Stardate: Born April 7, 1928, in Norman, Oklahoma.
Star Sign: Aries
Star Qualities: Easygoing charm, fine sense of humor, knack for ironic underplaying.
Star Definition: "Jim is funny and dear, and he laughs at my jokes." - Sally Field
Galaxy Of Characters: Lt. Commander Charles E. Madison in The Americanization of Emily (1964), Mister Buddwing in Mister Buddwing (1966), Philip Marlowe in Marlowe (1969), Jason McCullough in Support Your Local Sheriff! (1969).

We're especially lucky to have James Garner on hand for a Private Screenings session this August for Summer Under the Stars because he doesn't do interviews. At least he doesn't do them often because, as he says, "When I first started out years ago they had me doing interviews, interviews, interviews and I got so tired of talking about myself, I decided to stop." He also toyed, often, with the idea of quitting as an actor ­ period. Early on and in all seriousness, he'd given himself five years to make it. If something big hadn't happened by then, he was going to move on and pursue something else. What, he wasn't sure. ("I'd have probably ended up in prison," he says now.)

Up until the time he was 25, he'd led quite a roustabout life. A high school dropout, he earned a Purple Heart in the Korean War, spent time as a gas station attendant, driving trucks, laying carpets, working in a chicken hatchery and modeling swim trunks. ("We don't talk about those bathing suit ads," he says.) Acting, he figured, might be just another temporary adventure. But the entire course of his life was changed thanks to an empty parking space in an otherwise crowded parking lot. Jim, driving by a building in Los Angeles where a boyhood-friend-turned-producer had an office, saw an available parking spot and decided, on a whim, to pop in and say hello to his friend. It was a fortuitous decision since that friend, Paul Gregory, was about to produce a Broadway play which included several non-speaking roles. Jim was hired for one of them. It turned out to be his acting debut, and on Broadway, no less, plus a chance to study those actors who did have lines, like Henry Fonda, John Hodiak and Lloyd Nolan, all directed by Charles Laughton. (Not a bad way to start.)

That's when he came up with his "five-year" plan, something he kept following even after he was working regularly and having his name on movie marquees alongside Audrey Hepburn, Shirley MacLaine, Doris Day, Steve McQueen, Julie Andrews, Jason Robards, Mel Gibson and Clint Eastwood. "After the first five years, I'd done Maverick so then I said, 'Well, maybe I can go five more," he says, adding, "It wasn't until I'd turned 50 and had been in the business 25 years that I realized I might actually have a career as an actor." Indeed he has. After his TV success as Maverick, he became a giant success on movie screens, working for such esteemed directors as Joshua Logan, William Wyler, William Wellman, Arthur Hiller, John Sturges, John Frankenheimer, Norman Jewison, Blake Edwards and Martin Ritt.

Along with Clint Eastwood and Steve McQueen, Jim Garner was one of the first actors from series television to make the transition from stardom on TV to superstardom on the big screen ­ a jump which, for years, seemed to defy most others who tried. During our Private Screenings visit with Jim, you'll find out a lot of interesting things about this gent from Norman, Oklahoma. We'll also be bringing you a wealth of Garner movies such as Boys' Night Out, 36 Hours, The Americanization of Emily and Support Your Local Sheriff. You'll also find him an extremely affable, bright, thoughtful, interesting guy to be around. We can all be grateful for that empty parking space he once drove into "on a whim."

by Robert Osborne