James Garner

Quite genuinely, they don't make Hollywood actors like James Garner anymore. In a career that now spans some 50 years, he has slipped easily between television and film, appearing in such productions as "Murphy's Romance," "Sayonara," "The Great Escape," "Move Over, Darling," "Grand Prix," "Marlowe," "Victor/Victoria," "Maverick," "Barbarians at the Gate" and "The Rockford Files." Recently, the 76-year-old Garner took on his first sitcom role in "8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter" following the untimely passing of that show's star, John Ritter.

The Garner Files A Memoir James Garner and Jon Winokur Simon & Schuster: 282 pps., $25.99

It's hard to believe that it's been 37 years since James Garner became an international star as the charming Western hero Bret Maverick on the classic ABC series "Maverick." Over the past three decades, Garner has become one of Hollywood's most durable and popular actors, able to go from light comedy to drama with the greatest of ease. He's starred in such hit movies as "The Great Escape," "Support Your Local Sheriff" and "Victor/Victoria."

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.

Actor James Garner and his wife, Lois, received the first "Save the Coast" award presented by No Oil Inc., a citizen group that has been fighting for 15 years against Occidental Petroleum's plans to drill for oil between the beach and the bluffs of Pacific Palisades. The Garners, long-time Westside residents, have been active in the No Oil movement.

Actor James Garner was in satisfactory condition Thursday after undergoing quintuple heart bypass surgery. Garner originally entered Cedars-Sinai Medical Center earlier this week for an operation to repair an aortic aneurysm, a weakening in the wall of the main artery carrying blood to the stomach, hospital spokesman Ron Wise said.

More than a year has passed since James Garner settled his tiring, eight-year battle with Universal Studios over his multimillion-dollar share of profits from the hit NBC series "The Rockford Files." His position on the Hollywood establishment hasn't changed much since. "The industry is like it always has been. It's a bunch of greedy people," Garner drawled. As a heavyweight in the acting business, Garner, 62, is undefeated.

It's yesterday once more. At least it seems so with the new fall season. Familiar faces from series past are returning to the small screen in new shows. With viewers abandoning the networks for cable and VCRs, what better way to lure audiences back but with old favorites. After all, innovation didn't work last season, so perhaps deja vu will. Viewers can look forward to seeing Robert Guillaume of "Soap" and "Benson" fame starring in NBC's new comedy series, "Pacific Station."

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.

James Garner is standing on the lawn in front of the Virginia Science Museum in Richmond, Va., ignoring for the moment the business at hand--his film crew, the 1930s automobiles and the frenetic James Woods rehearsing a scene from the upcoming Hallmark Hall of Fame TV movie, "My Name is Bill W." Wearing a huge blue parka to shield him from the chill, Garner is surrounded by a clamoring group of fans, aged 5 to 75, who want nothing more than to get his attention and his autograph.

Tom Wilson Sr. Creator of comic strip character Ziggy Tom Wilson Sr., 80, creator of the hard-luck comic strip character Ziggy, died of pneumonia Friday at a Cincinnati hospital, his family said. Wilson was an artist at the American Greetings Corp. card company in Cleveland for more than 35 years and first published Ziggy in a 1969 cartoon collection, "When You're Not Around. " Ziggy was launched in 15 newspapers in 1971 and now appears in more than 500 daily and Sunday newspapers.

Kenneth Johnson has seen this show before. A major network excitedly re-envisions an original television series and trumpets its latest reincarnation as if it were the second coming of "Friends." As the creator of the original series "Bionic Woman" and "V," Johnson knows sometimes the new vision works and sometimes it doesn't. (NBC's "Bionic Woman" didn't. "V," still on ABC and considered a bubble show for renewal next season, has so far.) With little more than a month left before the major networks announce their new fall schedules, a slew of iconic "re-envisioned" shows from previous decades are being considered for next season.

A group is raising money to build a 10-foot statue of actor James Garner in front of a theater in his hometown of Norman, Okla. Organizers want to build a James Garner Commemorative Plaza and install the statue facing the Sooner Theatre. The plaza would cost about $185,000 and is tentatively planned to open in April. Garner, born in Norman in 1928, starred in the TV series "Maverick" and "The Rockford Files." His film credits include "The Great Escape," "Space Cowboys" and "Murphy's Romance."

Quite genuinely, they don't make Hollywood actors like James Garner anymore. In a career that now spans some 50 years, he has slipped easily between television and film, appearing in such productions as "Murphy's Romance," "Sayonara," "The Great Escape," "Move Over, Darling," "Grand Prix," "Marlowe," "Victor/Victoria," "Maverick," "Barbarians at the Gate" and "The Rockford Files." Recently, the 76-year-old Garner took on his first sitcom role in "8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter" following the untimely passing of that show's star, John Ritter.

James Garner isn't leaving "8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter" any time soon. Touchstone TV, producer of the ABC sitcom, has closed a deal with the veteran actor to continue on the comedy as a regular, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Garner started on the show in November following the death of the sitcom's star, John Ritter, who played a harried dad and newspaper columnist.

The new look and approach for ABC's "8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter" are becoming clearer, with the network announcing Thursday that veteran movie and television star James Garner will be appearing on the sitcom in a four-episode arc when the series returns in November. The comedy began reruns this past Tuesday after airing the three episodes that the show's star, John Ritter, taped before his death of a heart ailment on Sept. 11.

James Garner does not go to the movies. "Ohhh, I don't like to sit there too long," he explains in a perfect Jim Rockford-esque grumble of a drawl. "I don't like the crowds, I don't like to get out of the house if I don't have to. Parking. It's such a chore." Yet, here he sits in the Hotel Bel Air dining room, cheerfully saying you're going to want to do all those things to see his new movie, "Maverick." "It's going to be a kick," he says. "We did have a ball making it.

Charming as ever, James Garner sits down for a low-key chat with Robert Osborne on a new installment of the cable interview series "Private Screenings" (5 and 8 p.m., TCM). Garner, 73, who moved from Oklahoma to California in 1945 and says he "did a little bit of everything" before finally getting into acting, has always preferred work to interviews ("I got tired of talking about myself").