James Garner (born April 7, 1928) is an American film and Emmy-award winning television actor.

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 dozens of movies, including The Great Escape (1963) with Steve McQueen; Paddy Chayefsky's The Americanization of Emily (1964) and Blake Edwards' Victor/Victoria (1982), both with Julie Andrews; and Murphy's Romance (1985) with Sally Field, for which he received an Academy Award nomination.

Mazda also had him as their spokesperson appearing in their commercials in the North American market during the 1980s.

James Garner is a U.S. politician from the Republican party who was mayor of the Village of Hempstead, New York from 1988 to 2005, and was the first African-American to be elected a mayor on Long Island.

During his tenure as mayor, Garner took a lead role in revitalization, redevelopment, and housing issues facing Hempstead, and was a panelist on the 2002 White House Conference on Minority Homeownership, among other roles. In 2003 the United States Conference of Mayors elected Garner its 61st president, a position he held for one year.

In 2004, Garner was nominated by the Republican Party to challenge Representative Carolyn McCarthy of New York's fourth district. The race was widely expected to be a close one, but McCarthy won with 63% of the vote. Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry carried 55% of the district's vote in that same election. Six months later in March, 2005, Garner was defeated by Democrat Wayne Hall in his reelection bid for Mayor of Hempstead.

Prior to becoming Hempstead mayor, Garner served one term on the Hempstead Village Board of Trustees. He is a Vietnam-era veteran and holds a B.S. from Adelphi University, and founded a pest-control company that is today owned and operated by his family. His membership in community groups includes the American Legion and the NAACP.

The son of an Oklahoma carpet layer, James Garner (born James Baumgarner) dropped out of high school at 16 to join the Merchant Marine. He worked in a variety of jobs and received the Purple Heart when he was wounded during the Korean War. He had his first chance to act when a friend got him a non-speaking role in the Broadway stage play "The Caine Mutiny Court Martial (1954)". Part of his work was to read lines to the lead actors and he began to learn the craft of acting. This play led to small television roles, television commercials and eventually a contract with Warner Brothers. Director David Butler (I) saw something in Garner and gave him all the attention he needed when he appeared in Girl He Left Behind, The (1956). After co-starring in a handful of films during 1956-57, Warner Brothers gave Garner a co-starring role in the the western series "Maverick" (1957). Originally planned to alternate between Bart Maverick (Jack Kelly (I)) and Brett Maverick (Garner), the show quickly turned into the Brett Maverick Show. As Maverick, Garner was cool, good-natured, likeable and always ready to use his wits to get him in or out of trouble. The series was highly successful, and Garner continued in it into 1960 when he left the series in a dispute over money. In the early 1960s Garner returned to films, often playing the same type of character he had played on "Maverick". His successful films included Thrill of It All, The (1963), Move Over, Darling (1963), Great Escape, The (1963) and Americanization of Emily, The (1964). After that, his career wandered and when he appeared in the automobile racing movie Grand Prix (1966), he got the bug to race professionally. Soon, this ambition turned to supporting a racing team, not unlike what Paul Newman (I) would do in later years. Garner found great success in the western comedy Support Your Local Sheriff! (1969). He tried to repeat his success with a sequel, Support Your Local Gunfighter (1971), but it wasn't up to the standards of the first one. After 11 years off the small screen, Garner returned to television in a role not unlike that in Support Your Local Sheriff! (1969). The show was "Nichols" (1971) and he played the sheriff who would try to solve all problems with his wits and without gun play. When the show was canceled, Garner took the news by having Nichols shot dead, never to return in a sequel. In 1974 he got the role for which he will probably be best remembered, as wry private eye Jim Rockford in the classic "Rockford Files, The" (1974). This became his second major television hit, with Noah Beery Jr. and Stuart Margolin, and in 1977 he won an Emmmy for his portrayal. However, a combination of injuries and the discovery that Universal Pictures' "creative bookkeeping" would not give him any of the huge profits the show generated soon soured him and the show ended in 1980. In the 1980s Garner appeared in few movies, but the ones he did make were darker than the likeable Garner of old. These included Tank (1984) and Murphy's Romance (1985). For the latter, he was nominated for both the Academy Award and a Golden Globe. Returning to the western mode, he co-starred with the young Bruce Willis in Sunset (1988), a mythical story of Wyatt Earp, Tom Mix and 1920s Hollywood. In the 1990s Garner received rave reviews for his role in the acclaimed television movie about corporate greed, Barbarians at the Gate (1993) (TV). After that, he appeared in the theatrical remake of his old television series, Maverick (1994), opposite Mel Gibson (I). Most of his appearances after that were in numerous TV movies based upon "Rockford Files, The" (1974).

Amiable and handsome James Garner has obtained success in both films and television, often playing variations of the charming anti-hero/con-man persona he first developed in Maverick, the offbeat western TV series that shot him to stardom in the late 1950s. On the big screen, Garner made his film debut in Toward the Unknown (1956), landed a good supporting role besides 'Marlon Brando' in Sayonara (1957), and quickly established himself as leading man, starring in Darby's Rangers (1958) and making a strong impression as the young corporate raider in Cash McCall (1960). In the early 1960s, his tall good looks and flair for comedy made him a perfect male lead in amusing sex comedies, such as _Boy's Night Out (1962)_, Thrill of It All, The (1963) and Move Over, Darling (1963). While he did not quite make it as a top movie star, he remained very successful through most of the decade, able to play a variety of parts, although predominantly light comedy and adventure roles. His best performances were in Great Escape, The (1963), as the charming "scrounger" gathering all the necessary materials for the escape; in Americanization of Emily, The (1964), as a self-professed coward, convincing co-star Julie Andrews (I) of the virtues of self-interest and survival in lieu of noble courage; in _36 Hours (1964)_, as an American officer made to believe by his German captors that he is suffering from amnesia; in _Hour of the Gun, The (1967)_, as a cynical, vengeful Wyatt Earp (an unusually dark role for him); and in Support Your Local Sheriff! (1969), as the likeable lawman who cleans up the town with his wits instead of his fists. He also made a relaxed, but effective Marlowe (1969) in the screen adaption of Raymond Chandler's The Little Sister. His popularity declined in the early 1970s and after another top-notch performance in Skin Game (1971), he initiated a return to television, first with the rather unsuccessful series Nichols and then, with "Rockford Files, The" (1974), which brought him a new generation of fans. In the 1980s, he had some sporadic success on the big screen with _Victor/ Victoria (1982)_ and Murphy's Romance (1985), for which he was nominated for an academy award, but he could not re-establish himself as an important leading man. Nevertheless, he delivered some excellent performances in quality TV movies, Heartsounds (1984) (TV), Promise (1986) (TV) and Barbarians at the Gate (1993) (TV), demonstrating that his dramatic ability had been underestimated. He has remained fairly active and popular, often adding some darkness to his previously light characterizations and proving to be an enduring talent. His most recent films have included Maverick (1994), My Fellow Americans (1996) and _Space Cowboys (2000)_ .