Talk:James Garner

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[edit] Query

Why is James Garner (born April 7, 1928) is an American actor, best known for his work in feature films, and on television in the series Maverick and The Rockford Files not an acceptable introduction? Mike H (Talking is hot) 01:08, July 10, 2005 (UTC)


I'm not in the acting business but I know someone who is a casting director. He observed that some actors have an inherent likeability. Apparently, "like James Garner" is still used in the business to describe likeability. A cite would be needed though.

"Man of the People" is redirected to a Star Trek(TNG) episode page. Perhaps we could get this changed? I'd do it myself but it is late and I'm off to bed. Maybe later... Greylond 04:23, 20 April 2006 (UTC)Greylond

Someone needs to add a picture of him when he was younger, such as from Maverick. He looks so different. I think James Garner probably deserves 3 or 4 pictures to tell the truth, and definatly more text.

Not even a mention of Stingray's Captain Troy Tempest: garner in puppet form.

The mention of Garner's Academy Award nomination should not be buried in the section titled "Top-quality TV-movies." ForDorothy 21:51, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Odd chronology?

It says he moved to LA at 17, then joined the merchant marine at 16? Doesn't sound right. Clarityfiend 16:40, 6 September 2006 (UTC)


[edit] Bruce Lee

Bruce Lee wasn't a Karate practioner. Father Shandor 21:56, 9 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Mariette Hartley

I've rewritten most of the material relating to Mariette Hartley: it looked as if it was written by a someone with only a rudimentary grasp of English. I've left in the unsourced "Both she and the actor were crazy about each other", although I can't find any corroboration of this. Can anyone who knows better than me either confirm or delete it? potatoscone 16:08, 18 April 2007 (UTC)

They got along well, but were not "crazy" about each other. However, I don't have a citation for that. I'm just a long time Garner fan and know a lot about him.67.142.130.32 23:43, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

I agree, so I removed the clause with the word "crazy". Hope this edit works for you all. MDfoo 00:45, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

Agreed. potatoscone 12:27, 6 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Stepmother interview section

I have hidden but not removed the interview section. It is far too long and unnecessary to include the whole thing even though it is interesting. I am including the text here for review for length and appropriateness. Instead, I paraphrased it in the part of the biography which mentions Wilma and her abusiveness; I included the reference of course. If there is any objection to my hiding the section, please present your reasoning. As it is part of a copyrighted work and quoted at length, I think it needs at the least some editing. Otherwise, once this is resolved, I believe we can remove the hidden text sometime in the future. Besides being lengthy, it uses italics for an inordinate amount of text which is at least annoying.--SidP 00:42, 19 April 2007 (UTC)

In his book, The Art of the Interview: Lessons from a Master of the Craft, Lawrence Grobel quoted a portion of an interview he had done with Garner:

In 1994, I interviewed James Garner, who told me that when he was four, his mother died and a year later, his father remarried “a nasty bitch” who “used to beat the hell out of me”. I asked him if she was the one who made him wear a dress and called him Louise if he did anything wrong.

Garner: Yeah, where did you find that out? It was out in the country and we’d be in some little store and I’d just go hide because it would embarrass me terribly. Then my brothers would tease me and call me Louise and a fight would break out.

Q: How often did that happen?

Garner: Oh gosh, a lot. If I did anything wrong I’d have to go put on the dress.

Q: At what point did you fight back?

Garner: At around thirteen. I decked her. I had her on the bed, choking her. My dad and my brother pulled me off of her. I can understand how kids can rebel to the point of murder. I don’t agree with it, but I don’t know what I’d have done, because she was tough. Tough. I’m sure I wouldn’t have let go of her until she quit breathing because she’d have killed me if she got up. Then they held me down so she could slap me. But that’s the night that broke up the marriage with my dad and her. [Lawrence Grobel, The Art of the Interview, Three Rivers Press, 2004, p. 161. ISBN 1-4000-5071-5]

[edit] Beef spokesman

His famous commercials for the beef industry should be mentioned. Badagnani 17:51, 20 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Bumgarner?

I have never seen the name "Bumgarner" before. The German/Yiddish name is "Baumgärtner", usually written "Baumgartner" in English (the more "conventional" transliteration of "Baumgaertner" is surprisingly rare).

"Baum" means tree, "gärtner" means gardener. A "Baumgärtner" is someone who raises trees ("forester" is a rough English translation). "Bum" means buttocks, which makes the combination "Bumgarner" rather surprising.

I thought his name was "James Baumgartner", and I am sure I have seen that exact spelling before, but searching the internet gets zero hits. The sites I find are about equally split between "Baumgarner" and "Bumgarner". Notably, IMDB has "Baumgarner", as does Yahoo Movies. I see two possibilities:

  1. "Baumgarner" is right, "Bumgarner" is a misspelling, spread in part by people checking WikiPedia
  2. "Bumgarner" is right, "Baumgarner" is a misspelling, spread in part by all the Jews in show biz to whom "Bumgarner" looks laughably wrong

With the usual sources so split we need another source. Does anyone have a cite for this name? —  Randall Bart   Talk  16:27, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

"Bumgarner" is the correct spelling. He spells it out himself in Google's Archive of American Television Interview with James Garner Part 1 of 6. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2133383634683037136&q=%22Archive+of+American+Television+Interview+with+James+Garner%2267.142.130.32 23:38, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Much appreciated for this reference. That settles it. All Hallow's Wraith (talk) 09:24, 18 November 2007 (UTC)