How Did James Garner's Roles Influence His Political Activism?

[Astronuc]

Actor James Garner, best known for his prime-time television roles as the wisecracking frontier gambler on "Maverick" and as an ex-con turned private eye on "The Rockford Files," has died at age 86, Los Angeles police confirmed early on Sunday.

Garner, who built a six-decade career playing ruggedly charming, good-natured anti-heroes and received the highest honor of the Screen Actors Guild in 2004, was found dead from natural causes on Saturday night at his Los Angeles home, according to police.

https://tv.yahoo.com/news/actor-james-garner-86-found-dead-los-angeles-112007904.html
He is one of my favorite actors, and some of my favorite movies are "Support Your Local Sheriff!" and "Support Your Local Gunfighter!"

He is an archtype antihero.

When actor James Garner decided to help organize and attend the March on Washington in 1963, he wasn’t just listening to his conscience. He and other actors who attended may have been embarking on Hollywood’s first large-scale political act since the days of McCarthyism and Hollywood’s anti-Communist blacklist.

After years of viewing the government with suspicion, many felt emboldened to participate, joining forces with black actors such as Harry Belafonte, Ruby Dee and Diahann Carroll. Garner and other celebrities in attendance, including Paul Newman and Marlon Brando, openly defied J. Edgar Hoover and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which was keen to stop the march.
. . .

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...tment-to-civil-rights-and-political-activism/

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Quite a long history of acting. I know him but can't remember the last time I saw him in a role.

 

[phinds]

He is one of my favorite actors, and some of my favorite movies are "Support Your Local Sheriff!" and "Support Your Local Gunfighter!"

Me too ! I love that scene in one of them when he sticks his finger in the bad guy's gun barrel and dares him to pull the trigger.


RIP