Get Well Wishes For A TRUE American Idol

As must be well known by now, Jim Garner is recovering in the hospital, having had surgery following a minor stroke. By all accounts he is expected to make a full recovery, but the details haven't yet been made public.

I'm sure this self-effacing, very private man would prefer that none of this had been made public, but he's long since realized that it's the price of fame. And, despite his shyness, he does deeply appreciate - and has always been puzzled by - the actual love and real concern of his millions of loyal admirers.

I have been among that group since I was 13 and watched the premier of a new western series called Maverick in the fall of 1957. James Garner was my very first celeb crush. Actually, he's also my only celeb crush, because in all these years I've never seen anyone who impressed me quite like he always has.

What started out as a teen crush became something more over the years, as I learned about James Garner the person. He became a father figure to this only child of a man who had never wanted children and never attempted to hide his resentment at my unwanted presence in his life. James Garner came to fill that void for me. He was my male role model as I grew up.

I'd never want to embarrass this wonderful man who can't even understand why people think he is special, but, Jim, you are special. I admire you for so many things - I could never list them all.

But most of all, I admire you for being a real hero - without feet of clay - to a young girl who was badly in need of a hero in her life. You've never let me down in all these many years, and for that I could never thank you enough.

God bless and get well soon.

James Garner 'doing well' after stroke - CNN.com

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- James Garner, who was hospitalized late last week after suffering a minor stroke, is doing well and should be going home shortly, the veteran television and film star's publicist said Tuesday.

James Garner, shown in 2006, was an Oscar nominee for "Murphy's Romance" opposite Sally Field.

The star of such TV shows as "Maverick" and "The Rockford Files" went to the hospital after becoming ill at home Friday, said his publicist, Jennifer Allen.

"He's still in the hospital, but my understanding is he is doing well and will be going home soon. When, exactly, we have not been told yet," Allen said.

Garner, who turned 80 last month, rose to prominence in the 1950s as the star of "Maverick," playing a wry riverboat gambler who was quicker with a quip than a gun and, unlike his Western counterparts, was faster still to run from trouble than to face it. The show aired from 1957 to 1962, but Garner, who was nominated for an Emmy as Bret Maverick, left in 1960 to pursue a film career.

He has appeared in such films as "The Children's Hour," "Victor/Victoria" and "The Great Escape" and was nominated for an Oscar in 1985 as the small-town pharmacist opposite Sally Field in "Murphy's Romance."

Garner returned to television full-time in the mid-1970s playing Jim Rockford, a modern-day private detective who, like his "Maverick" character, also was not afraid to run instead of fight. He won an Emmy for the role in 1977.

Garner also reprised his Maverick role in the short-lived "Bret Maverick" series in the 1980s.

More recently, he played Katey Sagal's father in the sitcom "8 Simple Rules ... for Dating My Teenage Daughter." Garner joined the cast in 2003 after John Ritter, who played Sagal's husband, died during the show's second season.

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Claretta Mariana

An extra in the telefilm "Promise"

clipped from www.oregonlive.com One of Claretta's claims to fame was making "Promise" with James Garner and James Woods, playing James Garner's mom's best friend. She was proud to be in a movie with Garner; what a nice man he was, she said. "I was only an extra," she said. "I just walked across a room carrying a plate of food."

Grand Prix gave him an appetite for speed

The North Bay Nugget - Ontario, CA

Posted By malcolm gunn

Posted 1 day ago

The opening scene of the 1966 flick Grand Prix featured actor James Garner in one of the most memorable movie moments of all time.

The green flag drops amid a deafening roar of Formula One machinery. A blur of drivers in their tube-shaped metal envelopes begin their full-scale assault on the streets of Monte Carlo. Split-screen images projected onto the oversized curved Cinerama screen provides an
all-too-real sense of riding along with the drivers as they frantically jockey for position. Suddenly, in a split-second, two cars collide and you're watching, wide-eyed, as one car violently catapults off course - straight into Monaco's yacht-filled harbour. Fortunately, the hero Pete
Aron, played in his usual easy-going style by James Garner, escapes his metal coffin, gasping for air as a trio of scuba divers swims to his aid.

Pure Hollywood fantasy? Well, not exactly. What Grand Prix director John Frankenheimer chose for his movie's opening sequence happened to real-life driver Alberto Ascari at that very spot 11 years earlier while he was leading the event.

For Garner, working on Grand Prix became an example of life imitating art. As a result of the movie he would become hooked on racing and remain actively involved in the sport for many years after this ground-breaking movie was in the can.

Garner's interest in fast cars goes back to his pre-acting days. Born James Scott Bumgarner in 1928, the Norman, Okla., native was driving hot rods around town as a teenager. But this carpet layer's son couldn't afford his own wheels, so he was usually piloting one of his
buddies' modified jalopies.

Following minor stage and small-screen roles, Garner's first of many breaks came in 1957 when he starred in the TV western series, Maverick. After four successful years, he moved to the big screen, where he played the leading man in a number of fluffy romantic comedies
before landing a major role in The Great Escape. This real-life movie vaulted the suave and debonair Garner into bona fide superstar status.

Grand Prix director Frankenheimer actually wanted Steve McQueen for lead roll as Pete Aron, but the deal fell through after a rocky interview that Frankenheimer was unable to attend.

Garner, who badly wanted the part, was picked.

Before shooting began, Garner took lessons from Bob Bondurant, a successful Grand Prix and sports car driver who would eventually begin his own high-performance driving school. Garner followed that with a session at the Jim Russell Driving School in England where he was
joined by some of the other principal actors. The Russell experience taught him plenty, including the fact that the lanky six-foot-three actor was too big to comfortably fit inside the cockpit of a Grand Prix race car. Garner immediately went on a diet, managing to lose nearly 10 kilograms. Even then, he had to drive with the seat removed from the car so his head would be lower than the roll bar.

Frankenheimer's $8-million epic began shooting in late May 1966. The director employed many well-known Formula One stars as background actors, including Graham Hill, Dan Gurney, Jochen Rindt, Chris Amon and Bruce McLaren.

Some of these drivers were also hired to drive camera vehicles that would chase the mostly fake Grand Prix race cars specially constructed by Jim Russell for the movie.

During production, Garner's skill behind the wheel impressed many of the racers involved in the project. Grand Prix opened in late 1966 to rave reviews. Not only was the film exciting to watch on the giant screen, its special effects and camera techniques created specifically for the movie were technical breakthroughs that are still in use today.

Article ID# 977843

New Movie For James Garner

James Garner is making a new movie with old pal Lou Gossett Jr.

clipped from www.nationalledger.com BACK TOGETHER AGAIN: Oscar-winning actor Lou Gossett Jr. reports that "Capture the Flag," the indie film he's currently shooting, is a reunion for him and veteran actor James Garner, who holds a special place in his heart. "James put me on the map in the '70s film called 'Skin Game,'" recalls Gossett of the 1971 film about two con artists in the post-Civil War south. "Capture the Flag," says Gossett, "is about these kids between 10 and 12 in a military academy. I play one caretaker of the school from the Navy, and Garner plays the other caretaker, who's from the Army. We're retired, and our competition is supposed to be peaceful, but it's our last hurrah. It's all very tongue-in-cheek."