The movie and television star has passed away at age 86. https://twitter.com/breakingnews/status/490805555729276928
Maverick and The Rocksford Files were both pretty big when I was a kid (although I think Maverick was mostly repeats then). I always liked James Garner, RIP.
Great actor. Always liked him. That one movie where he turned out to be the bad guy was weird to me, because I always saw him as the good guy...
R.I.P, love the movie Marlowe <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/9y2RjU19Ulk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Welp... Sad day. As crash5179 said, the Rockford files were a big part of childhood in the 1970's for sure. I can say though, that after looking for some nice clips to post... the show hasn't aged that well. Garner aged much better I think. RIP.
I always liked him. He seemed like a cool guy. I remember an interview with him where he was talking about being older, and was asked if he ever lied about his age or worked on being younger. His answer was something along the lines that he didn't do that and why would he? The whole point of life was to be able to live to be old, so being old was successful. RIP
I know I've said lately that Breaking Bad is the best show of all time- and it may very well be- but The Rockford Files is and always will be my #1 show of all time. Within a genre that is often plagued by cliched writing and acting, The Rockford Files was truly innovative in the private detective arena. Rockford got beat up more than he dished it out, he insisted on getting paid prior to work ("$200 a day, plus expenses"), and he was reasonably clever without becoming a parody. The main writer, Stephen Cannell, went on to launch 21 Jump Street and a number of other shows. The other writer, David Chase, created The Sopranos (a Rockford Files character, Anthony Boy, was the model for Tony Sopranos- the actor, George Loros, was actually in The Sopranos). All that being said, what made that show work, in addition to some of the best supporting actors like Stuart Margolin, Noah Beery Jr and Joe Santos, was James Garner. He was in almost every scene of every show. He was a smartass, empathetic soul, tough guy, intellectual, and rebel- sometimes all in the same episode. Like Cannell and Chase said, he would find the nuances of what they wrote and nail it-over and over and over again. Not to mention all the other great work he's done, but The Rockford Files holds a special place for me. It was my favorite show as a kid (for totally different reasons- I wanted his car and his women- particularly Lindsay Wagner who guest-starred twice), my favorite as a young adult, and still #1 today. It is the only fan board I belong to for a TV show and the first show for which I bought every season, including the somewhat not-as-good TV movies in the 90s. RIP, Mr. Garner.
got through college on Rockford Files (and reruns of Hogan's Heros) <iframe width="853" height="480" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/yg1Cx26-928" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> also, remember the polaroid commercials w/ Mariette Hartley? <iframe width="640" height="480" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/MA8f2L-FCmE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
All I can say after this is....****ing ditto man. I grew up watching Rockford do his thing, he always got the hot chick and had a cool car. I know most of the guys I knew wanted to be Jim Rockford when they grew up. Not even getting into the many great movies he was in. RIP James Garner, thanks for the many hours of entertainment. BTW....the complete 6 seasons of Rockford Files are on Netflix streaming, I just fired it up yesterday with the two part pilot with Lindsey Wagner.
