So Long, Jim...

This blog has been dormant for awhile now, and it is with some irony that my last post was my annual tribute to James Garner on his birthday last April. For today I woke up to the very sad news that he has now passed away at the age of 86. I knew he'd been in poor health for some time now, and when someone reaches that age you know that the day they'll no longer be around is inevitable, it's just a matter of when. Yet somehow it still remains difficult to imagine this world without them in it. On previous occasions, I'd felt that way upon the passing of Audrey Hepburn in 1992 and of Frank Sinatra in 1998. That's the way I feel about Jim Garner too.

For me, Jim was more than just my favourite actor. It wasn't merely that I appreciated his considerable skills on the movie or TV screen. There was something more that he had - a quality that went beyond his celebrity. He was a genuinely nice man, exuding a warmth, charm and friendliness that just naturally engaged people. As a result, his numerous fans were extremely loyal and dedicated to him, as evidenced by the Facebook site set up by his friend, Robert Howe, The Official James Garner Fan Page. We had all grown up enjoying watching Jim in his movies, and especially his two long running TV series, Maverick and The Rockford Files. To all of his finest roles, he brought a special element of self-effacing humour. He was the "reluctant hero" - the man who would rather avoid trouble if he could help it, but would stand up for himself and others when push came to shove.

I am grateful that I got to meet Jim back in 1982 on the set of his series, Bret Maverick, a sequel to his original series that featured him still as a sly yet conscientious gambler, but now 20 years older and looking to settle down from his roving ways. The visit to the set at Warner Brothers had been arranged by my good friend, Bryan Stoller through a studio contact, and it was just wonderful to meet Jim himself that day. I'll never forget shaking his hand, then him saying, "Come on over here, son", in that distinctive voice of his, as he motioned me over to one of the tables in the show's Red Ox saloon set they were filming on, so he could look at the drawing I did of him and autograph another one for me. He was as tall and handsome a man as could be, with that warm manner and engaging smile that I'd grown up watching on the movies and TV. A real square-jawed, silver screen hero in the flesh!

Me and my friend Bryan gathered with Jim Garner and cast on the set of Bret Maverick, 1982

But now James Garner is gone. And I'm filled with a great sadness at his passing. My heart goes out to his family, wife Lois, and daughters Gigi and Kim. In recent years I'd had email conversations with Gigi on her Dad's birthday, and she told me that she'd printed out one of my blog posts a couple years ago and Jim himself read it aloud at the family home. She said he was quite touched by my words and that it was something he needed to hear. I'm grateful for that knowledge that my words may have brought some small comfort to this wonderful man. I'll miss you Jim...

In final tribute, here is the memorable speech from Jim's personal favourite of his films, The Americanization of Emily:

Happy Birthday, James Garner!

"Basically, I'm just passin' through here on my way to Australia!"

As has become a regular annual custom on this blog, I wish to celebrate the birthday today of James Garner, my all-time favourite actor. For me, watching Jim in one of his many films or on The Rockford Files TV series is like wearing a comfortable old sweater. I've got quite a few of his films in my DVD library, but the one I always turn to the most is his 1969 western comedy, Support Your Local Sheriff! In fact, between this film and his performance in Marlowe, also in 1967, Jim seems to have perfected the on-screen persona for what would become his most famous portrayal of all, as private investigator, Jim Rockford in The Rockford Files a few years later on TV.

In Support Your Local Sheriff!, Jim plays Jason McCullough, a fellow casually making his way west with a goal of someday reaching the great frontier of Australia. Hearing of a gold rush in the small town of Calendar, Colorado, Jason decides to try his luck at finding gold to finance his trip Down Under. Turns out the town is run by a family of desperadoes by the name of Danby, including Walter Brennan as the patriarch, and Bruce Dern as his trigger happy, no-good son, Joe. When Jason first rides into town, he witnesses a shootout in the local saloon with Joe Danby suckering and gunning down some yokel in a dubious claim of "self defence".

When it looks like he's going to need a regular job first to pay for his gold hunting hobby, Jason applies for the job of sheriff, which the town officials are only too happy to hire him for, due to the fact that the Danbys keep killing or running off the previous sheriffs. Jason decides that his first duty will be to arrest Joe Danby for cold-blooded murder back at the saloon. However, with a newly built town jail that has yet to install the iron bars for the cell, since they're still on back-order, it looks like Jason will have to use his wits to figure out a way to keep some sort of law and order until then:



Support Your Local Sheriff! also features Harry Morgan as the town mayor, Olly Perkins, and lovely Joan Hackett as his feisty, yet humorously accident prone daughter, Prudy. In my opinion however, the standout performance in the film is delivered by veteran western actor, Jack Elam, as Jake "The Town Character", who very reluctantly allows himself to be deputized. With his craggy face and wall-eyed grimaces, Elam is just a delight in every scene he's in.

So, Happy Birthday, Jim! And thanks for creating one of my favourite comedies with Support Your Local Sheriff!

Happy Birthday, James Garner!

James Garner as gambler, Bret Maverick

Again it is my annual tradition to celebrate the birthday of my favourite actor, Jim Garner. For this year's celebratory caricature I've decided to portray Jim in the role that first brought him a large degree of international fame, as gambler, Bret Maverick in the TV series Maverick, which ran from 1957 to 1962. I was too young to know the show when it was originally broadcast and, sorry to say, I don't recall it ever having been made available in the years since in any of the markets where I lived. As such, I must confess that the only episodes I'd ever seen were the handful that were release on a single DVD back a number of years ago.

Happily that situation has now been rectified, as the complete first season of Maverick was released on DVD this past year, with season two due out very shortly. The character of Bret Maverick is a professional gambler and sometime conman, though only conning those whom he believes are deserving of being brought down a peg or two. He is always a champion of the underdog, and will go out of his way to see that an innocent person receives justice. Though a fast draw and crack shot with a pistol, Bret often manages to get himself out of most tight spots on his wits alone. As a gambler, he has learned to read a man pretty well, anticipating correctly what he's likely to do and being able to cleverly bluff his way through a situation as if he were dealing with an inferior poker player. I love the quirkiness of the series, where no character seems to follow the conventions of the traditional TV western. Even some of the baddies may adhere to some code of honour.

Ironically, though I had never seen the original Maverick, it was when Jim reprised the character 20  years later on Bret Maverick that I first became aware of who the character was. It was also on the set of that TV show that I was able to realize my longtime dream of meeting Jim Garner. You can read about that visit to the set on this previous post. 

Jim Garner is in his 80s now, and pretty much retired from acting, but I hope he knows how many people he's brought great enjoyment to through his numerous film and TV roles. His legion of longtime fans are extremely loyal and still watch him onscreen every chance we get. Incidentally, a special thanks to Robert Howe, who was fortunate enough to have worked on The Rockford Files back in the mid-70s for a couple years, and who has recently written a new book reminiscing on that time, as well as having created an official Facebook fan page dedicated to Jim. If you're a fan too, please check these out!

Happy Birthday, Jim - we love ya'!

Happy Birthday, Jim Garner!

Here's wishing the best to my favourite actor, Jim Garner on his 84th birthday. I've been watching a lot of episodes of The Rockford Files lately, as for me it's the best example of TV as "comfort food". I never get tired of watching the charismatic and extremely likeable Garner portraying private investigator, Jim Rockford, as he somehow always gets the better of his adversaries. This expression was sketched from a typical scene in which somebody is putting the screws to Rockford, but they soon find out that he has the upper hand. In this case, a shady District Attorney who's hired Rockford on a personal case is not happy that Rockford wants no part of it anymore after figuring out that the DA is among the guilty, so he threatens to use his clout to have Rockford's investigator license pulled unless he complies. Rockford then just calmly explains to the DA why he probably would regret that move, as it would mean an appeal in court where he'd have to divulge all he knows about the dubious case the DA had him investigating, the details of which might just reveal the DA's own questionable involvement.

I just love situations like that in the show, as they're pure Jim Garner. Having recently read his autobiography, The Garner Files, it becomes quite evident that Jim never let himself be pushed around by others, no matter how big and important they thought they were. He refused to be bullied by studio mogul, Jack Warner early in his career, and years later after doing The Rockford Files, he successfully took Universal to court when he discovered they'd been illegally withholding millions of dollars of profits he was entitled to. He also would stand up for crew members or fellow performers when they might be bullied on a movie set, always looking out for the underdog. It's that aspect of Jim Garner that I admire so much, as I think we could all learn from his fine example of fighting injustice time and again. I'll admit it - this man has long been my hero, both on and off screen, which is why I like to honour him each year here on my blog. So, Happy Birthday, Jim - I hope you have a wonderful day with your family!

Happy Birthday, James Garner!

Every year on this date I like to celebrate the birthday of my favourite actor, James Garner. Although I don't have a new caricature in full colour to put up this time, I do have this article I wrote for the "Exagerrated Features" magazine, the quarterly publication for all subscribing members of the ISCA. In it, I describe my own personal working method in creating one of my celebrity caricatures, and I use James Garner as the subject for this tutorial. The series of rough sketches at the top of this post I had done especially for the article, and they demonstrate how I sometimes will help familiarize myself with the subject before developing the final piece of art. I don't always take this step, but I do recommend it as a way of warming up and finding the "design" of the head and face, particularly when you may be struggling to get the likeness. I hope this tutorial will be of benefit to those of you who also enjoy drawing caricatures of celebrities:






Now that you've read all that, you may now relax and enjoy this clip from The Rockford Files to see Jim Garner's expressions for real:

James Cromwell

The subject of this week's challenge at Caricaturama Showdown 3000 is James Cromwell, the veteran character actor. Oddly enough, despite his extremely notable facial features, I had a tough time getting the likeness to my satisfaction. The caricature was primarily sketched while watching him in Space Cowboys, which starred Clint Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Sutherland and my favourite actor, James Garner. Cromwell plays an officious head at NASA who is none too happy about letting the quartet of past their prime, ex-fighter pilots/astronauts set out on a shuttle mission to fix a Soviet communications satellite, as there has long been bad blood between he and Eastwood's character.

On the subject of caricature, please take note all local caricaturists, that there will be a first time get together of the new Canadian Chapter of the ISCA this coming Wednesday, Feb. 2. It will be held at The Firehall Cool Bar Hot Grill, 2441 Lakeshore Rd. W. Oakville Ontario (near Bronte Rd.). If you're already a member of the ISCA or are interested in perhaps joining this organization, this would be an opportune time to meet fellow caricaturists in the Greater Toronto Area. I'm planning on going, so hopefully we will see you there!

Happy Birthday, James Garner!

Yes, I've celebrated his birthday for the last couple of years on this blog and I aim to keep on doing it. Jim Garner remains my all-time favourite actor and I never get tired of watching his many great film roles and sketching my impressions of him. For this year's caricature, I watched The Great Escape, the classic WWII film from 1963, which was based on the true story of a POW prison breakout. Jim Garner plays Lt. Hendley, also known as "The Scrounger", for his ability to scrounge all manner of raw materials from within the camp that can then be jerry-rigged into usable tools to be utilized in the digging of not one, but three tunnels to the woods outside the fence!

The Great Escape is a hugely thrilling epic that I've watched a number of times over the years, though I try to limit my viewings so that it still feels fresh every time I watch it. There's a lot of humanity in the film, most notably in the friendship that develops between Garner's Lt. Hendley and Blythe, "The Forger" played by British character actor, Donald Pleasence. Just prior to the planned breakout, it's decided that poor Blythe is to be left behind in the camp due to the risk he presents to the mission, having suffered a deterioration of his eyesight to the point of near blindness. Hendley insists that Blythe still be included, offering to take full responsibility for getting him out and away under his protection. That act of kindness and human decency is a trait I like to attribute to Jim Garner in real life, too. Jim has always been outspoken on various issues on which he takes a principled stand, often being honest to the point of bluntness in his opinions. Many of his film roles have portrayed him as, if not the typical "hero", then certainly the "reluctant hero" who may wish to avoid trouble if he can, but will rise to the occasion when necessary.

As I've mentioned in a past entry, I got to meet Jim Garner back in 1982 when he was starring in NBC's Bret Maverick, a sequel series to his classic original Maverick from about 20 years before. Here is a photo that was taken on that occasion showing me and my friend Bryan Stoller with Jim, actress Darleen Carr and singer/actor Ed Bruce on the set at Warner Brothers. I wish that I'd had a better camera - where was digital when I needed it? Also, I'm kicking myself for having blinked when the pic was taken! Still, I'm happy to report that Jim Garner was as charismatic and nice in person as he often appears in his film and TV roles, and it was such a thrill to meet him. Happy Birthday, Jim!

Happy Birthday James Garner!

Here's a guy I never get tired of sketching, and I've done quite a few of him over the years. As I've mentioned before, James Garner is my all-time favourite actor. Last year on his 80th birthday I wrote a more detailed tribute to the man, which can be found here. When I'm looking to just relax in front of the TV and put on an old series from my youth, nothing beats watching an episode of "The Rockford Files". Garner was just so great as Jim Rockford, the LA private detective who lived in a beat up mobile home permanently parked on the beach, never quite sure whether he'd get enough work to cover that month's expenses.

I did this sketch a couple days ago while watching a "Rockford Files" episode, though I had hoped to ink it and colour it up like what I'd done last year. Instead, I opted to leave it as a pencil sketch and just fool around with some Photoshop textures and brushes to approximate the look of a pastel drawing. It's not entirely successful, but I need to practice with those tools some more before I know what I'm doing!

I remember hearing sometime last year that Jim Garner had suffered a stroke that required some surgery to correct, but that he seemed to be recovering. I sure hope he's doing better now and I would love to see him back on screen again someday soon. By the way, in honour of his birthday, Turner Classic Movies is running a bunch of his films today including "The Americanization of Emily", Jim's personal favourite of his films. Though generally light in tone, it has a very serious underlying message about the insanity of war - a sentiment that the liberal-minded Jim Garner shares. I've already got that film in my DVD library, but I'll be setting my recorder for "36 Hours", which I have never seen before.

So, Happy Birthday Jim! I hope you're doing well!

Here's a speech from "The Americanization of Emily" that's very dear to Jim Garner's heart. Please celebrate the man by watching it:

"Two Hundred Dollars a Day, Plus Expenses..."

Today is the birthday of my favourite actor of all time, James Garner. So I thought I'd draw up a new caricature of him to mark the occasion. Fortunately, I have plenty of great video reference to work from, but I really felt compelled to depict him in his most famous role of Jim Rockford on "The Rockford Files". I'm so happy that the entire series has been coming out on DVD and I've been enjoying the five seasons released thus far. 

"The Rockford Files" was one of the shining examples of the type of cop shows that were quite prevalent back in the 70's. Shows like "Kojak", "Cannon", "Mannix", and many others were built around the charisma of their central stars rather than the nastiness of the crimes as in so many of today's series. "The Rockford Files" and Peter Falk's "Columbo" were my particular favourites of that popular 70's genre. James Garner had first found success on TV in the role of "Maverick" and, after then going on to prove himself as a leading man in the movies of the 60's, he was lured back to TV to create the role of Jim Rockford, who really was in many ways the continuation of the same lovable con man, Bret Maverick, only this time as a private detective. Not too long ago, I read where writer and series creator, Stephen J. Cannell, had also been inspired by the character of "Travis McGee" in the series of detective novels by John D. MacDonald. Since I'm a big fan of those stories, I guess that's why I also find Jim Rockford so appealing.

James Garner had created an onscreen persona of himself as the "reluctant hero" - the guy who would do his best to avoid trouble, but would ultimately come through when he found himself and others in the thick of it. He'd perfected the character in the wartime film, "The Americanization of Emily" opposite Julie Andrews, where in a very key scene in the film he makes no bones about being a coward rather than a hero, as he contends that cowards live longer while heroes get themselves killed in the folly of war. He went on to play the same type of character in another of my favourite films, "Support Your Local Sheriff", before continuing it as the private detective Jim Rockford, who didn't like to carry a gun unless absolutely necessary and didn't even have a permit to own one anyway.

Back in 1982 when I was just 22, I was in LA visiting my friend, director Bryan Stoller, who, before I'd flown out there, had told me he was going to try and get us both onto the set of "Bret Maverick", Garner's then current TV series, as he knew I was a big fan of Garner's. On the chance that Bryan would be successful, I drew up a caricature of Jim Garner in that role and painted up two originals - one to give him as a gift and the other for him to autograph for me. Sure enough, Bryan got us in there through his Warner Brothers connections and I was able to meet Jim Garner in person! I'm happy to report that Jim was as charming and amiable in real life as he'd appeared onscreen. He was tall and ruggedly handsome even in his mid-50's, and looked every bit like a larger-than-life movie star. The whole cast and crew were very nice to us, and even invited us back to watch the next day when they would be shooting the exterior scenes out on Warners' western street set. To the left is that artwork that he'd signed for me. Though James Garner is getting on and old stunt wounds have taken their toll on his knees, he will always remain my favourite leading actor. They just don't make them like that anymore. Happy Birthday Jimbo!

PS: Here's some happy nostalgia for my fellow boomers!...

Suzanne Pleshette

Sadly, we lost Suzanne Pleshette yesterday, who died from complications following a battle with lung cancer. This follows the death only about a year ago of her husband, comedian Tom Poston, whom she'd married late in life, after both had been widowed by previous spouses. I ran this caricature once before in celebration of Bob Newhart's birthday, as "The Bob Newhart Show" remains one of my alltime favourite sitcoms. Now, hearing about Suzanne Pleshette's death at 70, I find it hard to believe that it's been over 30 years since that show was originally on the air.

For many of my generation, Suzanne Pleshette represented the type of woman we associate with entertainment of the 60's and 70's. She was attractive and sophisticated, and always a class act. In addition to the years she played Emily Hartley on "The Bob Newhart Show", I remember her as a familiar presence in some of the Disney films of my youth, including "Blackbeard's Ghost", "The Ugly Dachshund", and "The Shaggy D.A.", all of which teamed her up with Disney regular, Dean Jones, with whom she had a natural onscreen chemistry. She also costarred alongside one of my very favourite actors, James Garner, in "Support Your Local Gunfighter". With the advent of DVD, many of the TV shows I loved when I was young have been released in the last few years, enabling me to bask in the warm glow of nostalgia. Again, Suzanne Pleshette turns up in guest roles on some of these series. She played opposite Eddie Albert in a first season episode of "Columbo", and she was in the very first episode of "Wild Wild West", starting the trend that show would become famous for - having a different gorgeous woman in every show opposite Robert Conrad, much like the tradition of the Bond girls.

After hearing of Suzanne's passing yesterday, I watched an episode of "The Bob Newhart Show" in tribute to her. She and Bob were just so great together and I miss the classiness of that era of TV. Goodnight, sweet Suzanne...

(Please also see Jim Hill's site for another look back at Suzanne's career, with an emphasis on her films for Disney)