Happy 85th Birthday James Garner

James Scott Bumgarner was born on April 7, 1928 in Norman, Oklahoma. Known by his stage name James Garner, he is an iconic American film and television actor, one of the first Hollywood actors to excel in both media. He has starred in several television series spanning a career of more than five decades. These included his roles as Bret Maverick, in the popular 1950s western-comedy series, ‘Maverick’; Jim Rockford, in the popular 1970s detective drama, ‘The Rockford Files’; and the father of Katey Sagal's character on ‘8 Simple Rules’ following the death of John Ritter. He has starred in more than fifty movies, including “The Great Escape” (1963), “The Americanization of Emily” (1964), “Victor Victoria” (1982), “Murphy's Romance” (1985), for which he received an Academy Award nomination, and “The Notebook” (2004). Garner appeared in one Euro-western: “A Man Called Sledge” (1970). Today we celebrate one of America’s favorite actors on his 85^th birthday.