James Garner

James Garner (born April 7, 1928) is an American film and Emmy-award winning television actor. He has starred in several television series spanning a career of more than five decades. These included his roles as Bret Maverick, in the popular 1950 western-comedy series, Maverick; Jim Rockford, in the popular 1970 detective drama, The Rockford Files; and the father of Katey Sagal's character on 8 Simple Rules following the death of John Ritter. He has starred in dozens of movies, including The Great Escape (1963) with Steve McQueen; Paddy Chayefsky's The Americanization of Emily (1964) and Blake Edwards' Victor/Victoria (1982), both with Julie Andrews; and Murphy's Romance (1985) with Sally Field, for which he received an Academy Award nomination. Mazda also had him as their spokesperson appearing in their commercials in the North American market during the 1980s. Garner, the youngest of three children, was born as James Scott Bumgarner in Norman, Oklahoma, the son of Mildred Meek... full article at wikipedia