James Garner Looks Back On His Life And Acting Career in 'The Garner Files'

I've enjoyed watching James Garner on TV since I was a kid and saw him in Maverick. Years later, I would watch him again in The Rockford Files. 

I also enjoyed watching him in films such as The Americanization of Emily, Support Your Local Sheriff, The Hour of the Gun, The Great Escape and many others. I particularly liked Garner as Raymond Chandler's iconic character Philip Marlowe in the 1969 film Marlowe.

I feel as if I know James Garner and like him as a friend, so I'm looking forward to reading his memoir, The Garner Files.

Mary McNamara wrote an interesting review of the book at the Los Angeles Times.

Many actors have breathed life into a memorable or even iconic role but only a few are capable of reconstructing an archetype. In "Maverick" and then again "The Rockford Files," James Garner stepped into two of TV's most calcified genres — the western and the detective series — and set a new standard that others have been chasing down since. Bret Maverick and Jim Rockford were different in many ways — Maverick was a fast-talking con man in the Old West, Rockford a modern L.A. private investigator with motivation issues — but they shared an important trait: They were reluctant heroes. Each would much rather wisecrack his way out of a jam, but if you pushed him hard enough, you would invariably find yourself counting angels on the ceiling.

You can read the rest of the review via the below link:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/books/la-et-book-20111101-24,0,4362112.story