He's been called our finest television actor; he's been compared more than once to Cary Grant, but also deemed "dependably folksy." He patented the persona of the reluctant hero as his own early in his career, but also exhibited an understated flair for drama that has only deepened with age. He was a TV star, a movie star, and was never, ever married to Mariette Hartley.
Sure, he was Maverick, and the Man of the People... and of course he was Jim-Fuckin'-Rockford... but in the late-70's? James Garner was my hero.
In The Great Escape, Grand Prix and The Rockford Files, he showed me there are all sorts of heroes... and they don't all wear cool -if ill-advised- capes. Some of 'em are caustic, and cautious, and would do anything to avoid a fight... some of them are Raymond Chandler characters, I guess is what I learned... but I learned that from James -"You can never wear your pants too high"- Garner, not some pasty-faced grade school teacher, tell you what.
See, he really is a man of the people. He's that everyguy we all hope to be (guys, anyway... I can only speak for my gender, and then only when we're not talking about baseball or strip clubs. I just can't figure that crap out): smart, resourceful, and always there when you need him. He may not be able to fly, but if it'll get some thug to drop the gun and let her go? You better believe he'll convince anyone within earshot that not only can he fly, but that it bores him.
I know, I know... you have to separate the artist from the art. But come on... the art didn't fall all that far from the tree here, kids. I mean, just look at him: like many of Hollywood's greatest actors, he tends to play an extension of himself... like, oh... Jimmy Stewart, Spencer Tracy, Cary Grant, and his mentor, Henry Fonda. Like them, we love him because of his ability to exploit his own personality in creating a part.
Jean Vallely once did an article on him for Esquire. He wrote that other "great" actors can't really touch James Garner. He said that Robert DeNiro, for instance, is probably unsuited to television stardom... honestly, do you want that guy in your living room? "On the other hand," Vallely wrote, "you love having Garner around. He becomes part of the fabric of the family. You really care about him." Where Bobby DeNiro impresses us with his skill, James Garner welcomes us with his humanity.
Someone once asked him how he wanted to be remembered. He cooly replied, "With a smile." Well, like a fistfight every episode, or a short con no one sees coming, I think it's safe to say he can count on that.
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