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James Garner, racer and Hollywood legend, dead at 86

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James Garner, racer and Hollywood legend, dead at 86
« on: July 22, 2014, 11:07:07 AM »

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To some, he was the leading man in television’s Maverick and The Rockford Files, while to others he was the star of films like 1966′s Grand Prix. It was during the filming of the Formula One epic that Garner realized his talents ran to more than just acting, and some believed that Garner had the skills to turn driving into a career. Though he never pursued racing as more than a hobby, Garner had a lifelong passion for racing and for automobiles, clearly evident in his later television and advertising roles. On Saturday, July 19, Garner died at his California home, age 86.



By the time he was offered the role of Pete Aron, a struggling American Formula One driver on the comeback trail, Garner had already starred in ten feature films and the Western-themed television series Maverick. Directed by John Frankenheimer and filmed in Super Panavision 70, Grand Prix was an ambitious attempt to bring the glamour and excitement of Formula One racing to the masses, and the film won a total of three Academy Awards and netted Frankenheimer an Outstanding Director award from the Directors Guild of America. As with Steve McQueen’s later Le Mans, Grand Prix featured key drivers of the day, including Phil Hill and the unrelated Graham Hill, in an effort to make the racing sequences as realistic as possible.

- See more at: http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2014/07/20/james-garner-racer-and-hollywood-legend-dead-at-86/?refer=news#sthash.VAccP5AT.dpuf
« Last Edit: July 22, 2014, 01:29:28 PM by Lemmy Caution »
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