Born 1928 as James Scott Bumgarner in Denver, Oklahoma, American actor James Garner starred in several television series over more than five decades, including popular roles such as Bret Maverick in the 1950s Western series Maverick and as Jim Rockford in the 1970s private detective show, The Rockford Files.
Garner played leading roles in more than 50 theatrical films, including The Great Escape (1963) with Steve McQueen, Paddy Chayefsky’s The Americanization of Emily (1964) with Julie Andrews, Grand Prix (1966) with Toshiro Mifune, Marlowe (1969) with Bruce Lee, Support Your Local Sheriff! (1969), Support Your Local Gunfighter (1971), The Castaway Cowboy (1974), and Blake Edwards’s Victor/Victoria (1982) with Julie Andrews, and Murphy’s Romance (1985) with Sally Field, for which he received an Academy Award nomination.
Garner’s career and popularity continued through another decade in movies like Space Cowboys (2000) with Clint Eastwood, Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) with Michael J. Fox and The Notebook (2004) with Gena Rowlands. and his TV sitcom role as Jim Egan in 8 Simple Rules (2003–2005).
Garner died in 2014 at the age of 86. These vintage photos captured portrait of a young and handsome James Garner in the 1940s and ’50s.
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