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The Garner Files
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Adam H. Kerman
Dec 20, 2012, 5:26:49 AM12/20/12
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Well, I finally read the book. It was nice hearing the stories in Garner's
own voice, even though I was familiar with most of them.
Just a few things I learned:
He talked a bit about the convoluted history of Move Over, Darling, the
remake of My Favorite Wife. Garner says he was supposed to star in
Something's Got to Give with Marilyn Monroe, but he was committed to
another project, so Dean Martin was cast instead. Martin refused to
finish the picture after Monroe was fired. She was rehired but died
before the movie resumed production, so the movie was scrapped. I had
no idea Garner was ever considered for Something's Got to Give.
I can't see Garner having worked with Monroe. Wow. Garner was always
punctual and always prepared. Monroe was a walking disaster, when she
was walking.
Stuart Margolin was hired to play Mitch on Nichols on the strength of
one of the episodes he did in the anthology series Love, American Style.
Garner said he made a poorly-written scene humorous on the strength of
his performance alone. Garner wanted Margolin on Rockford playing a
similar role, but the network vetoed it. He got permission to use him in
the pilot, then kept using the character in various episodes against the
network's wishes, heh. I guess when he won Emmys two years in a row,
they eventually stopped objecting.
Garner met country singer Ed Bruce while playing golf, then cast
him as the second lead in Bret Maverick. Bruce turned out to be terrific.
Jack asked his brother to get him into acting when Jim was at the height of
his movie career in the early '60's, but Jim refused. He said Jack built
his career on his own. He even made his brother audition to get cast on
The Rockford Files.
All four of Garner's movies in 1963 were box office hits: The Great Escape,
the two Doris Day movies, and even The Wheeler Dealers.
We all know he was in bad shape during season six of The Rockford Files,
but he was in far worse shape than I'd ever read. In addition to the
physical exhaustion and ulcers, he was horribly depressed, and left his
wife for a year and a half because he couldn't live with anyone at that
time. He went on the road with Waylon Jennings for a few weeks during
this period. She didn't want to divorce him, and it probably saved
his marriage.
Again, too little is devoted to his relationship with the man most
responsible for the major successes of his career, Roy Huggins. He
said he thought Huggins disliked him, which Huggins never said, and that
he knows too much about Huggins' personal life passed on by his good
friend Luis Delgado, Huggins' brother-in-law. In fact, the only slight
insight we get about Huggins comes from author Ed Robertson, something
about Huggins' strange working hours (he wrote scripts overnight) and
that he rarely interacted with the actors on set.
They got friends, family, and collegues to write nice things about Garner
in their own words, which takes up about 1/4 of the book. Some good insights.
The last part of the book are movie and series-specific discussions with
Garner about his various projects. Some of his lesser movies he denied
remembering working on, hehehehe.
Barbarians at the Gate started out as a theatrical film, which
I didn't know.
own voice, even though I was familiar with most of them.
Just a few things I learned:
He talked a bit about the convoluted history of Move Over, Darling, the
remake of My Favorite Wife. Garner says he was supposed to star in
Something's Got to Give with Marilyn Monroe, but he was committed to
another project, so Dean Martin was cast instead. Martin refused to
finish the picture after Monroe was fired. She was rehired but died
before the movie resumed production, so the movie was scrapped. I had
no idea Garner was ever considered for Something's Got to Give.
I can't see Garner having worked with Monroe. Wow. Garner was always
punctual and always prepared. Monroe was a walking disaster, when she
was walking.
Stuart Margolin was hired to play Mitch on Nichols on the strength of
one of the episodes he did in the anthology series Love, American Style.
Garner said he made a poorly-written scene humorous on the strength of
his performance alone. Garner wanted Margolin on Rockford playing a
similar role, but the network vetoed it. He got permission to use him in
the pilot, then kept using the character in various episodes against the
network's wishes, heh. I guess when he won Emmys two years in a row,
they eventually stopped objecting.
Garner met country singer Ed Bruce while playing golf, then cast
him as the second lead in Bret Maverick. Bruce turned out to be terrific.
Jack asked his brother to get him into acting when Jim was at the height of
his movie career in the early '60's, but Jim refused. He said Jack built
his career on his own. He even made his brother audition to get cast on
The Rockford Files.
All four of Garner's movies in 1963 were box office hits: The Great Escape,
the two Doris Day movies, and even The Wheeler Dealers.
We all know he was in bad shape during season six of The Rockford Files,
but he was in far worse shape than I'd ever read. In addition to the
physical exhaustion and ulcers, he was horribly depressed, and left his
wife for a year and a half because he couldn't live with anyone at that
time. He went on the road with Waylon Jennings for a few weeks during
this period. She didn't want to divorce him, and it probably saved
his marriage.
Again, too little is devoted to his relationship with the man most
responsible for the major successes of his career, Roy Huggins. He
said he thought Huggins disliked him, which Huggins never said, and that
he knows too much about Huggins' personal life passed on by his good
friend Luis Delgado, Huggins' brother-in-law. In fact, the only slight
insight we get about Huggins comes from author Ed Robertson, something
about Huggins' strange working hours (he wrote scripts overnight) and
that he rarely interacted with the actors on set.
They got friends, family, and collegues to write nice things about Garner
in their own words, which takes up about 1/4 of the book. Some good insights.
The last part of the book are movie and series-specific discussions with
Garner about his various projects. Some of his lesser movies he denied
remembering working on, hehehehe.
Barbarians at the Gate started out as a theatrical film, which
I didn't know.
Wiseguy
Dec 20, 2012, 8:04:18 AM12/20/12
to
"Adam H. Kerman" <a...@chinet.com> wrote in
news:kaup58$gfs$1...@news.albasani.net:
> Well, I finally read the book. It was nice hearing the stories in
> Garner's own voice, even though I was familiar with most of them.
>
> Just a few things I learned:
>
> He talked a bit about the convoluted history of Move Over, Darling,
> the remake of My Favorite Wife. Garner says he was supposed to star in
> Something's Got to Give with Marilyn Monroe, but he was committed to
> another project, so Dean Martin was cast instead. Martin refused to
> finish the picture after Monroe was fired. She was rehired but died
> before the movie resumed production, so the movie was scrapped. I had
> no idea Garner was ever considered for Something's Got to Give.
>
> I can't see Garner having worked with Monroe. Wow. Garner was always
> punctual and always prepared. Monroe was a walking disaster, when she
> was walking.
>
> Stuart Margolin was hired to play Mitch on Nichols on the strength of
> one of the episodes he did in the anthology series Love, American
> Style. Garner said he made a poorly-written scene humorous on the
> strength of his performance alone. Garner wanted Margolin on Rockford
> playing a similar role, but the network vetoed it. He got permission
> to use him in the pilot, then kept using the character in various
> episodes against the network's wishes, heh. I guess when he won Emmys
> two years in a row, they eventually stopped objecting.
>
Those were the last two years of the series. By that time I don't think
they were objecting at all.
He probably would deny Man of the People as well. In an interview with
Tavis Smiley, he couldn't (or wouldn't) even recall the title.
news:kaup58$gfs$1...@news.albasani.net:
> Well, I finally read the book. It was nice hearing the stories in
> Garner's own voice, even though I was familiar with most of them.
>
> Just a few things I learned:
>
> He talked a bit about the convoluted history of Move Over, Darling,
> the remake of My Favorite Wife. Garner says he was supposed to star in
> Something's Got to Give with Marilyn Monroe, but he was committed to
> another project, so Dean Martin was cast instead. Martin refused to
> finish the picture after Monroe was fired. She was rehired but died
> before the movie resumed production, so the movie was scrapped. I had
> no idea Garner was ever considered for Something's Got to Give.
>
> I can't see Garner having worked with Monroe. Wow. Garner was always
> punctual and always prepared. Monroe was a walking disaster, when she
> was walking.
>
> Stuart Margolin was hired to play Mitch on Nichols on the strength of
> one of the episodes he did in the anthology series Love, American
> Style. Garner said he made a poorly-written scene humorous on the
> strength of his performance alone. Garner wanted Margolin on Rockford
> playing a similar role, but the network vetoed it. He got permission
> to use him in the pilot, then kept using the character in various
> episodes against the network's wishes, heh. I guess when he won Emmys
> two years in a row, they eventually stopped objecting.
>
they were objecting at all.
Tavis Smiley, he couldn't (or wouldn't) even recall the title.
JG
Dec 23, 2012, 4:52:09 PM12/23/12
to
On Dec 20, 7:04 am, Wiseguy <epw...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> "Adam H. Kerman" <a...@chinet.com> wrote innews:kaup58$gfs$1...@news.albasani.net:
On a side note, the time slot that TRF had in the evenings on MeTV in
Chicago now has "Police Woman", a poor replacement IMHO. TRF is still
running at 10am on one of the DTV 26.x WCIU subchannels.
> "Adam H. Kerman" <a...@chinet.com> wrote innews:kaup58$gfs$1...@news.albasani.net:
Chicago now has "Police Woman", a poor replacement IMHO. TRF is still
running at 10am on one of the DTV 26.x WCIU subchannels.
Wiseguy
Dec 23, 2012, 9:38:16 PM12/23/12
to
JG <jgro...@hotmail.com> wrote in
news:36aad087-a220-4afd...@k6g2000yqf.googlegroups.com:
Ironic, since Police Woman used to follow Rockford on NBC's Friday
schedule until 1976 when Quincy took the second slot.
news:36aad087-a220-4afd...@k6g2000yqf.googlegroups.com:
schedule until 1976 when Quincy took the second slot.
JG
Dec 26, 2012, 8:16:09 PM12/26/12
to
On Dec 23, 8:38 pm, Wiseguy <epw...@yahoo.com> wrote:
I have take a fascination to Adam-12 lately, another varient of the LA
cop show. The story lines have some comedic angles, setting the stage
for TRF. But some of the plot lines contain random violent police
situations that aren't delved into much, just a generic robber or
sniper and back to the main story line that can involve superficial
issues from Malloy and Reed's personal lives. The street filming
contained many chase situations and the overall shots of 1970s LA and
its automobiles is interesting.
cop show. The story lines have some comedic angles, setting the stage
for TRF. But some of the plot lines contain random violent police
situations that aren't delved into much, just a generic robber or
sniper and back to the main story line that can involve superficial
issues from Malloy and Reed's personal lives. The street filming
contained many chase situations and the overall shots of 1970s LA and
its automobiles is interesting.
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