Actor James Garner Died

<a href="http://www.fortodays.com/2014/07/actor-james-garner-died.html">Actor James Garner</a>, best known for the role of prime-time television as a frontier gambler hilarious on "Maverick" and as an ex-convict turned private detective on "The Rockford Files," has died at the age of 86, celebrity news website TMZ reported on Sunday.<br /> <br /> Garner to build a career of six decades played a character who is rough but attractive, good-hearted, anti-hero. He had received the highest award from the Screen Actors Guild in 2004.<br /> <br /> He was found dead on Saturday night by ambulance officers were sent to his home in Los Angeles.ral<br /> <br /> <div style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.5em;"> <b>James Garner</b> (born <b>James Scott Bumgarner</b>; April 7, 1928 – July 19, 2014) was an American film and television actor. He starred in several <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">television series</span></span> over more than five decades, which included such popular roles as <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Bret Maverick</span></span> in the 1950s <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">western</span></span>-<span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">comedy</span></span> series <i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Maverick</span></span></i> and <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Jim Rockford</span></span> in the 1970s <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">detective</span></span> <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">drama</span></span> <i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">The Rockford Files</span></span></i>.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.5em;"> Garner starred in more than 50 films including <i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">The Great Escape</span></span></i> (1963), <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Paddy Chayefsky's</span></span> <i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">The Americanization of Emily</span></span></i> (1964),<i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Grand Prix</span></span></i> (1966), <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Blake Edwards'</span></span> <i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Victor Victoria</span></span></i> (1982), <i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Murphy's Romance</span></span></i> (1985) for which he received an <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Academy Award</span></span>nomination, and <i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">The Notebook</span></span></i> (2004).</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.5em;"> Garner, the youngest of three children, was born in <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Norman, Oklahoma</span></span>, the son of Mildred Scott (née Meek) and Weldon Warren Bumgarner, a carpet layer.His two older brothers were actor <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Jack Garner</span></span> (1926–2011) and Charles Bumgarner, a school administrator who died in 1984. His family was Methodist. His mother, who was of part <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Cherokee</span></span> descent, died when he was five years old. After their mother's death, Garner and his brothers were sent to live with relatives. Garner was reunited with his family in 1934, when Weldon remarried.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.5em;"> Garner grew to hate his stepmother, Wilma, who beat all three boys, especially young James. When he was fourteen, Garner finally had enough of his "wicked stepmother" and after a particularly heated battle, she left for good. James' brother Jack commented, "She was a damn no-good woman" Garner stated that his stepmother punished him by forcing him to wear a dress in public and that he finally engaged in a physical fight with her, knocking her down and choking her to keep her from killing him in retaliation. This incident ended the marriage.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.5em;"> Shortly after the breakup of the marriage, Weldon Bumgarner moved to <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Los Angeles</span></span>, while Garner and his brothers remained in Norman. After working at several jobs he disliked, at sixteen years of age, Garner joined the <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">United States Merchant Marine</span></span> near the end of <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">World War II</span></span>. He fared well in the work and with shipmates, but suffered from chronic<span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">seasickness</span></span>. At seventeen, he joined his father in Los Angeles and enrolled at <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Hollywood High School</span></span>, where he was voted the most popular student. A high school gym teacher recommended him for a job <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">modeling</span></span> <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Jantzen</span></span> bathing suits. It paid well, <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">$</span></span>25 an hour, but in his first interview for the Archives of American Television, he said he hated modeling and soon quit and returned to Norman. There, he played football and basketball, as well as competing on the track and golf teams, for <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Norman High School</span></span>.He never graduated from high school, explaining in a 1976 <i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Good Housekeeping</span></span></i> magazine interview: "I was a terrible student and I never actually graduated from high school, but I got my diploma in the Army.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.5em;"> Later, he joined the <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">National Guard</span></span> serving seven months in the United States. He then went to Korea for 14 months in the <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Regular Army</span></span>, serving in the <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">5th Regimental Combat Team</span></span> in the <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Korean War</span></span>. He was wounded twice, first in the face and hand from <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">shrapnel</span></span> fire from a <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">mortar</span></span> round, and second on April 23, 1951 in the buttocks from <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">friendly fire</span></span>from U.S. fighter jets as he dove headfirst into a foxhole. Garner was awarded the <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Purple Heart</span></span> in Korea for the first injury. For the second wound, he received a second Purple Heart (eligibility requirement: "As the result of friendly fire while actively engaging the enemy"), although Garner received the medal in 1983, 32 years after his injury.Garner was a self-described "scrounger" for his company in Korea, a role he later played in <i>The Great Escape</i><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-16" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; white-space: nowrap;">[</span></span>16]</sup> and <i>The Americanization of Emily</i>.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.5em;"> In 1954 a friend, Paul Gregory, whom Garner had met while attending Hollywood High School, persuaded Garner to take a non-speaking role in the <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Broadway</span></span> production of <i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">The Caine Mutiny Court Martial</span></span></i>,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-17" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; white-space: nowrap;">[</span></span>17]</sup> where he was able to study actor <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Henry Fonda</span></span> night after night. Garner subsequently moved to <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">television commercials</span></span> and eventually to television roles. His first movie appearances were in <i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">The Girl He Left Behind</span></span></i> and <i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Toward the Unknown</span></span></i> in 1956.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.5em;"> <span style="color: #252525;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;">He changed his last name from Bumgarner to Garner after the studio had credited him as "James Garner" without permission. He then legally changed it upon the birth of his first child, when he decided she had too many names.</span></span><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 11.666666030883789px; white-space: nowrap;"> </span></span><span style="color: #252525;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;">His brother Jack also had an acting career and changed his surname to Garner, too. His non-actor brother, Charlie, kept the Bumgarner surname.</span></span></div> <h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; font-family: 'Linux Libertine', Georgia, Times, serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.3; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px;"> <span class="mw-headline" id="Acting_career">Acting career</span></h2> <h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); border-bottom-style: none; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0.5em;"> <span class="mw-headline" id="Maverick"><i>Maverick</i></span></h3> <div class="thumb tright" style="background-color: white; clear: right; color: #252525; float: right; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px; margin: 0.5em 0px 1.3em 1.4em; width: auto;"> <div class="thumbinner" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); font-size: 13px; min-width: 100px; overflow: hidden; padding: 3px !important; text-align: center; width: 152px;"> <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><img alt="" class="thumbimage" data-file-height="858" data-file-width="727" height="177" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/58/James_Garner_Louise_Fletcher_Maverick_1959.JPG/150px-James_Garner_Louise_Fletcher_Maverick_1959.JPG" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/58/James_Garner_Louise_Fletcher_Maverick_1959.JPG/225px-James_Garner_Louise_Fletcher_Maverick_1959.JPG 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/58/James_Garner_Louise_Fletcher_Maverick_1959.JPG/300px-James_Garner_Louise_Fletcher_Maverick_1959.JPG 2x" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); vertical-align: middle;" width="150" /></span></span><br /> <div class="thumbcaption" style="border: none; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 3px !important; text-align: left;"> <div class="magnify" style="background: none !important; border: none !important; float: right; margin-left: 3px;"> <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial !important; background-clip: initial !important; background-origin: initial !important; background-position: initial !important; background-repeat: initial !important; background-size: initial !important;"><img alt="" height="11" src="http://bits.wikimedia.org/static-1.24wmf13/skins/common/images/magnify-clip.png" style="background: none !important; border: none !important; display: block; vertical-align: middle;" width="15" /></span></span></div> With <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Louise Fletcher</span></span> in 1958</div> </div> </div> <div class="thumb tright" style="background-color: white; clear: right; color: #252525; float: right; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px; margin: 0.5em 0px 1.3em 1.4em; width: auto;"> <div class="thumbinner" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); font-size: 13px; min-width: 100px; overflow: hidden; padding: 3px !important; text-align: center; width: 152px;"> <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><img alt="" class="thumbimage" data-file-height="897" data-file-width="748" height="180" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/James_Garner_Bret_Maverick_Jack_Kelly_Bart_Maverick.JPG/150px-James_Garner_Bret_Maverick_Jack_Kelly_Bart_Maverick.JPG" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/James_Garner_Bret_Maverick_Jack_Kelly_Bart_Maverick.JPG/225px-James_Garner_Bret_Maverick_Jack_Kelly_Bart_Maverick.JPG 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/James_Garner_Bret_Maverick_Jack_Kelly_Bart_Maverick.JPG/300px-James_Garner_Bret_Maverick_Jack_Kelly_Bart_Maverick.JPG 2x" style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); vertical-align: middle;" width="150" /></span></span><br /> <div class="thumbcaption" style="border: none; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 3px !important; text-align: left;"> <div class="magnify" style="background: none !important; border: none !important; float: right; margin-left: 3px;"> <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial !important; background-clip: initial !important; background-origin: initial !important; background-position: initial !important; background-repeat: initial !important; background-size: initial !important;"><img alt="" height="11" src="http://bits.wikimedia.org/static-1.24wmf13/skins/common/images/magnify-clip.png" style="background: none !important; border: none !important; display: block; vertical-align: middle;" width="15" /></span></span></div> Garner as <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Bret</span></span> and<span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Jack Kelly</span></span> as <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Bart Maverick</span></span></div> </div> </div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.5em;"> Garner was closely advised by financial adviser <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Irving Leonard</span></span>, who also advised <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Clint Eastwood</span></span> in the late 1950s and 1960s. After several feature film roles, including <i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Sayonara</span></span></i> with <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Marlon Brando</span></span>, Garner got his big break playing the role of professional gambler <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Bret Maverick</span></span> in the comedy Western series <i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Maverick</span></span></i> from 1957 to 1960. Garner was earlier considered for the lead role in another Warner Brothers Western series,<i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Cheyenne</span></span></i>, but that role went to <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Clint Walker</span></span> because the casting director couldn't reach Garner in time (according to Garner's autobiography), and Garner wound up playing an Army officer in the pilot instead.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.5em;"> Only Garner and series creator <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Roy Huggins</span></span> thought <i>Maverick</i> could compete with <i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">The Ed Sullivan Show</span></span></i> and <i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">The Steve Allen Show</span></span></i>. The show almost immediately made Garner a household name. Various actors had recurring roles as Maverick foils, including <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Efrem Zimbalist, Jr</span></span> as "Dandy Jim Buckley," <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Richard Long</span></span> as "Gentleman Jack Darby," <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Leo Gordon</span></span> as "Big Mike McComb," and <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Diane Brewster</span></span> as "Samantha Crawford" (Huggins' mother's maiden name) while the series veered effortlessly from comedy to adventure and back again. The relationship with Huggins, the creator and original producer of <i>Maverick</i>, would later pay dividends for Garner.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.5em;"> Garner was the lone star of <i>Maverick</i> for the first seven episodes but production demands forced the studio, <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Warner Brothers</span></span>, to create a Maverick brother, <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Bart</span></span>, played by <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Jack Kelly</span></span>. This allowed two production units to film different story lines and episodes simultaneously. The series also featured popular cross-over <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">episodes</span></span> featuring both Maverick brothers, including the famous "<span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Shady Deal at Sunny Acres</span></span>", upon which the first half of the 1973 movie <i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">The Sting</span></span></i> appears to be based, according to <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Roy Huggins</span></span>' <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Archive of American Television</span></span> interview. Garner and <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Clint Eastwood</span></span> staged an epic fistfight in an episode entitled "<span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Duel at Sundown</span></span>", in which Eastwood plays a vicious gunslinger. Critics were positive about Garner and Jack Kelly's chemistry, but Garner quit the series in the third season because of a dispute with Warner Brothers.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.5em;"> The studio attempted to replace Garner's character with a Maverick cousin who had lived in Britain long enough to pick up an English accent, played by <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Roger Moore</span></span>, but Moore quit the series after filming only <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">14 episodes</span></span> as <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Beau Maverick</span></span>. Warner Brothers also dressed <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Robert Colbert</span></span>, a Garner look-alike, in Bret Maverick's outfit and called the character Brent, but <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Brent Maverick</span></span> did not have a chance to catch on with viewers since Colbert made only two episodes toward the end of the season, leaving the rest of the series run to Kelly (alternating with reruns of <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">episodes with Garner</span></span>).</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.5em;"> When <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Charlton Heston</span></span> turned down the lead role in <i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Darby's Rangers</span></span></i> before Garner's departure from <i>Maverick</i>, Garner was selected and performed well in the role. As a result of Garner's performance in <i>Darby's Rangers</i>, coupled with his <i>Maverick</i> popularity, <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Warner Brothers</span></span> subsequently gave him lead roles in other films, such as <i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Up Periscope</span></span></i> and <i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Cash McCall</span></span></i>.</div> <center style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;"> <ul class="gallery mw-gallery-packed" style="line-height: 1.6; list-style-image: url(data:image/png; margin: 2px; padding: 2px; zoom: 1;"> <li class="gallerybox" style="display: inline-block; margin-bottom: 0.1em; vertical-align: top; width: 186.48977395048442px; zoom: 1;"><div style="width: 186.48977395048442px;"> <div class="thumb" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; border: none; margin: 2px; width: 185.48977395048442px;"> <div style="margin: 0px auto;"> <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="/" data-file-height="963" data-file-width="767" height="231" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/69/James_Garner_Jack_Kelly_Maverick_1959.JPG/239px-James_Garner_Jack_Kelly_Maverick_1959.JPG" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: none; display: block; margin: 0px auto; vertical-align: middle;" width="185" /></span></span></div> </div> <div class="gallerytext" style="font-size: 13px; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 4px; word-wrap: break-word;"> <div style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.5em;"> With <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Jack Kelly</span></span> in 1957</div> </div> </div> </li>   <li class="gallerybox" style="display: inline-block; margin-bottom: 0.1em; vertical-align: top; width: 184.01184068891283px; zoom: 1;"><div style="width: 184.01184068891283px;"> <div class="thumb" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; border: none; margin: 2px; width: 182.01184068891283px;"> <div style="margin: 0px auto;"> <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-file-height="731" data-file-width="572" height="231" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6c/James_Garner_Maverick_1960.JPG/235px-James_Garner_Maverick_1960.JPG" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: none; display: block; margin: 0px auto; vertical-align: middle;" width="182" /></span></span></div> </div> <div class="gallerytext" style="font-size: 13px; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 4px; word-wrap: break-word;"> <div style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.5em;"> With <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Suzanne Storrs</span></span> in 1960</div> </div> </div> </li>   <li class="gallerybox" style="display: inline-block; margin-bottom: 0.1em; vertical-align: top; width: 167.94079655543598px; zoom: 1;"><div style="width: 167.94079655543598px;"> <div class="thumb" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; border: none; margin: 2px; width: 166.94079655543598px;"> <div style="margin: 0px auto;"> <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-file-height="829" data-file-width="595" height="231" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/84/Connie_Stevens_James_Garner_Maverick.JPG/215px-Connie_Stevens_James_Garner_Maverick.JPG" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: none; display: block; margin: 0px auto; vertical-align: middle;" width="166" /></span></span></div> </div> <div class="gallerytext" style="font-size: 13px; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 4px; word-wrap: break-word;"> <div style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.5em;"> With <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Connie Stevens</span></span> in 1959</div> </div> </div> </li>   <li class="gallerybox" style="display: inline-block; margin-bottom: 0.1em; vertical-align: top; width: 187.48977395048442px; zoom: 1;"><div style="width: 187.48977395048442px;"> <div class="thumb" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; border: none; margin: 2px; width: 185.48977395048442px;"> <div style="margin: 0px auto;"> <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-file-height="897" data-file-width="719" height="231" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/59/Diane_Brewster_James_Garner_Maverick_1957.JPG/240px-Diane_Brewster_James_Garner_Maverick_1957.JPG" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: none; display: block; margin: 0px auto; vertical-align: middle;" width="185" /></span></span></div> </div> <div class="gallerytext" style="font-size: 13px; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 4px; word-wrap: break-word;"> <div style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.5em;"> With <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Diane Brewster</span></span> in 1957</div> </div> </div> </li>   <li class="gallerybox" style="display: inline-block; margin-bottom: 0.1em; vertical-align: top; width: 178.2152852529602px; zoom: 1;"><div style="width: 178.2152852529602px;"> <div class="thumb" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; border: none; margin: 2px; width: 176.2152852529602px;"> <div style="margin: 0px auto;"> <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-file-height="921" data-file-width="701" height="231" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3b/James_Garner_Diane_McBain_Maverick.JPG/228px-James_Garner_Diane_McBain_Maverick.JPG" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: none; display: block; margin: 0px auto; vertical-align: middle;" width="176" /></span></span></div> </div> <div class="gallerytext" style="font-size: 13px; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 4px; word-wrap: break-word;"> <div style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.5em;"> With <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Diane McBain</span></span> in 1959</div> </div> </div> </li>   <li class="gallerybox" style="display: inline-block; margin-bottom: 0.1em; vertical-align: top; width: 181.8525296017223px; zoom: 1;"><div style="width: 181.8525296017223px;"> <div class="thumb" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; border: none; margin: 2px; width: 180.8525296017223px;"> <div style="margin: 0px auto;"> <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-file-height="910" data-file-width="708" height="231" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b8/James_Garner_Jean_Willes_Maverick_1960.JPG/233px-James_Garner_Jean_Willes_Maverick_1960.JPG" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: none; display: block; margin: 0px auto; vertical-align: middle;" width="180" /></span></span></div> </div> <div class="gallerytext" style="font-size: 13px; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 4px; word-wrap: break-word;"> <div style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.5em;"> With <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Jean Willes</span></span> in 1960</div> </div> </div> </li>   <li class="gallerybox" style="display: inline-block; margin-bottom: 0.1em; vertical-align: top; width: 169px; zoom: 1;"><div style="width: 169px;"> <div class="thumb" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; border: none; margin: 2px; width: 167px;"> <div style="margin: 0px auto;"> <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-file-height="908" data-file-width="758" height="200" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/19/James_Garner_Connie_Stevens_Maverick_1959.JPG/250px-James_Garner_Connie_Stevens_Maverick_1959.JPG" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: none; display: block; margin: 0px auto; vertical-align: middle;" width="167" /></span></span></div> </div> <div class="gallerytext" style="font-size: 13px; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 4px; word-wrap: break-word;"> <div style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.5em;"> With Connie Stevens in 1959</div> </div> </div> </li>   <li class="gallerybox" style="display: inline-block; margin-bottom: 0.1em; vertical-align: top; width: 163px; zoom: 1;"><div style="width: 163px;"> <div class="thumb" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; border: none; margin: 2px; width: 161px;"> <div style="margin: 0px auto;"> <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-file-height="856" data-file-width="688" height="200" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1b/James_Garner_as_Pappy_Maverick_1959.JPG/241px-James_Garner_as_Pappy_Maverick_1959.JPG" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: none; display: block; margin: 0px auto; vertical-align: middle;" width="161" /></span></span></div> </div> <div class="gallerytext" style="font-size: 13px; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 4px; word-wrap: break-word;"> <div style="line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-top: 0.5em;"> With <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Kaye Elhardt</span></span> in 1</div> </div> </div> </li> </ul> </center>

Edward James Olmos Henry James James Badge Dale James Bond James Cagney James Callis James Coburn James Franco James Gandolfini James Garner Liam James Actor James Garner Died

Actor James Garner , best known for the role of prime-time television as a frontier gambler hilarious on "Maverick" and as an ex-c...

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Tales of Manhattan…and Hollywood (and more): The Last of Sheila

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhETCX9yQLjrmoImGbz2h06itSiZd6j5SrYEZxHwhRJxEb5NgephvGzpU76MuLefW_cyLqc4FHAoqh_bKpnqEbF6-2rv_IIim0yfDoAlZ_tNLnHWu0_gRnkCaQir89f8DCIr24am93hGg2j/s1600/last+of+sheila.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" q6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhETCX9yQLjrmoImGbz2h06itSiZd6j5SrYEZxHwhRJxEb5NgephvGzpU76MuLefW_cyLqc4FHAoqh_bKpnqEbF6-2rv_IIim0yfDoAlZ_tNLnHWu0_gRnkCaQir89f8DCIr24am93hGg2j/s320/last+of+sheila.jpg" width="273" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The murder mystery has been a movie staple since the silent era. In the 1930s variations on the drawing-room style whodunit, perhaps epitomized by the lighthearted Powell/Loy “Thin Man” series and the suspenseful Rathbone/ Bruce “Sherlock Holmes” franchise, became popular. Fairly standard in these mysteries was a group of people in a remote location where one (or more) of them is murdered; the killer was not, in most cases, unmasked until the last act. One of Agatha Christie’s most popular whodunits, written in 1939, was filmed by Rene Clair in 1945 as the memorable <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">And Then There Were None</b>, starring Walter Huston and Barry Fitzgerald.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>But the “cozy” whodunit has never entirely gone out of style and an updated variant, the whodunit with an all-star cast emerged. This tale concerns one such film, a clever and absorbing entry from the era of “Easy Riders and Raging Bulls,” and how it came to be…</span> <br /><a name='more'></a></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYfpeF0u4MyWisMK4RRvlmwZuxZugcNioyWuf2ijysXhHDpri_U8-n7cKb5FF_9lanuUgfpI6W8hgIKqRAP8zV5vbQrrA0OrkGlJIAaXFF0uSBQxfjR8PxAKokZxf15mCQos0Bz9HxtKbR/s1600/Perkins.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="200" q6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYfpeF0u4MyWisMK4RRvlmwZuxZugcNioyWuf2ijysXhHDpri_U8-n7cKb5FF_9lanuUgfpI6W8hgIKqRAP8zV5vbQrrA0OrkGlJIAaXFF0uSBQxfjR8PxAKokZxf15mCQos0Bz9HxtKbR/s200/Perkins.jpg" width="179" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Anthony Perkins</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">During the late 1960’s actor Anthony Perkins, synonymous with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Psycho</b>’s Norman Bates, lived in Manhattan and was part of composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim’s social set. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sondheim, a Broadway legend among whose masterworks is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Sweeney Todd</b>, shared many interests with Perkins, one of which was a love of sophisticated games and puzzles. Sondheim was well known at the time for his own rendition of the “murder game,” an at-home version of the whodunit, and was famous for going to great lengths to ensure his players really experienced “a certain amount of fear …” Writer Peter Shaffer (<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Amadeus</b>) was so dazzled after playing that he asked Sondheim to stage a game in London at the home of his twin brother, Anthony (<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Frenzy</b>, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Death on the Nile </b>). The London game later inspired Anthony Shaffer to write <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Sleuth</b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span></span> <br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSaxDm8p6q0IYIPexwcuaP_RtiPCwUpkEuYiOokoseCUJ0WYvrODFhX7BtjBcX-RGTaEExuBSWq9GoVvDZYUQIIcfQENAHmQ5i0N4ItshuIB7DC0HLEt26AOzk2XwkaQk44YSnOmMnJFYB/s1600/sondheim.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="200" q6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSaxDm8p6q0IYIPexwcuaP_RtiPCwUpkEuYiOokoseCUJ0WYvrODFhX7BtjBcX-RGTaEExuBSWq9GoVvDZYUQIIcfQENAHmQ5i0N4ItshuIB7DC0HLEt26AOzk2XwkaQk44YSnOmMnJFYB/s200/sondheim.jpg" width="195" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Stephen Sondheim</span></td></tr></tbody></table> <br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A scavenger hunt Sondheim and Perkins cooked up for Halloween 1968 became legendary. It had taken the two friends a full month to plan the “Eleanor Clark French Memorial Treasure Hunt,” to which they invited several famous friends (including Roddy McDowall, Lee Remick and Herb Ross). The group of twenty would spend the night roaming, in limousines with maps, all over Manhattan in search of clues. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eventually Sondheim and Perkins got together and wrote <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Last of Sheila</b>. A whodunit about an elaborate – and murderous <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- game, the story became a 1973 film directed by Herb Ross and was studded with stars James Coburn, James Mason, Raquel Welch, Dyan Cannon, Richard Benjamin, Ian McShane and Joan Hackett. Perhaps relishing the opportunity to satirize the movie business, Sondheim and Perkins created characters, both cutthroat and cowardly, straight out of Hollywood. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Last of Sheila </b>begins with the hit-and-run death of Sheila Green, a gossip columnist (briefly played by Yvonne Romain, formerly of B-movies and still the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>longtime wife of writer/composer/lyricist Leslie Bricusse). A year later her husband, ruthless producer Clinton Green (James Coburn) invites a group of industry associates to join him for a week-long Mediterranean cruise on his yacht, the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sheila</i>. In attendance is a variety of industry types – director, actress, screenwriter, agent - each in need of Clinton in one way or another. Once all are on board, he reveals that he’s devised "The Sheila Green Memorial Gossip Game" as an entertainment during the trip. However, the devious exec’s true motive is to expose his wife’s killer in public; all six of his guests had attended a party at his home the night Sheila died - and the vengeful producer knows her death was no accident. However, as the game develops, his plan goes awry…</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The convoluted cat-and-mouse thriller had originally been set on a snowbound estate on the East Coast. But filming on the Riviera seemed much more appealing to all and the estate was transformed into a luxury yacht. As it turned out, the change in location led to major difficulties…</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">    </span></span></span>For starters, the yacht chartered for location shooting sank off the coast of Greece on its way to France.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A replacement was quickly found but it wasn’t as large as the original and this caused delays and additional expense when interior sets had to be rebuilt.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">    </span></span></span>Then there were bomb threats from the Arab terrorist group Black September, apparently in protest of Jews working on the project. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie5dEkWyZd2CAmty_42D7-wzxLGfRH5WGllHAUi1H_59Qyqg-u965BQ6EmgEyd9v_LeHfoA93n1YEEP5sr8eR4eiVcQ4Z8wGOpWy_YfWTye2tM35xJV9IpHnSzxmx3yWsqsi8R3Eix2Gho/s1600/last+mengers+with+jack.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="141" q6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie5dEkWyZd2CAmty_42D7-wzxLGfRH5WGllHAUi1H_59Qyqg-u965BQ6EmgEyd9v_LeHfoA93n1YEEP5sr8eR4eiVcQ4Z8wGOpWy_YfWTye2tM35xJV9IpHnSzxmx3yWsqsi8R3Eix2Gho/s200/last+mengers+with+jack.jpg" width="200" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sue Mengers and Jack Nicholson</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Not so much a problem for the production but a challenge for the actress,Dyan Cannon was asked to gain weight for her role. Putting on pounds might have been a worrisome proposition, but equally daunting may have been that her character, a blatantly bitchy and profane talent agent, was based on her own (and Perkins’s) agent at the time, the powerful Sue Mengers.</span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Super-agent Mengers had arrived in Hollywood from New York just in time for the “decade under the influence.” She’d started in the agency business as an MCA receptionist in 1955. Working her way up and around, she departed for the West Coast in 1968 and, at CMA, joined the once exclusive boys club of Hollywood talent agents. Soft-faced, zaftig and very blonde, Mengers played hardball with the best of them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>She developed a reputation for her parties, her pot, her foul mouth and her sense of humor – but most of all, she was acknowledged for her mastery of the art of the deal. Time Magazine called her “a cross between Mama Cass and Mack the Knife.” Mengers was at her apex when <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Last of Sheila</b> came out, with a client list that included not only Cannon and Perkins but also Streisand, McQueen, Burt Reynolds, Mike Nichols, Faye Dunaway, Ali McGraw and a long list of other in-demand stars of the new Hollywood.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Cannon, a deft comedienne, bravely soldiered on and her performance as the brassy virago was the picture’s stand-out turn and earned the actress much critical praise.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfHJNiJmnu4W-OMqzGdrPq_TpFf_1PW6toTgiBcG2PqApEedS2Kbt9jpoOTOEkh8hAW_sYnESwgAgUFEwSkSm5alw7jeBe-jVSres_Y99MqKDANQQhu9Z1KG9OWkw6V4Yv_PKp-1sEM8IG/s1600/raqie%253B.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="200" q6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfHJNiJmnu4W-OMqzGdrPq_TpFf_1PW6toTgiBcG2PqApEedS2Kbt9jpoOTOEkh8hAW_sYnESwgAgUFEwSkSm5alw7jeBe-jVSres_Y99MqKDANQQhu9Z1KG9OWkw6V4Yv_PKp-1sEM8IG/s200/raqie%253B.jpg" width="160" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Raquel Welch</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Playing the part of a Hollywood sexpot was Hollywood sexpot Raquel Welch. Anthony Perkins thought she was the most physically perfect woman he’d ever seen, and he was not alone. The former beauty queen/weather girl was in her early 30s then and one of the hottest stars in Hollywood. She’d begun to develop a reputation as difficult to work with and the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Sheila </b>set may have been one of the sources of her tag as a diva. At one point she walked off the set claiming director Ross had attacked her. James Mason, highly respected for his then nearly 40-year career, commented publicly that Welch was the most inconsiderate actress he’d ever worked with.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perkins remarked, “She really should have done it closer to when the picture actually opened when something like that in the paper would have done the picture some good.” </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Though sprinkled with stars, laced with sly humor and plot twists, and appreciated by critics from Vincent Canby to Roger Ebert, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Last of Sheila </b>was not a box office hit. It would be one year later, with Sidney Lumet’s adaptation of Agatha Christie’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Murder on the Orient Express</b>, that the star-studded whodunit would gain a wide audience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Though <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Sheila</b> was ignored by the Academy, Sondheim and Perkins’s screenplay won an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Turner Classic Movies is featuring guest programmers on Mondays and Thursdays throughout the month of March, and this time the group has been selected from TCM's own staff. Alexa Foreman of the Studio Production team chose <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Last of Sheila</b> and described it as, “a mystery that few have heard of, even though it was written by Stephen Sondheim and Anthony Perkins, and may be the best-cast movie ever.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIljP2AF47B08wEBSG-PD9NST_pgrnRcWhJZ-lEVLoYDSmBTOuJzblkpAORwr1SuDIM8RGKPIIF4IQ0N-HKaP0Bh2-455Qk6PMwZ_FPXwXZ_ncsgbBFyXEjGIm0lzgguU0T8U-r08ofzHR/s1600/last+of+sheila+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="251" q6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIljP2AF47B08wEBSG-PD9NST_pgrnRcWhJZ-lEVLoYDSmBTOuJzblkpAORwr1SuDIM8RGKPIIF4IQ0N-HKaP0Bh2-455Qk6PMwZ_FPXwXZ_ncsgbBFyXEjGIm0lzgguU0T8U-r08ofzHR/s320/last+of+sheila+3.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I was not familiar with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Last of Sheila </b>the first (and last) time I saw it, which was years ago on television. At first I was mostly curious to see a film I didn't know about that boasted an all-star cast. But I love a mystery and quickly became engrossed in a tricky plot enhanced by barbed dialogue and a sinister undercurrent.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">TCM’s screening of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Last of Sheila</b> will be its premiere on the classic movie channel. The film has developed a cult following among murder mystery lovers over the years and currently has a 91% positive rating from critics at<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rotten Tomatoes. I'm looking forward to seeing <b>The Last of Sheila </b>for the first time in a very long time and will be thinking of Stephen Sondheim as I watch...the incomparable Mr. S will be celebrating his 81st birthday on March 22...</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><b>The Last of Sheila</b> will air on TCM on Thursday, March 31, at 10:30pm Eastern/7:30pm Pacific (it is currently available to Comcast customers On Demand under Premium Channels/Preferred Collection)</i></span></span><br /> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div></div><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="269" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/qr1SVsVxqnM" title="YouTube video player" width="425"></iframe>

Anthony Perkins Dyan Cannon Herb Ross Ian McShane James Coburn James Mason Joan Hackett Raquel Welch Richard Benjamin Stephen Sondheim The Lady Eve (author) The Last of Sheila Whodunit Tales of Manhattan…and Hollywood (and more): The Last of Sheila

The murder mystery has been a movie staple since the silent era. In the 1930s variations on the drawing-room style whodunit, perhaps epitomi...

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