It’ll be six years next month since Hollywood star [1] James Garner passed away, but his daughter Gigi Garner is determined to keep the legendary “The Rockford Files” actor’s legacy alive with the help of his fans.
“I hear from his fans on a regular basis, and that helps,” Gigi, who is a movie producer, recently told Closer Weekly [2]. “And having a resurgence of television shows like ‘Maverick,’ ‘Brett Maverick,’ ‘The Rockford Files,’ and movies like The Great Escape and The Notebook — those things keep his name relevant and seem to be procuring more fans now.”
“It is a challenge, but fans are helping me,” she added. “And I try to give them a taste of who he really was as a person on my social media platforms, such as Twitter and the official James Garner Facebook page [3]. I want people to get to know my dad as the considerate, loving, kind, generous person that he was and not just some figure from television or film.”
Garner rose to fame playing Bret Maverick in the ‘50s Western “Maverick,” and he went on to portray Jim Rockford in the ‘70s series “The Rockford Files.” Garner appeared in over 50 films throughout his career as well before he died of natural causes in 2014 at the age of 86. Before he found success in Hollywood, Garner served in the Army in the Korean War, and he was awarded two Purple Hearts after being injured twice.
Gigi explained that behind the scenes, her dad was nothing like the characters he played onscreen.
“The truth about my dad is that people think he’s like he was on TV, but there were many sides to his personality,” the 62 year-old explained. “He was funny and jovial; in fact, the funniest person I ever knew, so witty and so quick. At the same time, he was shy and introverted in some respects.”
After having a difficult childhood, Garner was determined to create a better life for himself and his family.
“He had a very different mindset and went about things, even in the industry, much differently than other people did,” Gigi said. “He had a core sense of moral values… He was truly an exemplary human being. He marched on Washington with Martin Luther King when it was not a popular thing to do. He sued a major studio while being threatened, ‘You’ll never work in this town again.’ Over ‘Maverick,’ of course. He won that lawsuit. He also sued over ‘Rockford.’ My dad was very convinced in his beliefs and if he believed he was in the right, he was going to stand up for that.”
She also said that Garner never took his Hollywood stardom for granted.
“When he did ‘Grand Prix,’ he got to do all the driving,” she said. “He actually learned to be a race driver and even did his own stunts, like when he caught on fire and things like that. For him, it wasn’t about the money or the awards. He loved to work; that was his thing. Whatever it was, he was the first one there in the morning.”
In the end, Gigi wants fans to know that Garner was an incredible person off the screen as well.
“I don’t look at my dad as some TV star or movie star,” she said. “I look at him as, ‘Oh, it’s my dad.’ Just like you would look at your dad. But I do realize that I’m very lucky that I do get to see him any time I want to because he’s immortalized on film and TV. A lot of people don’t have the privilege.”
This piece originally appeared in UpliftingToday.com [4] and is used by permission.
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