jim.

I leave you on a happier note with the Rockford Files theme tune...