European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 3, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                James garners second shot at a Maverick a a. Quot a. Warner bios. James Garner stars with Jodie Foster in Jufa Verica which is still playing on the military movie  Carla Hall los Angeles times James Garner does not go to the movies a to huh i done to like to sit there too Long a he explains in a perfect Jim Rockford esque grumble of a drawl a i done to like the crowds i done to like to get out of the House if i done to have to. Parking. Its such a  yet Here he sits in the hotel Bel air dining room cheerfully saying you should want to do All those things to see his latest movie Maverick. A we did have a Ball making it a he says a of asked director Dick Donner the second week a we re having so much fun Are we laughing ourselves into trouble Here a a it has been 37 years since Warner Bros officials. Called Over to Japan where Marlon Brando was filming 5ayonara and asked the producers to hurry up and Send Home a Young contract actor James Garner to play Bret Maverick in their new to be ties. By the time Garner was finished with Maverick the Tongue in Cheek Western had supplanted most others and Garner was on his Way to being a Star. A Well we just Krind westerns a Garner says chuckling. When a character once declared a the went that a Way a Maverick looked at him and dead panned a and you know a shortcut right a Maverick established two seminal things about Garner. One was that he is Brazen enough to stand up to a studio in a Legal Battle. Long before his famous 1980s suit against Universal he successfully sued Warners for laying him off his 52-week contract during a writers strike the second was that he is the master of the wry bemused everyman character in the four decades of his career Garner has proved to be one of the most enduring and endearing actors in the business accessible enough for television commanding enough for movies unpretentious enough for commercials. He has done things you be probably forgotten a the americanization of Emily and Victor Victoria both with Julie Andrews a and things head rather forget about. A Man called Sledge is what he regularly offers up when asked for his biggest Stinker and along the yay there were films like support your local sheriff grand prix he loved that because he got to drive race car the children s hour and the great escape. But it has been television that let him distinguish himself from the pack first with his charming Gam Bler adventurer Bret Maverick and then later with the witty beleaguered private detective Jim Rockford of the Rockford files. In 1993, he starred in Hbous emmy winning version of barbarians at the s Gate but for most to fans Maverick and Rockford were the quintessential Garner roles. In Many ways Rockford was a 1970s reincarnation of Bret Maverick and had a similar skewering effect on to private eyes. A we kept sticking our Tongue in our Check and that ruined a lot of detective shows a says Garner. A people a round get to thinking a what would Rockford have done he  have gotten a gun and gone chasing  Maverick has never been quite out of circular. Tion living on in fans fond memories and getting resuscitated in a Short lived 1981 series that Garner says never made him particularly Happy. But now there a a big screen rebirth and Garner is passing on the Torch to Mel Gibson who plays the glib Gambler in Richard Donner a movie Maverick which also stars Jodie Foster and Garner Here the actor says he a Content to sit by at the poker table and on the Stagecoach playing straight Lawman Zane Cooper to Gibson a wisecracking Maverick Garner say s his Maverick Days Are Over. A that was a Long time ago Quot he says. A i done town it. Its wonderful to see Mel play it. He has such Charm and wit. In be said before i done to know anybody who could play it like Mel could a it at 66, Garner is a Veteran of bypass surgery who no longer smokes Well he sneaks one now and then and drinks Only wine. A i had Mem working nights trying to make enough whiskey for me to drink a he recalls of his hard i quor drinking Days that ended he says when he was 27. He allows himself about six ounces of beef a week a and this from a Guy once famous for beef commercials. A i got letters from people a i Hope you die eating beef a All these  he a aging about As Well Asoh say Warren Beatty Garner is older which is to say quite Well. Tall and Broad shouldered Garner is dressed in a Black sweater and Black Slacks a Black leather jacket tossed across the seat. The face is Ruddy Pink thicker and not As chiselled As in his Rockford Days. It was Only nine years ago that his performance in Murphy a Romance As the pharmacist who Falls slowly in love with Sally Field won him an Oscar nomination for Best actor. Its one of his favorite roles played As an unapologetic eccentric comfortable with his life and his thickening Waist even sexy. He laughs at the observation and says he never tried to project himself As a sexually alluring figure. A i just done to see myself like  he thinks movies Are too violent today and la ments the loss of the understated picture. A a Murphy a Romance was a Good example a he. Says. A it has no violence no sex a As w eve come to know it in movies. And it was a charming film driving miss Daisy is another example. But they done to make Many of these. They want to make the ones where they kill  Garner is in some ways an old fashioned Hollywood Story. He never made it through 10th Grade leaving Norman okla., where head been a High school athlete for Hollywood where his father had relocated and was working As a carpet layer. He briefly enrolled in Hollywood High school earned some Money doing swimsuit modelling and then shipped out with the merchant Marine. Later he spent 21 months in the korean War,.where he earned two purple hearts. When he returned to Hollywood after his stint in the army he considered himself qualified for nothing. So he went off to Sec an agent Friend who had once told him he ought to be in pictures. The agent. Signed him that Day and Garner has never wanted a for work since. Lies married to his first and Only wife Lois whom he met at an Adlai Stevenson rally 38 years ago. With the exception of a two year separation More than a decade ago they be been together Ever Sunee