- James Garner died of natural causes on Saturday, police say
- The actor is best known for his roles in "Maverick" and "The Rockford Files"
- He moved easily between film and TV before it became the norm
- Garner took on acting roles well into his 80s
(CNN) -- James Garner, the understated, wisecracking everyman actor who enjoyed multigenerational success on both the small and big screens, has died. He was 86.
Police, who were called to his residence Saturday night in Los Angeles, say he died of natural causes.
Garner starred in hit TV series almost 20 years apart -- "Maverick" in the late 1950s and "The Rockford Files" in the 1970s.
He also had a notable film career, starring in such classics as "Sayonara" (1957), "The Great Escape" (1963), "The Americanization of Emily" (1964), "Grand Prix" (1966) and "Victor/Victoria" (1982), as well as the TV movies "My Name Is Bill W." (1989) and "Barbarians at the Gate" (1993). More recent films included "Space Cowboys" (2000) and "The Notebook" (2004).
He was fiercely independent, challenging the studios on both "Maverick" and "Rockford" when he felt he wasn't being treated fairly. He sued studios twice and won both times.
Actor James Garner poses at a portrait session at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California, on January 31, 2005. Garner died of natural causes at his home in Los Angeles on Saturday, July 19, police say. 
James Garner appears in character in "The Notebook" in 2004. 
Garner smiles as he arrives for the premiere of the film "Maverick" in Los Angeles on May 12, 1994. 
Garner first played the character of Bret Maverick in the '50s, and then again in the '80s when the series was revived. 
Garner plays Jim Rockford in the 1970s TV series "The Rockford Files." 
Doris Day kisses Garner in a scene from the 1963 film "The Thrill Of It All." 
Marlon Brando and Garner read a letter together in a scene from the 1959 film "Sayonara." 
Garner, right, plays Bret Maverick in a scene from the "Maverick" TV series, which aired in the late 1950s and early '60s. It was revived in the 1980s. James Garner photo gallery 
Click through to see people who passed away in 2014. 
Skye McCole Bartusiak, who played Mel Gibson's youngest daughter in "The Patriot," died Saturday, July 19, at her home in Houston, her mother said Sunday. She was 21. James Garner, the understated, wisecracking everyman actor who enjoyed multigenerational success on both the small and big screens, died of natural causes on Saturday, July 19. He was 86. 
Broadway legend Elaine Stritch has died. According to her longtime friend Julie Keyes, Stritch died at her home in Birmingham, Michigan, early on Thursday July 17, surrounded by her family. She was 89 years old. 
Blues guitarist and singer Johnny Winter died on July 16 in a hotel room in Switzerland, his representative said. He was 70. 
Nadine Gordimer, a South African author who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1991, died on Sunday, July 13, according to her family. She was 90. 
Renowned conductor Lorin Maazel died from complications of pneumonia on July 13, according to his family. He was 84. 
Grammy-winning jazz bassist Charlie Haden, whose music career spanned seven decades and several genres, died Friday, July 11, according to his publicist. He was 76. 
Drummer Tommy Ramone, the last living original member of the pioneering punk band The Ramones, died on July 11, according to the band's Facebook page. He was 65. 
Eileen Ford, who founded the Ford Model Agency 70 years ago, died Wednesday, July 9, at the age of 92, the company said. 
Richard Percy Jones, the actor who gave Pinocchio his voice in the 1940 Disney movie, died at his California home on July 8. He was 87. 
David Legeno, known for playing Fenrir Greyback in the "Harry Potter" movies, was found dead July 6, by hikers in a remote desert location in Death Valley, California. He was 50. "It appears that Legeno died of heat-related issues, but the Inyo County Coroner will determine the final cause of death," read a press release from the Inyo County Sheriff's Department. "There are no signs of foul play." 
Rosemary Murphy, an Emmy Award-winning actress known for her roles in the movie "To Kill a Mockingbird" as well as TV soap operas "All My Children" and "Another World," died July 5 at the age of 89. The New York Times cited cancer as the cause of death. 
Olympian and World War II hero Louis Zamperini, the subject of the book and upcoming film "Unbroken," died July 2 after a recent battle with pneumonia. The 97-year-old peacefully passed away in the presence of his entire family, according to a statement. 
Walter Dean Myers, a beloved author of children's books, died on July 1 following a brief illness, according to the Children's Book Council. 
Paul Mazursky, a five-time Oscar nominee who directed and wrote such films as "Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice," "An Unmarried Woman" and "Down and Out in Beverly Hills," died at the age of 84, his agent said July 1. 
Actor Meshach Taylor died June 28 at his Los Angeles-area home, his agent, Dede Binder, said. He was 67. Taylor had fought a terminal illness and faded markedly in recent days, Binder said. His wife, children, grandchildren and mother surrounded him as he passed away. 
Legendary soul singer Bobby Womack died June 27, according to Womack's publicist. He was 70. 
Character actor Eli Wallach, seen here in "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly," died on June 24, according to a family member who did not want to be named. Wallach was 98. 
Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn died June 16 at the age of 54, according to a release from the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. Gwynn, who had 3,141 hits in 20 seasons with the San Diego Padres, had cancer. 
Radio personality Casey Kasem died June 15. He was 82 and had been hospitalized in Washington state for two weeks. 
Former Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Chuck Noll died June 13. He had suffered from Alzheimer's and heart disease. He was 82. 
Ruby Dee, an award-winning actress whose seven-decade career included triumphs on stage and screen, died June 12. She was 91. 
Former baseball star Bob Welch passed away on June 9 after suffering a heart attack, according to the Los Angeles Dodgers. He was 57. 
British actor and comedian Rik Mayall, who appeared in the TV series "Blackadder," died June 9 at the age of 56, his agent said. The cause of death was not immediately reported. 
Chester Nez, the last of the original Navajo code talkers credited with creating an unbreakable code used during World War II, died June 5 at his home in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the Navajo Nation President said. Nez was 93. 
Ann B. Davis, who played Alice the maid on "The Brady Bunch," died from a subdural hematoma on June 1. She was 88. 
Maya Angelou, a renowned poet, novelist and actress, died at the age of 86, her literary agent said on May 28. Angelou was also a professor, singer and dancer whose work spanned several generations. 
Australian racing legend Jack Brabham died on May 19, according to Brabham's son David. Brabham, 88, was a three-time Formula One world champion. 
Malik Bendjelloul, the Oscar-winning director of "Searching for Sugar Man," died suddenly on May 13, police said. He was 36. 
H.R. Giger, the Swiss surrealist artist whose works of sexual-industrial imagery and design of the eponymous creature in the "Alien" movies were known around the world, died on May 12. He was 74. 
Former professional tennis player Elena Baltacha died at the age of 30 after losing her battle with liver cancer on May 4. Before retiring in November, she had reached a career high of 49th in the world rankings. 
Al Feldstein, who guided Mad magazine for almost three decades as its editor, died on April 29, according to a Montana funeral home. He was 88. 
Oscar-nominated British actor Bob Hoskins, known for roles in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" and "Mona Lisa," died April 29 at age 71, his publicist said. 
Hall of Fame basketball coach John "Dr. Jack" Ramsay, who became a television analyst years after winning a league championship with the Portland Trail Blazers, died on April 28, according to his longtime employer ESPN. Ramsay was 89. 
Former Barcelona soccer coach Tito Vilanova, who had been battling cancer, died at the age of 45, the club announced April 25. 
Country singer Kevin Sharp died from "complications due to cancer" on April 19, his mother told CNN. He was 43. 
Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, the middleweight boxing contender who was wrongly convicted of a triple murder in New Jersey in the 1960s, died April 20 at the age of 76, according to Win Wahrer, the director of client services for the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted. 
Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the influential, Nobel Prize-winning author of "One Hundred Years of Solitude" and "Love in the Time of Cholera," passed away on April 17, his family and officials said. He was 87. 
Jose Luis "Cheo" Feliciano, a giant of salsa music and a Puerto Rican legend, died in a car crash April 18 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, according to police. He was 78. 
Days after being inducted into World Wrestling Entertainment's Hall of Fame, WWE superstar Ultimate Warrior died April 8. Born James Hellwig, he legally changed his name to Warrior in 1993. He was 54. 
Comedian John Pinette, 50, was found dead in a Pittsburgh hotel room on April 5. Pinette died of natural causes stemming from "a medical history he was being treated for," the medical examiner's spokesman said. An autopsy will not be done because his personal doctor signed the death certificate. 
Mickey Rooney, who started as a child star in vaudeville and went on to star in hundreds of movies and TV shows, died April 6 at the age of 93. 
DJ Frankie Knuckles, a legendary producer, remixer and house music pioneer, died March 31 at the age of 59. 
Kate O'Mara, the British actress best known for playing Joan Collins' sister on the 1980s show "Dynasty," died March 30. She was 74. 
Ralph C. Wilson Jr., the founder and longtime owner of the NFL's Buffalo Bills, died at age 95, the team announced March 25. 
Gwar lead singer Dave Brockie died March 23 at the age of 50, his manager said. The heavy-metal group formed in 1984, billing itself as "Earth's only openly extraterrestrial rock band." Brockie performed in the persona of Oderus Urungus. 
James Rebhorn, whose acting resume includes a long list of character roles in major films and TV shows, died March 21, his representative said. Rebhorn was 65. 
L'Wren Scott, a noted fashion designer and girlfriend of musician Mick Jagger, was found dead of an apparent suicide March 17, according to a law enforcement official. She was 49. 
Drummer Scott Asheton, who co-founded and played drums for the influential proto-punk band The Stooges, died March 15. He was 64. 
Comedian David Brenner, a regular on Johnny Carson's "The Tonight Show," died after a battle with cancer, a family spokesman said March 15. He was 78. 
Actress Sheila MacRae, who portrayed Alice Kramden in a 1960s revival of "The Honeymooners" on "The Jackie Gleason Show," died on March 6, according to her family. She was 92. 
Spanish guitarist Paco de Lucia, seen here in 2006, died February 25 of an apparent heart attack. He was 66. De Lucia transformed the folk art of flamenco music into a more vibrant modern sound. 
Actor, writer and director Harold Ramis, seen here on the far left with fellow "Ghostbusters" Dan Aykroyd and Bill Murray, died at his Chicago-area home on February 24. He was 69. Other popular Ramis films include "Stripes," "Groundhog Day" and "Analyze This." 
Maria von Trapp, seen here posing with a photo of her family, was the last of the singing siblings immortalized in the movie "The Sound of Music." She died February 18 of natural causes at her Vermont home, according to her family. She was 99. 
Journalist Garrick Utley died at age 74 following a long battle with cancer, his wife of 40 years said in February. Utley worked for CNN after his 30-year career at NBC News. 
Devo guitarist Bob Casale, known by fans as "Bob 2," died February 17, his brother and band mate announced. Casale was 61. 
John Henson, the son of Jim Henson who is perhaps most notable for his portrayal of Sweetums on "The Muppets," died after a "sudden, massive heart attack," his family's company said on February 15. 
Veteran actor Ralph Waite died at 85 on February 13, according to an accountant for the Waite family and a church where the actor was a regular member. Waite was best known for his role as John Walton Sr. on 'The Waltons." 
Sid Caesar, whose clever, anarchic comedy on such programs as "Your Show of Shows" and "Caesar's Hour" helped define the 1950s "Golden Age of Television," died on February 12. He was 91. 
Hollywood child star Shirley Temple, who became diplomat Shirley Temple Black, died February 10 at her Woodside, California, home. She was 85. 
Joan Mondale, the wife of former Vice President Walter Mondale, died on February 3, according to a statement from the family's church. 
Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman was found dead in his Manhattan apartment of an apparent drug overdose, law enforcement sources said February 2. 
Maximilian Schell died on February 1 in a Austrian hospital with his wife by his side, his agent Patricia Baumbauer said. He was 83. Schell was nominated for an Oscar three times. He won in 1962 for "Judgment at Nuremberg." 
Legendary folk singer Pete Seeger, known for classics such as "Where Have All the Flowers Gone" and "If I Had a Hammer (The Hammer Song)," died of natural causes in New York on January 27, his grandson told CNN. He was 94. 
Ruth Robinson Duccini, who played one of the Munchkins in the 1939 classic "The Wizard of Oz," died on January 16. She was 95. 
Former Playboy centerfold Cassandra Lynn Hensley was found dead at a friend's home in Los Angeles, the coroner there said on January 17. Hensley was 34. Her cause of death was not immediately known. 
Hiroo Onoda, center, salutes after handing over his military sword on Lubang Island in the Philippines in March 1974. Onoda, a former intelligence officer in the Japanese army, had remained on the island for nearly 30 years, refusing to believe his country had surrendered in World War II. He died at a Tokyo hospital on January 16. He was 91. 
Russell Johnson, center, stands with Alan Hale Jr., left, and Bob Denver in an episode of "Gilligan's Island" in 1966. Johnson, who played "the professor" Roy Hinkley in the hit television show, passed away January 16 at his home in Washington state, according to his agent, Mike Eisenstadt. Johnson was 89. 
Ariel Sharon, whose half century as a military and political leader in Israel was marked with victories and controversies, died on January 11 after eight years in a coma, Israeli Army Radio reported. Sharon was 85. 
Franklin McCain, seen center wearing glasses, one of the "Greensboro Four," who made history for their 1960 sit-in at a Greensboro Woolworth's lunch counter, died on January 10 after a brief illness, according to his alma mater, North Carolina A&T State University. 
Larry Speakes, who served as President Ronald Reagan's press secretary, died January 10 at his home in Cleveland, Mississippi, following a lengthy illness, according to Bolivar County Coroner Nate Brown. He was 74. 
Poet Amiri Baraka, who lost his post as New Jersey's poet laureate because of a controversial poem about the 9/11 terror attacks, died on January 9, his agent said. Baraka was 79. 
Sir Run Run Shaw, the media tycoon who helped bring Chinese martial arts films to an international audience, died at his home in Hong Kong on January 7 at age 106, the television station he founded said. 
Stage, TV and film actress Carmen Zapata, who founded the Bilingual Foundation of the Arts as a means of of introducing "the rich and eloquent history of the diverse Hispanic culture to English-speaking audiences," died on January 5 at her Los Angeles home. She was 86. 
Portugal football legend Eusebio, who was top scorer at the 1966 World Cup, died from a heart attack on January 5 at age 71, said his former club, Benfica. 
Alicia Rhett, who had been one of the oldest surviving cast members of the classic film "Gone With the Wind," died on January 3 in her longtime hometown of Charleston, South Carolina, a retirement community spokeswoman said. She was 98. 
Singer Phil Everly, left -- one half of the groundbreaking, smooth-sounding, record-setting duo the Everly Brothers -- died on January 3, a hospital spokeswoman said. He was 74. 
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Photos: People we lost in 2014 "The industry is like it always has been. It's a bunch of greedy people," he told The Los Angeles Times in 1990.
Garner was given a Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2004. The actors' union head issued a statement about his death Sunday.
"James Garner was the definition of the smooth, dashing leading man, but his talents were so much more than skin deep," SAG-AFTRA President Ken Howard said. "He was a hard worker who dedicated himself wholly to whatever he set out to accomplish, whether it was serving his country or performing for the camera."
A versatile star
He was a valued and convincing pitchman -- in his 1970s and '80s commercials for Polaroid cameras, he had such good rapport with co-star Mariette Hartley that viewers were convinced they were married -- and was nominated for a slew of awards, including Emmys, Golden Globes, SAG Awards and an Oscar (for 1985's "Murphy's Romance"). His performance in "The Rockford Files" won him an Emmy.
He could do serious. His performance in the TV movie "My Name Is Bill W." -- about the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous -- was straightforward and uncompromising. He could also show real heartbreak, whether it was cradling fellow escapee Donald Pleasance in "The Great Escape" or talking with Gena Rowlands in "The Notebook."
But he was rarely one to blow his own horn.
"I got into the business to put a roof over my head," he once said. "I wasn't looking for star status. I just wanted to keep working."
Humble beginnings
James Scott Bumgarner was born April 7, 1928, in Norman, Oklahoma. His mother died when he was 5 and his father remarried a year later. Garner didn't get along with his stepmother and, after a particularly vicious argument, left home at 14. His father, who divorced his stepmother, eventually moved to Los Angeles. At 16, Garner followed, attending Hollywood High School and finding a job as a swimsuit model.
"I made 25 bucks an hour!" he told People magazine. "That's why I quit school. I was making more money than the teachers. I never finished the ninth grade."
After joining the Merchant Marine and the National Guard, he served in the Korean War, where he was awarded a Purple Heart. After the war, he returned to Los Angeles and took up acting -- for the same reason he started modeling, he told the L.A. Times.
"What was I qualified to do to make a living? Nothing," he said. "You don't need qualifications as an actor or a politician. And I didn't want to be a politician."
A small part in Broadway's "The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial" led to a contract with Warner Bros., which cast him in both TV and movie roles. After a performance as a Marine captain in "Sayonara," he took the lead role in a new TV series, "Maverick," which was to make his reputation in many ways.
Leaving his mark
In 1957, "Maverick" was, well, a maverick: a Western filled with comedy, which often parodied other TV Westerns. As a show on ABC, then the third-ranked of the three broadcast networks, it wasn't expected to do well against competitors "The Ed Sullivan Show" and "The Steve Allen Show." But it won its Sunday-night time slot and became one of the hottest programs on television. In turn, Garner -- who played Bret Maverick, a roving card player -- became one of the medium's biggest stars.
But Garner became dissatisfied with the show's grind and being treated like "ham in a smokehouse," as he put it. In 1960 he sued producer Warner Bros. for breach of contract. He won the case and left the show, which replaced him first with Roger Moore (as Beau Maverick) and then Robert Colbert (as Brent) but soon left the air entirely.
Garner, however, was on the verge of movie stardom. Director William Wyler cast him in the film version of Lillian Hellman's play "The Children's Hour" as a sympathetic doctor; two years later Garner starred as Lt. Bob "The Scrounger" Hendley in "The Great Escape," one of the great war movies.
He remembered star Steve McQueen as being rebellious. "Steven would drive that motorcycle with the swastikas on it all over Munich. People would yell. They didn't think that was too good, and I didn't either," Garner told People in 1998.
But the two were close, he added -- in fact, McQueen was his next-door neighbor in Los Angeles. "He looked at me as an older brother," he told the magazine.
Garner followed "Escape" with the film he ranked as his favorite, "The Americanization of Emily." The film, which had a script by Paddy Cheyefsky ("Marty," "Network"), was about a self-described "coward" Navy officer who romances an Englishwoman (Julie Andrews) and -- against his will -- takes part in the D-Day invasion. "Emily" was nominated for two Oscars and helped make Andrews, a famed stage actress whose film "Mary Poppins" was released earlier that year, a star.
His 1966 film, the John Frankenheimer-directed "Grand Prix," gave him another passion -- auto racing. He founded an auto-racing team and drove the pace car in the Indianapolis 500 three times. It was an avocation he shared with a friend, Paul Newman. Garner was also a good golfer and an avowed fan of his home state school, the University of Oklahoma, where he endowed a chair at the college's drama school.
Garner's movie career languished in the late '60s, though he had a mild hit with "Support Your Local Sheriff!" (1969), and he returned to television in the 1970s. After the short-lived "Nichols" he took the role as Jim Rockford in "The Rockford Files," which was as much an anti-detective series as "Maverick" was an anti-Western. (Both shows were produced by Roy Huggins, who also created "77 Sunset Strip" and "The Fugitive.")
Garner's Jim Rockford may have carried a gun, but he did so rarely (he didn't have a permit anyway) and he would much rather talk than shoot. Once imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit, the Pontiac Firebird-driving detective lived in a dilapidated trailer on the Malibu coast. His friends included a grumpy LAPD detective, a former cellmate, a disbarred lawyer and his father, a retired trucker.
Aging amid stardom
Garner did many of his own stunts on "Rockford," and they took a toll, he told People in 1994.
"The work on the show had worn me down to a nub," he said. Over the course of the series, he broke bones, strained muscles and was even treated for depression. "I was sick and tired of it all." Garner also had quintuple bypass surgery in 1988 and had a stroke in 2008.
He left "Rockford" in 1980, partly because of his ailments and partly because of contractual problems with the studio, which eventually led to his lawsuit. After it was settled, he returned to the role for a series of TV movies in the '90s.
But "Rockford" cemented Garner's status on Hollywood's A-list. He made a number of TV and theatrical movies in the '80s, some duds -- "Tank" (1984) and "Sunset" (1988) -- and some successful: He earned praise for his performance in "Victor/Victoria" and an Oscar nomination for "Murphy's Romance."
He worked steadily in the 2000s, with notable performances in TV's "Barbarians at the Gate," the film version of "Maverick," the miniseries "Streets of Laredo" and the theatrical film "The Notebook." He also returned to series television, joining the cast of "8 Simple Rules" after the death of John Ritter.
The work in front of a live audience intimidated him, he said, despite his experience.
"I started in theater, and that's what scared me to death," he told CNN's Larry King in 2004.
Actor, husband, activist
Garner famously had one of Hollywood's longest-lasting marriages. He married Lois Clarke in 1956 after a brief courtship; they were still married at Garner's death, 58 years later.
"I just let my wife get away with murder," he joked to The Los Angeles Times in 1994.
His co-stars were equally smitten with Garner.
"Jim is funny and dear, and he laughs at my jokes," Sally Field told People in 1985, before the release of "Murphy's Romance." "That's what makes Jim sexy; it doesn't change with years."
Garner was also a longtime political activist. He helped organize the 1963 March on Washington and frequently donated to Democratic candidates and liberal causes.
But he'll likely be best remembered for a James Garner persona that seemed inseparable from the real-life man: professional, unruffled, witty and never too impressed with himself.
"I'm a Spencer Tracy-type actor," he told People in 2005. "His idea was to be on time, know your words, hit your marks and tell the truth. Most every actor tries to make it something it isn't (or) looks for the easy way out. I don't think acting is that difficult if you can put yourself aside and do what the writer wrote."
He is survived by his wife and their two daughters, Kim and Gigi.
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