Legends: James Garner

Other actors might have been able to pull off the roles of Jim Rockford or Pete Aron, but James Garner was born to play them. Talk about type casting. Born James Bumgarner in 1928, the Oklahoma native always excelled in movie roles that involved automobiles, driving and racing, three of his greatest loves and interests. Garner was selected to play Formula One driver Pete Aron in the 1966 film Grand Prix, where his natural ability behind the wheel surprised even the world-class drivers on set. Subsequently, he formed his own racing team in 1969, but, unlike actors/racers such as Steve McQueen or Paul Newman, Garner soon let the pros do all the driving. Garner’s talents were not limited to vehicles with four wheels, either. In McNichol, a short-running 1971 TV series set in the Old West, he played a small-town sheriff who rode a motorcycle instead of a horse. Most notably, the witty and cynical Pontiac-Firebird-driving gumshoe from the long-running (1974-’80) TV series The Rockford Files. Garner’s stature as an actor combined with his skill as a driver also helped earn him the special role of pace-car driver for the yearly Indianapolis 500 race, not once, but three times, in 1975,’77 and ’85. Although his acting fame for outweighs his status as a racing mogul, for a car guy, who could ask for anything more.