James Garner

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NEW -YORK POST, SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1999 James Garner has made two classic TV shows and some memorable movies. But what Hollywood will end up remembering him for was his lonely fight against the studios. Before Tim Allen and David Duchovny started suing for their fair share, the man who played Jim Rockford was ... By MICHAEL GllTZ Tell James Garner that Entertainment Weekly named him one of the century's Top 100 entertain ers, ,and he immediately reSponds, "Am I ra nked 99 of roo?'" Actually, Garner was list ed at 97, just above Garth Brooks. But that Quick wit and low-key charm have helped keep him on top for 40 years. His trademark charm is on display next Sunday, when 'CBS's movie "One Special Night" reunites Garner with Julie Andrews. to deal with his wife's painful, slow decline from Alzheimer's, when they're stranded for the night in a cabin. It's really just an excuse to let two old pros go at it again. Watchin g Garner casually breathe life into this familiar tale it's no sur prise that the 71-year-old remains one of the busiest actors around. And he's also one of the most influenti al. Jimmy Stewart pioneered the now common practice of stars taking a piece of a movie's profits rather than a big salary upfront. But J~mes every other area. When Bruce Willis walked away from "Moonlighting ," he could take solace in Garner's suc cess after leaving the clas sic TV show "Maverick." When David Duchovny and Tim Allen claim they've been bilked out of their fair share of a show's profits, they can conjure up the image of Garner successful ly (and repeatedly) suing Universal to get money owed to him for "The Rockford Files," Garner made doing com mercials classy with his ads for Polaroid, which teamed ••• 1 ,~ ••• 1 .... warm that fans assumed they were married in real life. Heck, Garner's indepen dent ways even signaled the death knell of the movie studios' grip on stars. "A lot of actors in my day couldn't [defy the studios! because they were afraid they wouldn't work again: Garner says. ~When just a few moguls ran it, they could call each other and say, 'Don't hire that son-of a-bitch.' But that was end ing when I sued Warner Bros. over 'Maverick .'" Garner reasoned there were too many independent ....... "..t .. ,. ........ ,·h" ",. ....... "' "1"'\ ~11f\_ Poppln' back , " . Gamer Is reunited with one 01 his . first co-stars, Julie Andrews,ln next Sunday's CBS movie "One Special Night." Jack Warner. "And once one person hired me, then every one else said, 'Well, hey, if he's gonna work, we're gonna hire him too ,~ Not that his victory came without a price: Gamer left "Maverick" long before that show ran its course. And while studio head Jack Warner '!Iasn't all-powerful anymore, he could still scut tle a film or two. "The day I got out of court, my agent had a script on his desk from 20th Century Fox called 'The -Comancheros.'· Gamer thought the role was too similar to Bret Maverick. But when Gary Cooper <;""0.1 nn fnr the lead . The director wanted him; the studio wanted him. But they never called him back. "I know what happened." Garner says. "Jack Warner called the producer and said, 'Don't you dare hire him.' If I Could have proved that. I'd bave owned both studios. But I couldn't, so I never did any thing about it.' He made other hit. •• how-. ever. including the box-office smash "The Great EsCape" (1963). In contrast.' to Garner's endle88.and expen sive legal scrapping over TV shows, he saw some of his movies turn a profit. One of his best films is the comedy "Support Your Local Sheriff" (1969). "I got a profit check from that in four months." Gamer says. "and I've been getting profit checks on it ever since." Things were looking up even more when he returned to television in "Nichols," an offbeat show set at the tum of the centu ry "when the West' was dead." Gamer says. It had the quirky charm of "Northern ExpoRure." with Garner playing a sheriff who never carried a ((Un. Though ratings were mid dling (it followed NBC's biggest hit. "The Flip Wilson Show"). the show won a second season. "But the sponsor Chevrolet didn't like it," Gamer says. "One of the wi ves of the bigwigs saw the show and said. '1710(, not Maverick: and they canceled it. It was pretty stupid." But he's used to stupidify. .... '. ~_-...... r.J .... 01_ •• _~ •• _ ~. _ :-•• " '.', ~_-_. _ • ,', .-.-, •• '_'" -..... .r " Up In arms ... Gamer and Andra Martin starred in the 1959 Peart liarbot' movie "Up PeriSCO\lC ." Right "The Rockfocd Flies" TV series -with Noah Berry as his father -spawned a string 01 movie spe ctals whether from sponsors or networks . Universa l has l06t to Gamer on several occa sions. and he's in the inidst of . another suit that challenges the way they split up profits from overscas sales. (Typicall y. a studio pairs a desirable show like "Rockford" with several losers and forces foreign TV networks to buy them as a package. Profits are spread evenly among all the shows. keeping the big hits from making the money they deserve and easing the red ink on a loser.) "That's a very tougb law suit - I don't think I'll win that one." admits Garner, who knows more than he ever wanted to about resid ual payment s and contract law. "It·s embarrassing. the bookkeeping in our indus try. I said on '60 Minutes' in 1980 or something like that. 'Onp of these days. some judge. some jury, isl gonna put the'e people in jail because they're literally stealing from the govern ment and everyone else.' How can you make 70 to 110 ll·ll·\' i~ion episodes and not make a profit? You'd be out of busincs.! It doesn't make sense. He's certainly not sur prised to see Duchovny. Allen and others fighting the same batpe" he won so many years ago. Artistic victories ha\'e aloo come to Gnrner. He earned an Oscar nomination for "Murphy's Romance" (1985) and reams of reviewers' praise for his tum in the overlooked drama "Twilight" (1998) with Paul Newman and SUAAn Sarandon . TV's been even better. thanks to critically acclaimed hits like the movies "My Name is Bill W." "Breathing Lcs.o;ons" and "Barbarian s at the Gate" -not to mention those "Rockford" movies. In fact, he's almost never been busier. This year alone he's hosted a 13-part docu mentary on country music for The Nashville Network . starred in a "Rockford Files" TV movie. appeared in the miniseries "Shake, Rattle and Roll" nnd filmed a new Clint Eastwood movie called "Space Cowbo'y ~" ldue out ncxl YC<Jr). But some things don't change. His costar in "One Special Night" -Julie Andrews -voiced concern this week that people might not accept her as an actor. That's exactly the same concern she had when Garner stalTL' I knew there wasn't going to be a problem. In fact. 'Americanization' really helped her to win the Oscar. They gave it to her for ... for for playing the nanny. What was the picture? 'Mary Popping.' What happened was 'Americanization' was released. and they saw this lady can nct. too." It's also another movie where Garner went his own way despite the price. "Kennedy was'sfiot when we were on the set. and I went home ... · says Garner. despite the studio's express desire not to fall h"hind ""hedule. "I. went hon~e an~ got docked a d".v spay.

📄 James Garner

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