8 Marvelous Facts About ‘Maverick’ Star James Garner
If James Garner were still alive, he’d be closing in on centenarian status: The actor was born James Scott Bumgarner on April 7, 1928. After a series of odd jobs — telephone installer, oil field worker, chauffeur, dishwasher, janitor, lifeguard, grocery clerk, salesperson, gas station attendant, and carpet layer — Garner found his calling and got into showbiz. His leading-man good looks and charm earned him starring roles in the 1950s Western TV series Maverick and the 1970s detective series The Rockford Files, among many other screen credits.
Garner died in 2014 at age 86, but not before endearing himself to a new generation of fans as the older version of Ryan Gosling’s character in the 2004 romance film The Notebook, a performance that earned him a SAG Award nomination. But those are just the headlines from Garner’s career — read on for more things you didn’t know about one of TV’s favorite heroes.
1 James Garner once modeled swimsuits — and hated it
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During his years as a student at Hollywood High School, Garner modeled Jantzen swimsuits for print advertisements. He pursued the work after realizing that he could make more money modeling than the teachers did teaching, he recalled in a 1999 Television Academy Foundation interview.
But even though that sounds like a perfect gig, it wasn’t for Garner. “I hate modeling,” Garner added. “I hate that ‘Look charming, smile, be sad.’ I don’t like that. You have to push buttons. I just like to be the way you are.”
2 He had a sense of humor about getting shot in the butt
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Garner was wounded twice during the Korean War: He took shrapnel to the face and, to his embarrassment, a bullet to the butt.
“I was hit in the backside going into a foxhole a little late,” Garner said in 1983, when the U.S. Army awarded him two Purple Heart medals, per UPI. “I was going south, and the North Koreans were right behind me. Unfortunately, there was a lot of room involving my rear end. How could they miss?”
3 He married his wife Lois after two weeks
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Garner tied the knot with Lois Clarke in 1956 and remained married to her until his death, despite the occasional separation. The future spouses met in the run-up to a party supporting then-presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson.
“I just flipped out over this girl. She was gorgeous,” Garner said in his Television Academy Foundation interview. “So, the night of the party, I went alone, and she had gone alone, and I asked her to go to dinner. And we went to dinner that night. We went out every night for two weeks and got married.”
4 He had a third-row seat to Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech
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In a 2013 essay, U.S. News & World Report editor-in-chief Mortimer B. Zuckerman recalled seeing Garner, Burt Lancaster, Harry Belafonte, Charlton Heston, Marlon Brando, Diahann Carroll, Sammy Davis Jr., and other stars headed to the podium ahead of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech at the 1963 March on Washington. According to Vanity Fair, Garner was seated in the third row during that memorable moment in American history.
5 His repartee with Mariette Hartley convinced some viewers they were married
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Between 1978 and 1985, Garner appeared in 250 commercials for Polaroid with actor Mariette Hartley, according to the Chicago Tribune. And their performance as a bickering couple in the commercials had some viewers believing they were a real-life couple — so much so that Hartley began wearing T-shirts saying Garner was not her husband, according to People.
6 He is Sally Field’s pick for best screen kiss
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Not only did Garner get an Oscar nomination for the 1985 rom-com film Murphy’s Romance, he also won over costar Sally Field with his kissing skills. In a 2016 appearance on Watch What Happens Live, Field selected Garner as her best screen kiss. “Best without a doubt is James Garner,” she said, per Superfan. “I mean, he gets it.”
7 He was an outspoken marijuana fan
In his memoir, The Garner Files, Garner said he didn’t care for alcohol but loved marijuana. “I started smoking it in my late teens,” he wrote, per the Daily Express. “It had the opposite effect from alcohol: it made me more tolerant and forgiving. … I smoked marijuana for 50 years and I don’t know where I’d be without it. It opened my mind, and now it eases my arthritis. After decades of research, I’ve concluded that marijuana should be legal and alcohol illegal.”
8 He’s immortalized with a statue in his hometown of Norman, Oklahoma
On the corner of Main Street and Jones Avenue in Norman, Oklahoma — the city where Garner grew up — is a 9-foot-bronze statue depicting Garner as Bret Maverick.
Sculptor Shan Gray crafted the statue, using a DVD of Maverick episodes as inspiration. “After watching the DVD about 20 times, my wife and daughter were ready to throw me out the door,” Gray told The Norman Transcript in 2005.
The city of Norman also honored the actor with the official opening of James Garner Avenue in 2024, as the Transcript reported.
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