James Garner actually had an ulcer, so the prop food would have to be dumbed down -- no chili dogs and no hot sauce. His autobiography said that he hated garlic so much that he was aces at finding the North Koreans during the Korean War. They loved him on guard duty, because he could smell them coming in the dark. Anyone who's eaten Kim Chee would understand why.
And yes, James Garner was a far better actor than anyone gave him credit for. After getting knee surgery during the first hiatus, his knee was always hurting him. When it was so bad he couldn't hide it, they'd write it into the script. He did a lot of his own stunts in his youth, and that caught up with him later on. He ended his life in a wheel chair, at least part of the time. You have to hurt a lot to want to be stuck in one of those for any length of time. His wife said he was the saddest man she'd ever met. Despite all the pain -- physical and emotional -- he had the warmest smile and actually did have a good sense of humor...except about golf. Mac Davis used to golf with him, he said, because he was the only one who could stand his fits of temper.
But one of our local TV columnists interviewed him when he was appearing in a PR gig for a miniseries. Most of the reporters were in the main tent at the dog and pony show the producers were putting on, but our guy was in another tent watching Garner wolf down plain, iced shrimp and listening to stories. He said he wasn't so big on the production going on in the other tent. Actually, he hated public speaking. He only attended the award shows he thought he stood no chance of winning -- then he could relax and enjoy himself.
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