My "love affair" with James Garner is an unwavering one. As a child of the 80s, it was his laughing and sexy characters of the very early sixties that made me have the most horrible crush on him, that has never gone away and never shall. He was a beautiful man, with a velvety voice that was at once as seductive as Eartha Kitt's and yet as comforting as putting on your grandfather's flannel shirt. And, he voiced very early on in his book what I have always felt about the core of most of his characters, they are not the "anti-heroes", but rather the reluctant ones, and for my money those are the best kind...
Having suffered horrific abuse at the hands of one of his many stepmothers (he didn't even MEET them all!), he describes himself as having a long fuse, but once it's lit, look out! He also, perhaps as a result of this, refuses to glorify violence, playing characters that are not quick to use guns or fists, but more than proficient when they need to do so. (The characters in "Tank", "Maverick", "The Thrill of it All", "The Rockford Files" and "Support Your Local Sherrif" were my favorites; but the one he played in "8 Simple Rules for Dating my Teenage Daughter" is up there as well.)
And, he was a trailblazer in more than just creating a "character type"; he paved the way for actors to gain more respect and not be treated as commodities to be used to line the pockets of the "Hollywood big boys"; though he admits freely that at the time he was thinking merely of himself, his wife and daughters-- not in one lawsuit, but two, for being cheated unjustly because of "creative bookkeeping".
The many stories, told in his own voice, learning secrets about many stars that you'd never have thought have fascinated and captivated me throughout, as well as the lovely tips to his own personal life. I didn't think I could love him more, but...
