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Sad to hear of James Garner's passing. I always felt that Dean Martin was the working class version of Cary Grant, but Garner fits that bill, too.
Some actors seem to have a real likeable quality in film that transcends the story. Garner had it, mainly on tv, often a more intimate medium, and one where characters have to wear well.
Certainly Grant had that in spades. But other actors are less likable, but more complex and interesting--like Bogart, John Garfield, and Robert DiNiro.
Its hard to find an actor who projects both extreme likeability, and dramatic tension, too.
I would think maybe Jimmy Stewart projected both as an affable guy and a tormented one--especially later, after his
military experience in WWII.
What do others think? Any other candidates?

Well, there's Jerry Lewis...

(not)

Jim

Jim was on tv forever it seems ie The Rockford Files, which was okay, there was a plethora of police dramas to choose from in the 70s, but I liked the theme music to the show. "The Great Escape" is of course a classic for all time. A more recent standout Garner performance was in the made for cable "Barbarians at the Gate" about the RJ Reynolds and the selling of tobacco products.

A fine star and actor. RIP James Garner.

I think there is a natural tendency for actors to play something more like 'themselves' when doing a TV show, it almost has to work that way, there just isn't enough any other way to play it with all the air time and pages per day the main star has to do...movies are very different. I would have liked to see Garner do more villains in movies, but the end of the studio system in the 60s took away that chance. Would have been fun to see Garner do more 'intense' roles...I think one of his more intense roles was in Great Escape, even though his role as the Scrounger was pretty close to his Maverick/Rockford roles.

Phillyrich wrote:Sad to hear of James Garner's passing. I always felt that Dean Martin was the working class version of Cary Grant, but Garner fits that bill, too.

The working class version of Cary Grant was Archibald Leach; his real background wasn't a million miles away, poverty wise, from Chaplin's. Cary Grant was a persona every bit as much as Chaplin's Little Feller.......a role. Famously he even said "Everyone wants to be Cary Grant. Even me....."

Phillyrich wrote: Some actors seem to have a real likeable quality in film that transcends the story. Garner had it, mainly on tv, often a more intimate medium, and one where characters have to wear well.
Certainly Grant had that in spades. But other actors are less likable, but more complex and interesting--like Bogart, John Garfield, and Robert DiNiro.
Its hard to find an actor who projects both extreme likeability, and dramatic tension, too.
I would think maybe Jimmy Stewart projected both as an affable guy and a tormented one--especially later, after his
military experience in WWII.
What do others think? Any other candidates?

Henry Fonda; there was always a potential edge to his general affability....in films like The Oxbow Incident and My Darling Clementine you know he's on the side of the angels but is capable of walking close to that line.....and then there's Once Upon A Time In America......

I tend to think of James Garner as one of those likable post World War II leading men that came to prominence in the 50s and 60s - they were guys that were handsome and easy-going, but had a certain knowledge about the world and how it works.

William Holden, Rock Hudson and Robert Mitchum are examples of it. I think Garner would have been in the same league as Holden dramatically with the right parts that would have stretched his acting abilities a little bit.

I'm not sure it's "intensity" versus "likeability" as a "guy next door" quality that Garner and Holden had. They were actors that the wife could swoon over and the guy could see himself emulating. Someone that reminded them of that "average Joe" they looked up to when they served in WWII or Korea or the guy at work in the next office.

Actors like Brando or Dean were more eccentric - fascinating as performers, but not the kind of personalities you'd run into everyday.

I always enjoyed Garner's work - he could liven up something as silly as "Support Your Local Sheriff", take the hard-edge off of what could have been an otherwise offensive movie like "Skin Game", and be right at home in a big-budget spectacle like "Grand Prix".

And then there are roles like THE AMERICANIZATION OF EMILY, which combine touches of the Garner charm with a darker, edgier persona. He could be a fine actor when he had the material and the director. Like many whose careers wound up mainly in TV series, he became known for a stereotyped persona and didn't often get the chance to demonstrate the range of his abilities.

coolcatdaddy wrote:I tend to think of James Garner as one of those likable post World War II leading men that came to prominence in the 50s and 60s - they were guys that were handsome and easy-going, but had a certain knowledge about the world and how it works.

Robert Wagner.

Jim

FYI, TCM is having a day-long tribute to James Garner on Monday:

TCM Remembers James Garner – Monday, July 28

6 a.m. – Toward the Unknown (1956) – starring William Holden, Lloyd Nolan, Virginia Leith and James Garner

8 a.m. – Shoot-Out at Medicine Bend (1957) – starring Randolph Scott, James Craig, Angie Dickinson and James Garner

9:30 a.m. – Grand Prix (1966) – starring James Garner, Eva Marie Saint, Brian Bedford and Yves Montand

12:30 p.m. – Cash McCall (1960) – James Garner, Natalie Wood, Nina Foch and Dean Jagger

2:15 p.m. – The Wheeler Dealers (1963) – starring James Garner, Lee Remick, Phil Harris and Chill Wills

4 p.m. – Darby's Rangers (1958) – starring James Garner, Etchika Choureau and Jack Warden

6:15 p.m. – Mister Buddwing (1966) – starring James Garner, Jean Simmons, Angela Lansbury and Suzanne Pleshette

8 p.m. – The Thrill of It All (1963) – starring Doris Day, James Garner and Arlene Francis

10 p.m. – The Americanization of Emily (1964) – starring Julie Andrews, James Garner, Melvyn Douglas and James Coburn

Midnight – The Children's Hour (1961) – starring Audrey Hepburn, Shirley MacLaine, James Garner and Miriam Hopkins

2 a.m. – Victor/Victoria (1982) – starring Julie Andrews, James Garner, Robert Preston and Lesley-Ann Warren

4:30 a.m. – Marlowe (1969) – starring James Garner, Rita Moreno, Sharon Farrell and Bruce Lee

I've never seen Mister Buddwing or The Children's Hour, this'll be a good opportunity to catch up on some titles.