James Garner James Garner James Garner (born James Scott Bumgarner; April 7, 1928 – July 19, 2014) was an American actor, producer, and voice artist. He starred in several television series over more than five decades, including such popular roles as Bret Maverick in the 1950s western series "Maverick" and Jim Rockford in "The Rockford Files", and 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), "Grand Prix" (1966), Blake Edwards' "Victor/Victoria" (1982), "Murphy's Romance" (1985), for which he received an Academy Award nomination, "Space Cowboys" (2000)
Rockford Morning Star Building Express" and the "Rockford Star", both first published in 1840. Both papers lasted only a year. The "Winnebago Forum", renamed "The Republican" in 1845, was the first city paper to have a lengthy publishing period (1842-1862). The "Rockford Morning Star" first published in 1888. It merged with the "Rockford Daily Register-Gazette" in 1928. Ruth Hanna McCormick Simms purchased the paper two years later, and again split the two papers, publishing the "Morning Star" as a morning daily. The paper was purchased by the Gannett Company in 1967, who merged the last two remaining Rockford papers in 1979 to create the