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)
The Rockford Files Cannell, who had written for Jack Webb productions such as "Adam-12" and "Chase" (1973–1974, NBC), to create "The Rockford Files". The show was credited as "A Public Arts/Roy Huggins Production" along with Cherokee Productions in association with Universal Television. Cherokee was owned by Garner, with partners Meta Rosenberg and Juanita Bartlett, who doubled as story editor during most of "The Rockford Files" run. In 2002, "The Rockford Files" was ranked No. 39 on "TV Guide"s 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time. Producers Roy Huggins and Stephen J. Cannell devised the Rockford character as a rather significant departure from typical