James Garner

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James Garner (born James Scott Bumgarner, 1928–2014) was an American actor, producer, and voice actor.

He appeared in several television shows over the past five decades, including popular characters like Bret Maverick in the 1950s western series Maverick and Jim Rockford in the 1970s private detective series The Rockford Files.

He appeared in more than 50 theatre films, including The Great Escape (1963) with Steve McQueen, Paddy Chayefsky's The Americanization of Emily (1964), and Murphy's Romance (1985) with Sally Field for which he was given an Academy Award nomination.

Garner's career and success continued into another decade in films including Space Cowboys (2000) with Clint Eastwood and The Notebook (2004).

Early life

James Scott Bumgarner was born in Denver, Oklahoma, in 1928 (now under Lake Thunderbird near Norman). His parents, Weldon Warren Bumgarner, a widower, and Mildred Scott (Meek), who died five years after his birth, were German Americans. His mother was half Cherokee. Jack Garner, also an actor, and Charles Bumgarner, a school administrator, were among his older brothers. His family was Methodist. Garner and his brothers were sent to live with relatives after their mother's death. When Weldon remarried, Garner was reunited with his family in 1934.

Many times Garner's father died. Garner had a turbulent relationship with Wilma, one of his stepmothers, who beat all three boys. His stepfather, he said, punished him even more by insisting him to wear a dress in public, according to him. He fought with her when she was 14 years old, crashing her down and choking her to prevent her from retaliating against him physically. She left the family and never returned to the house. "She was a damn no-good woman," Jack later said. Grace, Garner's last stepmother, loved and called "Mama Grace" and said she was more of a mother to him than anyone else.

Garner and his brothers were in Norman shortly after Garner's father's marriage to Wilma ended. Garner, who had worked in various occupations he disliked, joined the United States Merchant Marine at age 16 near the end of World War II. He loved the work and his shipmates, but he was plagued by chronic seasickness.

Garner met his father in Los Angeles and was enrolled at Hollywood High School, where he was named the most popular student after World War II. He was recommended by a high school gym instructor for a job that mimics Jantzen bathing suits. In his first interview with the Archives of American Television, he said he disliked modeling, but it cost a lot ($25 an hour). He resigned and returned to Norman shortly.

At Norman High School, he played football and basketball and was a member of the track and golf teams. However, he dropped out in his senior year. "I was a bad student, and I never graduated from high school," he said in a 1976 Good Housekeeping magazine interview, "but I did earn my diploma in the Army."

Garner was enlisted in the California Army National Guard and spent his first 7 months in California. Then served in Korea for 14 months as a rifleman in the 5th Regimental Combat Team, then a member of the 24th Infantry Division, after the Korean War. As he dove into a foxhole, he was wounded twice: first in the face and hand by shrapnel from a mortar round, and second in the buttocks from friendly fire from US fighter jets.

Garner was awarded the Purple Heart in Korea for his first wound. He was eligible for his second Purple Heart (eligibility check) but the incident occurred 32 years ago, but he didn't get it until 1983.

Personal life

Garner was married to Lois Josephine Fleischman Clarke, whom he met at a party in 1956. On August 17, 1956, they married 14 days later. "We went to dinner every night for 14 nights." I was just totally nuts about her. I spent $77 on our honeymoon, and it just broke me." "Marriage is like the Army," Garner says, although many people object, "you'd be shocked at the number of people who re-enlist." His wife was a Judaism devotee.

Kimberly, her daughter Kim from a previous marriage, was seven years old and suffering from polio when Garner and Clarke married. Lois, Greta "Gigi" Garner, Garner's daughter, was born on January 4, 1958, and was his only child. Gigi was born in Paris, songwriter, philanthropist, and painter. Gigi's age was given as 18 in an interview with Garner, his wife, and two daughters, who were published in March 1976. Kim's age was 27.

Garner and his partner Lois remained married until Garner's death in 2014. They had two divorces, the first for three months in 1970, and nine years later they were divorced for the first time, reuniting in September 1981. During this second period of separation, Garner said he divided his time between Canada and "a rented house in the Valley." Garner said that the separations were triggered by his acting career's work, not due to marital reasons. In the case of The Rockford Files, he was in virtually every scene, in constant pain due to his arthritic knees, and the studio was under intense strain. He said he felt fine when he left the show in 1979 that he simply needed to spend time alone to recover from the tension. Garner's death in 2014 was less than a month before their 58th wedding anniversary. He died seven years later, on October 30, 2021.

During the shooting of The Rockford Files in the 1970s, Garner's knees became a regular problem, with "six or seven knee surgeries during that time." He underwent knee replacement surgery in 2000 for both knees.

Garner underwent quintuple bypass heart surgery on April 22, 1988. Despite being able to recover quickly, he was told not to smoke. Garner quit smoking 17 years ago.

Following a serious stroke two days earlier, Garner underwent surgery on May 11, 2008. His prognosis was reported to be "very hopeful."

Garner had an interest in auto racing since his youth, but his enthusiasm was heightened during Grand Prix filming. The project's producer, John Frankenheimer, was determined to make the film as realistic as possible. He was trying to figure out which actor he should concentrate on for high-speed takes. Bob Bondurant, a Formula One racer who was working as a technical advisor for the film, was at his disposal. The first step was to put the actors in a two-seater version of a Formula 1 car to see how they would cope with the high speeds. All the actors were afraid over 240 kph, except Garner, who returned to the pit joking like a mad boy, and Bondurant said they were terrified over 240 kph. "This is your man," Bondurant said. All the actors were cast in a race driver education scheme from here on out, except for Garner, whom Bonderant was encouraged to work up personally. Garner was an excellent student, a hard worker, and a natural performer. Bondurant characterized Garner as being 'light years' ahead of the other actors in the film. By the time Bonderant's film ended, Garner might qualify for a Formula One team and outperform some of the current drivers.

Garner has taken part in auto racing following the conclusion of Grand Prix. Garner was a member of the "American International Racers" (AIR) auto racing team from 1967 to 1969. William Edgar and Hollywood director Andy Sidaris were teaming up with Garner for the racing documentary The Racing Scene, which was shot in 1969 and released in 1970. At Le Mans, Daytona, and Sebring endurance races, the team competed, but Garner's celebrity earned much attention in early off-road motor sports events. He was one of the first inductees in the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1978.

Garner has joined American Motors Corporation (AMC) for three years. ten 1969 SC/Ramblers were supplied by his stores for the Baja 500 race. Garner did not attend this year because of a film commitment in Spain. Nonetheless, seven of his cars finished the brutal run, winning three of the top five positions in the sedan class. Garner competed in the Indianapolis 500 race in 1975, 1977, and 1985 (see: a list of Indianapolis 500 pace cars).

Garner announced plans to partner Larry Cahill to create a racing team for the 1988 Indycar season. The intention was to base the team in Cedar Rapids, Ia., where Cahill's company was located. The estimated budget was $3.5 million. The schemes never came to fruition. Cahill will eventually form his own squad to compete in the Indy Racing League.

Garner was an avid golfer for many years. He and his brother, Jack, played golf in high school. After a brief stint in the Pittsburgh Pirates' baseball farm system, Jack attempted to play professionally golf. Garner took it up again in the late 1950s to see if he could beat Jack. For years, he was a regular at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am. He received the Most Valuable Amateur Trophy at the AT&T Golf Tournament in February 1990. Garner appeared on Sam Snead's Celebrity Golf TV series, which aired from 1960 to 1963. These were nine-hole charity tournaments pitting Snead against Hollywood celebrities.

Garner was praised as a devoted follower of the Raiders in the NFL; he attended games and mixed with the players. He was also present when the Oakland Redskins defeated Super Bowl XVIII over the Washington Redskins in January 1984 in Tampa, Florida.

Garner, a University of Oklahoma supporter, was often returning to Norman for school functions. He appeared on the sidelines or in the press box during Oklahoma Sooners football games. In 1995, Garner was awarded an honorary Doctor of Human Letters degree from the University of On the University.

He promised $500,000, half of a pledged $1 million for the first endowed position at the drama school in 2003.

Garner was a vocal Democratic Party backer. Garner's contributions ranged from 1982 to federal, of which over $24,000 was to Democratic Party candidates, including Dennis Kucinich (for Congress in 2002), Dick Gephardt, John Kerry, Barbara Boxer, and several Democratic committees and organizations.

Garner was one of many celebrities to join Martin Luther King Jr. in the "March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom" on August 28, 1963. Garner recalled sitting in the third row of King's "I Have a Dream" address in his autobiography.

The character's party affiliation was changed from Republican to reflect Garner's personal views in his appearance in the 1985 CBS miniseries Space. "My wife would leave me if I were a Republican," Garner said.

In the 1990 election, California Democratic party leaders, led by state Senator Herschel Rosenthal, persuaded Garner to run for Governor of California. However, Dianne Feinstein, the former governor of California and former mayor of San Francisco, was given the nomination instead, losing to Republican Pete Wilson in the race.

Garner started serving as a mentor, sponsor, and main benefactor of African-American sculpturer Richmond Barthé, from the time he returned from Europe in 1977 and settled in Pasadena until Barthé's death in 1989.

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Career

Paul Gregory, a friend who Garner had met while attending Hollywood High School, urged Garner not to take a nonspeaking role in the Broadway performance of The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, where he was able to study Henry Fonda night after night. TCM screened several of Garner's films this week, including Robert Osborne, who said that Fonda's patient, sincere persona rubbed Garner off to Garner greatly to Garner's benefit.

Garner then moved to television commercials and then to television shows. Garner was considered for the lead role in the Western series Cheyenne in 1955, but Clint Walker took the lead role because the casting director could not reach Garner in time (according to Garner's autobiography). In the 1955 Cheyenne pilot named "Mountain Fortress," Garner played an Army officer. In 1956, The Girl He Left Behind and Toward the Unknown were his first film appearances. Garner appeared in "Star Over Texas," a half-hour television episode of Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre in which a rivalry exists between Bellamy and Garner over Talbott exists until they are confronted by a tribe of migrant Native Americans.

In 1957, he appeared in the television anthology series "Man from 1997," portrayeding Maun's brother "Red"; Jacques Sernas as "John"; and Charlie Ruggles as elderly Mr. Boyne; a 1997 Almanac whose error was mistakenly posted in the past by Boyne and discovered by Johnny in a bookstore. In his Archive of American Television interview, series producer Roy Huggins said that Garner was later cast as the lead in Maverick due to his comedic facial expressions while playing scenes in "Man from 1997" that weren't originally intended to be comedic (Huggins knew this because he'd written the script himself). After the studio had credited him as "James Garner" without permission, Garner changed his last name from Bumgarner to Garner. When he discovered she had too many names, he legally modified it on the birth of his first child.

Garner made his breakthrough appearance in the Western film Maverick, 1957-to- 1960, starring Sayonara (1957) with Marlon Brando.

Only Garner and series creator Roy Huggins believed Maverick would compete with The Ed Sullivan Exhibition and The Steve Allen Exhibition, but it lost both in the time slot for two years. Garner was practically branded a household name on the show.

Garner appeared in Maverick's first seven episodes as the lone star, but production pressures compelled Warner Bros. to produce Bart, the Maverick brother played by Jack Kelly. This allowed two production teams to film multiple story lines and episodes simultaneously, which meant that each episode took an additional day to complete, and that if no one else was included, the studio would run out of finished episodes to air partway through the season.

Critics were encouraged by Garner's chemistry, and the series occasionally aired popular cross-over episodes starring both Maverick brothers, as well as several brief appearances in Garner episodes. According to Roy Huggins' Archive of American Television interviews, this included the famous "Shady Deal at Sunny Acres" upon which the first half of the 1973 film The Sting appears to be based. In an episode called "Duel at Sundown," Garner and guest star Clint Eastwood staged a fist fight, in which Eastwood played a nefarious and cowardly gunslinger. Despite Garner's departure from the show after the third season due to a Warner Bros lawsuit, he did appear in one of Garner and Jack Kelly's third season appearances, but decided against it in the third season instead.

Garner's character was supposed to be replaced by a Maverick cousin who had lived in Britain long enough to produce an English accent, but Moore pulled him out after only 14 episodes. Brent Maverick, also a Garner lookalike, had been recruited by Warner Bros. to play a third Maverick brother named Brent Maverick. Colbert appeared in just two episodes toward the end of the season. That left the majority of the series to Kelly, alternating with reruns of episodes with Garner during the fifth season. During the first series credits for these newly produced Kelly episodes, Garner received a credit for his participation in them but had not appeared in them and had left the series two years before. During the fifth season, the studio did, however, reverse the billing, beginning with each show and in advertisements. Kelly was paid above Garner.

Garner appeared in Darby's Rangers (1958). He was originally planned for a supporting role when Charlton Heston resigned from his role. William Orlando Darby, who was about Garner's age during World War II, did a good job. Warner Bros. gave Garner two more major theater films to film during breaks in his "Maverick" shooting schedule, following Garner's success in Maverick and Darby's Rangers. These were up Periscope (1959) with Edmond O'Brien, and the romantic drama Cash McCall (1960) with Natalie Wood.

Garner briefly found himself graylisted by Warner until William Wyler hired him for a starring role in The Children's Hour (1961), a student-led drama about two teachers who survived a controversy. The graylist was shattered, and Garner became one of the busiest leading men in cinema after that. Kim Novak and Tony Randall, The Thrill of It All (1962) with Doris Day, he returned to comedy in Boys' Night Out (1962). Garner appeared in Move Over, Darling, a 1963 revival of 1940's My Favorite Wife in which Garner portrayed the role originally played by Cary Grant. (Something's Got to Give was the original title, but after Marilyn Monroe died, Dean Martin opted to drop as a result, the remake was recast and retitled.)

The Great Escape (1963) with Steve McQueen, Paddy Chayefsky's The Americanization of Emily (1964) with Julie Andrews, and Roald Dahl's 36 Hours (1965) with Eva Marie Saint followed (both of which films include D-Day). Garner took the lead in the smash hit The Great Escape for the second time during the decade, alongside fellow ex-TV series cowboy McQueen and James Coburn, James Coburn, and Charles Bronson in a story depicting a mass escape from a German prisoner of war camp based on a true tale. The film was released in the same month as The Thrill Of It All, giving Garner two hit films at the box office at the same time. Emily, a literate antiwar D-Day comedy, was one of Garner's most popular of all his work. Exhibitor In 1963, he was voted the 16th most popular celebrity in the United States, and it was hoped that he would be a successor to Clark Gable. Mister Buddwing (1966), a photograph showing a man suffering from amnesia while sitting on a bench in Central Park, was also made by the artist.

Garner had founded Cherokee Productions, his own independent film production company, by October 1964. Norman Jewison's romantic comedy The Art of Love (1965), which was co-produced by his Cherokee Productions, was his next film role. The Western Duel at Diablo (1966) with Sidney Poitier and Hour of the Gun (1967) with Garner as Doc Holliday, as well as the 1969 film A Man Could Get Killed (1966) with Melina Mercouri and Tony Franciosa. Eva Marie Saint and Toshiro Mifune, directed by John Frankenheimer and co-produced by Garner's own film production company Cherokee Productions, left Garner with a passion for motor racing that he rarely explored during the ensuing years. MGM's expensive Cinerama epic did not do as well at the box office as anticipated, and he was blamed for the film's poor results, which hurt Garner's theatrical film career.

Despite protests from some at MGM and being forced to plead his case, Garner played Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe in Marlowe, a detective drama starring an early kung fu scene starring legendary martial artist and actor Bruce Lee. Garner's comedy Western Support Your Local Sheriff was a hit last year. Walter Brennan and Jack Elam star on Walter Brennan and Jack Elam.

Garner returned to television in 1971 in Nichols, an offbeat series in which his character was killed and replaced by a more colorless twin brother at the end of the series. The recast as the character's somewhat older twin brother would have hopefully produced a more popular series with less cast changes, according to one explanation for the rare denouement. Garner's 1998 videotaped Archive of American Television interviews, on the other hand, Garner killed his character because they had already cancelled the show and played his own twin because they had to finish the episode.

He appeared in Support Your Local Gunfighter in 1971. (similar to the western spoof It's on sale.) Your Local Sheriff is a cop in the United States! (although Garner and Louis Gossett Jr. starred as con men pretending to be a victim and slave during the pre-Civil War period. Garner was a small town sheriff prosecuting a murder in They Only Kill Their Masters with Katharine Ross the following year. Vera Miles appeared in two Disney films alongside Vera Miles (1973), which also starred Jodie Foster in a young minor role, as his leading lady, and The Castaway Cowboy (1974) with Robert Culp.

Roy Huggins had the intention to reimagine Maverick in the 1970s, but this time as a modern-day private detective. According to both Huggins' and Cannell's Archive of American Television interviews, Huggins worked with co-creator Stephen J. Cannell and the pair selected Garner to rekindle Maverick's popularity, eventually reusing many of the original scripts. Garner appeared in The Rockford Files beginning with the 1974 season. Jim Rockford appeared as private investigator Jim Rockford. He appeared in six seasons, for which he was given the Emmy Award for Best Actor in 1977. Garner was given "the job he was meant on earth to play" in the 2016 book titled TV (The Book). Film and television critic Matt Zoller Seitz said the series gave him "the role he was put on earth to play." In several episodes, veteran character actor Noah Beery Jr., nephew of screen legend Wallace Beery, appeared in Rockford's "Rocky" father.

In a long line of extremely popular Polaroid Camera commercials, Garner appeared alongside Mariette Hartley, who appeared in an episode of Rockford Files. The Rockford Files were canceled in 1980 after six seasons. Garner's physical pain culminated in his doctor requesting that he take some time off to rest. He was wearing him out in virtually every scene of the series. In the aftermath of the continuing leaping and rolling, a knee injury from his National Guard days exacerbated, and he was hospitalized with a bleeding ulcer in 1979. The studio immediately cancelled The Rockford Files after Garner's doctor ordered him to rest.

Stuart Margolin (who played Angel Martin in The Rockford Files) said that despite Garner's health issues in the early years of The Rockford Files, he would often work long hours, which is unusual for a leading actor, as he does not do off-camera lines with other actors, and doing his own stunts despite his knee injuries. When Garner made The Rockford Files television films, he said that 22 people (with the exception of series co-star Beery, who died in 1994) came out of retirement to participate.

Garner filed a lawsuit against Universal Studios in July 1983 in connection with his pending lawsuit against The Rockford Files. Universal was charged with "breach of employment; inability to act in good faith and fairly; and deceit and deceit." Universal was "creatively accounting," Garner said, two terms that are now part of the Hollywood lexicon. In 1989, the lawsuit was finally settled out of court. Garner was unable to disclose the amount of the settlement as part of the deal.

"The business is just as it has always been." In 1990, he said, "It's a bunch of cynic people." Garner sued Universal in 1998 for $2.2 million over syndication royalties. He charged the studio with "deceiveing him and concealing details about syndication." He was supposed to get $25,000 per episode when he was in syndication, but Universal charged him with "distribution fees." He also felt that the studio did not announce the show to the highest bidder for the episode reruns.

In a 1978 made-for-television film titled The New Maverick, written by Juanita Bartlett and also starring Susan Sullivan as Poker Alice, Garner and Jack Kelly appeared as Bret and Bart Maverick. Bart, Bret's brother, appears only briefly towards the end of the episode as had often been the case in episodes of the original series.

In both The New Maverick and Young Maverick by Charles Frank, the New Maverick was the pilot for a failed television series titled Young Maverick, focusing on Bret and Bart's younger cousin Ben Maverick's adventures. The series itself, which only showed Garner for a few moments at the start of the first series, was cancelled so quickly that some of the episodes were never broadcast in the United States. Frank was three years older than Garner had been at the time of the original series's debut, despite the name.

Despite good ratings, Young Maverick's mysterious disappearance two seasons ago, when he was trying to make a "Maverick" series without Garner, but NBC has cancelled the show after only one season. The scripts did not match up to the episodes starring Garner in the first series, according to critics. If the program had been picked up for another season, Jack Kelly (Bart Maverick) was supposed to become a series regular. Bart Maverick was featured in a stack of finished scripts for the forthcoming second season, and he appeared in the last scene of the final episode as a surprise guest appearance.

Garner appeared in a number of television films during the 1980s, including Heartsounds with Mary Tyler Moore featuring the true story of a doctor who is deprived of oxygen for too long during an operation; and My Name Is Bill W. starring James Woods. He appeared in Joseph Wambaugh's The Glitter Dome for HBO Pictures, directed by his Rockford Files co-star Stuart Margolin in 1984. Garner and co-star Margot Kidder were involved in a mild controversy over a bondage scene on the film. He also appeared in the film Tank in 1984, about a soon-to-becoming US Army Command Sergeant Major named Zack Carey who butted heads with a corrupt local sheriff after an incident with one of his deputies off base and used a privately owned Sherman Tank to demand revenge.

Garner's first Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, starring Sally Field, was awarded to him. Despite co-starring in the Victor/Victoria opposite Julie Andrews two years ago, field and director Martin Ritt had to fight Columbia Pictures to have Garner casts since being regarded as a TV actor by then. Columbia did not want to go to the theater because it had no "sex or violence" in it. Columbia agreed because of Norma Rae (1979), with the same writer (Field), producer, and screenplay script (Harriet Frank Jr. and Irving Ravetch), as well as Field's new production company (Fogwood Films), which has Field's new production company (Fogwood Films) producing. Marlon Brando was supposed to be in Murphy's role, but Field and Ritt were forced to insist on Garner. An eight-line sequence of Field and Garner saying the word "Coke" was included in the film, as well as having Coke signs prominently in the film. Field's Biography of Garner said that her on-screen kiss with Garner was the best cinematic kiss she had ever experienced.

In two separate films shot 21 years apart, Wyatt Earp (whom he physically resembled) and Blake Edwards' Sunset in 1988, Garner played Wyatt Earp (whom he physically resembled) in two completely different films, John Sturges' Hour of the Gun in 1967 and Blake Edwards' Sunset in 1988. The first film was a realistic recreation of the O.K. The Corral shootout and its aftermath were revealed, while the second revolved around Earp and silent movie cowboy actor Tom Mix's comedic fictional journey. During the silent film boom, Earp had actually worked as an advisor for Western films well past the end of his life. Bruce Willis appears in only his second movie role in the film. Despite being criticized for Garner, the film did offer more screen time and interest to Earp.

Garner appeared in many of the North American market Mazda television commercials in the second half of the 1980s as an on-screen spokesperson.

Garner appeared in Man of the People, a television series starring a con man chosen to fill an empty seat on a city council in 1991. Despite high success, the show was cancelled after only ten episodes.

Garner appeared in a well-received HBO film, Barbarians at the Gate, in 1993, and went on to reprise his role as Jim Rockford in eight The Rockford Files made-for-TV films beginning the following year. Almost everybody in the original cast of recurring characters returned for the new episodes, except Noah Beery Jr., who had died in the interim. He maintained that he had fully paid in cash before the shooting began on each of the Rockford TV shows, according to Garner's memoir The Garner Files.

Garner played Marshal Zane Cooper in a film version of Maverick in 1994, with Mel Gibson as Bret Maverick (in the end, Garner's character is revealed to be a gamble lass with a fake Southern accent).

Woodrow Call, an ex-lawman, appeared in the TV miniseries sequel to Lonesome Dove, Streets of Laredo, which is based on Larry McMurtry's book. Garner and Jack Lemmon formed My Fellow Americans in 1996, starring two former presidents who expose scandalous conduct by their replacement (Dan Aykroyd) and being pursued by homicideous NSA agents. In addition to his regular appearance in the last part of the television series Chicago Hope, Garner appeared in two short-lived series, the animated God, the Devil, and First Monday, in which he appeared in a fictional representation of the Supreme Court Chief Justice of the United States.

Garner appeared in the film Space Cowboys in 2000, after an operation to repair both knees, as astronauts in the original Maverick film "Duel at Sundown." Also starring Tommy Lee Jones and Donald Sutherland.

In Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Garner played Commander Rourke in 2001. Garner took over Coburn's role as the TV commercial voiceover for Chevrolet's "Like a Rock" advertising campaign in 2002, following James Coburn's death. Garner continued to promote the ads until the campaign's conclusion. He appeared in Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood as Shepard James "Shep" Walker in 2002. Garner joined the cast of 8 Simple Rules as Grandpa Jim Egan (Cate's father) after the death of John Ritter in 2003 and stayed with the show until 2005.

Garner appeared in the film version of Nicholas Sparks' The Notebook starred Ryan Gosling's character as his wife, directed by Nick Cassavetes, Rowlands' son. Garner was nominated by the Screen Actors Guild as the best actor in a Supporting Role." Garner made his last personal appearance in the film The Ultimate Gift in 2006 as billionaire Howard "Red" Stevens. In 2010, Garner sang Shazam in Superman/Shazam! Black Adam's Resurrection.

Simon & Schuster's autobiography The Garner Files: A Memoir was published on November 1, 2011. The memoir, co-written with nonfiction writer Jon Winokur, chronicles Garner's childhood abuses as a result of his stepmother's. It also gave an honest, unflattering review of some of Garner's co-stars, such as Steve McQueen and Charles Bronson. In addition to reminising about the origins of most of Garner's hit films and television shows, the book also included a section in which the actor provided individual critiques for each of his acting jobs, as well as a star rating for each. Julie Andrews, a three-time co-star for Garner, wrote the book's foreword. Lauren Bacall, Diahann Carroll, Doris Day, Stephen J. Cannell, Tom Selleck, Stephen J. Cannell, and several other Garner associates, acquaintances, and relatives all shared their memories of the actor in the book's coda.

Garner's "most surprising discovery" in his autobiography was that he smoked marijuana for a large portion of his adult life. Garner wrote, "I began smoking it in my late teens."

Garner was nominated for 15 Emmy Awards during his television career, as Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series (The Rockford Files), and in 1987 as executive producer of Promise.

Garner was honoured on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to the film and television industry (at 6927 Hollywood Boulevard).

He was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in 1990. That year, he was also inducted into the Television Hall of Fame. He received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Screen Actors Guild in February 2005. That year, he was also nominated for Outstanding Achievement by a Male Actor in a Support Role for The Notebook. Freeman led the audience in a sing-along of the original Maverick theme song, written by David Buttolph and Paul Francis Webster, when Morgan Freeman won the award for his role in Million Dollar Baby.

Garner received the Television Critics Association's annual Career Achievement Award in 2010.

Garner's hometown of Norman, Oklahoma, on April 21, 2006, a 10-foot (3.0 m) bronze statue of Garner was unveiled as Bret Maverick was unveiled. Garner was present at the service.

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