James Garner, born James Bumgarner, has been one of my favorite actors since I was a child. As Julie Andrews says in her introduction, Garner is "a man's man, a ladies' man, a good ol' boy in the best sense of the word, a curmudgeon...and a sweetheart." He reveals his life, from childhood to present day, without sugar coating his bad parts (a quick and sometimes violent temper) or his opinions of those in Hollywood who weren't on the up and up. He also shows the "good guy" parts of himself that you see in his acting roles. He makes no apologies for his liberal politics and his fights against corrupt studio practices. He is one of the rarities in show business who has been married to the same woman he wed after a two week romance in 1956. The book is appended with a section of comments from Garner's friends & family and another with his commentary on the various movies & television shows he's appeared in. (My favorite was his renaming "Space Cowboys" as "Space Geezers.") For the most part I enjoyed this book, but I could have done without the chapter on his obsession with golf.
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