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by Peer J. Oppcnheimer
Jim Garner with his wife, Lois, and stepdaughter. Jim hit stardom as "Maverick.1
When james gabner asked the late John Hodiak
for advice on dramatic schools, Hodiak replied,
"Jim, 99 out of 100 people who meet you like you
the way you are. Chances are, 99 out of 100 who
see you perform will feel the same way. If you
attend acting school, you'll become stylized. It
would ruin you."
Jim accepted the advice and it paid off. His
easygoing, natural charm and masculinity have
made him a favorite with movie and TV audiences
of both sexes and all age groups.
Although Garner had appeared in a few movies
and TV shows before "Sayonara," it was his role
as Marlon Brando's pal, Captain Bailey, which
attracted so much attention that Warner Brothers
cast him as Bret Maverick in ABC's Sunday night
TV Western. Within a few weeks, he pulled the rug
out from under Ed Sullivan and Steve Allen, and
was rewarded with more movies the title role in
"Darby's Rangers," and the lead in the soon-to-be-released
"Up Periscope."
Curiously enough, very little is known about
Garner and that is strictly his own doing.
There are two major outlets for publicizing new
comers: gossip columns and fan magazines. Jim's
opinion of columnists is unprintable, and his atti
tude toward fan magazines is made clear by his
refusal, to sit still for their interviews or picture
layouts. For that matter, he's opposed to having
his family photographed under any conditions, much
to the distress of his studio.
If he hadn't worked as a gas-station attendant
on Hollywood Boulevard, and made the acquaint
ance of producer Paul Gregory, chances are Jim
would never have turned to acting. When he looked
up Gregory after his discharge from the Army in
1952, Gregory not only urged Jim to give it a try
but helped him get started by hiring him at $40 a
week to cue Lloyd Nolan in his stage production
of "The Caine Mutiny Court Martial."
When they went on the road, Jim's pay was raised
to $150 a week for playing one of the judges who
never spoke a line. "The hardest part of the deal,"
he says, "was to stay awake at 512 performances!"
Garner is the only member of his family to be
come an actor. His father, Weldon Bumgarner,
was in the upholstery and carpentry business in
Oklahoma when Jim was born. His mother died
when he was five. He has two older brothers,
Charles, a schoolteacher in Norman, and Jack, who
used to play professional baseball and now works
at a golf course in Leesburg, Fla.
Jim's education was interrupted at 16, when he
joined the merchant marine as an able-bodied sea
man. If he hadn't been on leave late in 1944, he
would have drowned with the rest of the crew
when their tug sank during a hurricane!
Jim attended Hollywood High briefly, moved back
to Norman to complete his high-school education,
then returned to Hollywood to join his father in
the carpet-laying business. As a legal resident of
Oklahoma, however, he became the first draftee
from his state to be called for service in Korea.
He served 14 months in Korea with the 24th Divi
sion, and got the Purple Heart. After his discharge,
and one semester at the University of Oklahoma,
Jim returned to Los Angeles where Paul Gregory
gave him a start in show business.
In August, 1956, Jim became a husband and
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