James Garner would have been 88 years old today. The actor whose career began in the early 1950’s hit it big with his 1957 TV western, Maverick. From there he went on to movies like The Great Escape, The Children’s Hour The Thrill of it All, Boy’s Night Out, Move Over, Darling and The Americanization of Emily in which he co-starred for the first time with Julie Andrews.
James Garner and Julie Andrews made a great team. Garner confesses in his blunt memoir (The Garner Files), the lovely Ms. Andrews was a great kisser and he really enjoyed doing their love scenes. They would reunite on-screen some eighteen years later in her husband’s (Blake Edwards) Victor, Victoria.
Garner’s career would shift back between movies and television over the years. What always remained the same though was his likability and his talent in both drama and comedy.
You can read more about Garner and The Americanization of Emily in my new e-book, Lesson in the Dark. Available on Amazon for only $2.99.
http://www.amazon.com/Lessons-Dark-John-Greco-ebook/dp/B01CC0TWLS/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
John Greco Author/Photographer 
Still one of my all-time favorites. TV, film, and stage on occasion. Took no crap and maintained a liberal sense of fairness. Just an all around good guy from Oklahoma who worked hard and earned all the love and respect his fans held him. Still missed by so many.
Look forward to reading your e-book, John. Thanks for this.
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Completely agree! He just seemed like the kind of guy you would want to know. He always made his work seem so natural, and his appearance in anything already made it better.
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Tom Selleck once said that everyone who had ever had anything to do with Magnum PI (plus one more) was invited to the show’s wrap party. I always felt that “plus one” was James Garner.
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Would not be surprised ! Garner seemed like the kind of guy everyone would want to have around.
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