Career: Garner quickly moved into TV and got his big break playing the role of professional gambler Bret Maverick in the comedy Western series Maverick, a role he played from 1957 to 1960. Film roles followed in The Thrill of it All (1963), The Great Escape (1963), The Americanization of Emily (1964) and Hour of the Gun (1967). In the 1970s, Garner returned to TV and appeared as private investigator Jim Rockford in the hugely popular The Rockford Files. He played the role for six seasons and was rewarded with an Emmy Award for Best Actor in 1977. He received an Oscar nomination for his role in Murphy's Romance (1985). In the 1990s, he reprised his role as Jim Rockford in eight TV movies. In his later years, Garner starred in My Fellow Americans (1996), Space Cowboys (2000) and The Notebook (2004) and TV sitcom 8 Simple Rules. He died of natural causes on July 19, 2014, at the age of 86.