The Garner Files A Memoir James Garner Jon Winokur Julie Andrews 9781451642605 Books

The Garner Files A Memoir James Garner Jon Winokur Julie Andrews 9781451642605 Books
This is an interesting read. I have always loved the movies and TV show with James Garner. He seems very honest about different experiences in his career and he does it with humor and keeps you wanting to know more. I think he and his wife would be the type of people who would be the kind of friends you would enjoy and could trust. He does have a temper on the golf course but it seems it is mostly at himself for some of his shots and the reader feels connected through his memories of those memories he wrote. I loved his TV shows, but I have two favorite movies....."Murphy's Romance" and "The Notebook". His life was lived with being honest, loved his family, and his ability to make us feel like we knew his characters because of his acting skills. It is a charming book about his childhood, his beginnings in the industry, and how he respected and loved his wife. If you enjoyed his acting, I think you will enjoy this book......fine job!
Tags : The Garner Files: A Memoir [James Garner, Jon Winokur, Julie Andrews] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. After suffering physical abuse at the hands of his stepmother, Garner left home at fourteen. He became Oklahoma’s first draftee of the Korean War and was awarded with two Purple Hearts before returning to the United States and settling in Los Angeles to become an actor. Working alongside some of the most renowned celebrities,James Garner, Jon Winokur, Julie Andrews,The Garner Files: A Memoir,Simon & Schuster,1451642601,Actors;United States;Biography.,Motion picture actors and actresses;United States;Biography.,BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY Entertainment & Performing Arts,BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY General,BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY Personal Memoirs,BIOGRAPHY AND AUTOBIOGRAPHY,Biography,Biography & Autobiography,Biography Autobiography,BiographyAutobiography,Biography: general,Entertainment & Performing Arts - General,GENERAL,Garner, James,General Adult,INDIVIDUAL MOVIE ACTORS AND ACTRESSES,Motion picture actors and actresses,Non-Fiction,Personal Memoirs,United States
The Garner Files A Memoir James Garner Jon Winokur Julie Andrews 9781451642605 Books Reviews
This book is James Garner telling about his life from a difficult childhood to present day.
The whole book is quite candid. There are a few surprises, but you get a feel for who the star of "The Rockford Files" really is.
Some of the reasons I really enjoyed James Garner's memoirs
He talks bout his childhood and his hometown.
Interesting recollections of some of the actors he worked with during his long career, both in television and the big screen.
He lists the actors he considers his mentors.
The physical toll doing a successful television series.
His philosophy or approach to acting.
His battle with the studio.
I always liked "The Rockford Files" and found that this book revealed an actor every bit as interesting as the character he played.
Garner pulls no punches telling you exactly who he is. Just from reading the book if you did not know who Jim Garner is, you would most likely like the him. He did what he wanted with his life and does not regret the journey. Along the way he tells us lessons he learned good and bad and the choices he made. He fell in love once and is still married to the same woman - clearly an atypical Hollywood example!
Garner's early schooldays through the later part of the first decade of the century are presented both from his point of view and then we see an "outtakes chapter" of vignettes from his friends and others who interacted with him throughout his life. I thought the Maverick series got the American western out of the simpleminded good-guys-bad-guys Long Ranger type series and moved it into something more interesting. However, it wasn't until the Rockford Files that he really shinned to my way of thinking. Here was a private eye who had a human side and spent the bulk of his time figuring out whodunnit rather than going around Dashiell Hammett style with violence at every turn. I agree with the other reviewers who would have like more on the Rockford files part of Garner's life. Still he does have a chapter set aside for Rockford.
The book brought to mind - and this is a paraphrase - of the guy who does not want to die with a well preserved corpse. Rather he comes to his end completely worn out and with his last breath he says "What a ride!"
This is a great Memoir. Accordingly, well worth 5 stars.
James Garner was the actor who changed how we view the hero cowboy (Maverick) and the hero detective (Rockford Files.) After Garner and his performances, the hero could have a better sense of humor and he could find ways to avoid danger. TV heroes became more human.
Garner was also the first Hollywood actor to successfully sue the movie studios where he worked.
He grew up in Oklahoma, didn’t finish high school, but he joined the army and earned two purple hearts in the Korean conflict. He came to Hollywood as a carpet installer. An agent suggested he consider a career as an actor. Garner may not have gone into the agent’s office, but a parking space opened as he drove past.
Garner was one of the few actors to successfully move from the small screen to the big screen. Many actors who quit their television shows to work in movies disappeared and never made it back to their fans affection or to the movie magazines.
Garner writes about the actors he worked with, and also about many of the behind the scenes people who make the shows possible. Ray Huggins created both “Maverick” and the “Rockford Files.” Huggins claimed he had a love hate relationship with Garner. He loved James Garner, and Garner hated him. While Garner claims this isn’t true, he admits that after a few episodes of Rockford, he insisted that Huggins not write anymore of the stories. He says Huggins didn’t understand the character.
There is much to admire in James Garner. In the early 1950’s before he struck gold as Maverick, he married a woman whose daughter suffered from polio. He adopted the girl and took responsibility for her hospital bills. All these years later, he is still married to Lois and they have another daughter.
Garner repeatedly stuck up for any crew member bullied by directors or producers on his shows.
He risked his acting career twice by filing law suits against the big studios he worked for. If Maverick and Rockford will avoid a fight, Garner won’t.
I am impressed by the integrity of this man, but some chapters like the one on golf were overlong and not interesting. I wanted him to stick to stories about his films and his friendships with other actors. Golfing with Mac Davis was interesting. The rest of the golf background was just filler. I wish i had skipped over it.
This is an interesting read. I have always loved the movies and TV show with James Garner. He seems very honest about different experiences in his career and he does it with humor and keeps you wanting to know more. I think he and his wife would be the type of people who would be the kind of friends you would enjoy and could trust. He does have a temper on the golf course but it seems it is mostly at himself for some of his shots and the reader feels connected through his memories of those memories he wrote. I loved his TV shows, but I have two favorite movies....."Murphy's Romance" and "The Notebook". His life was lived with being honest, loved his family, and his ability to make us feel like we knew his characters because of his acting skills. It is a charming book about his childhood, his beginnings in the industry, and how he respected and loved his wife. If you enjoyed his acting, I think you will enjoy this book......fine job!

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