James Garner on the Warner Brothers lot in 1957. After starting out as a model as a lark, Garner landed a non-speaking role in the Broadway play The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial (starring Henry Fonda) in 1954. Appearing in commercials and small television roles after that, James landed a long-term contract with Warners in 1956, appearing in seven films for the studio and becoming a star as Bret Maverick in the hit Warner Bros. Television/ABC western series Maverick from 1957 to 1960. A contract dispute with the studio abruptly ended his role on the show and he was replaced by Roger Moore as Beau Maverick, introduced as a British cousin of Bret Maverick's. When ratings declined, Warners contract player Robert Colbert (who strongly resembled Jim Garner) was brought on as Brent Maverick, a brother of Bret's, an unsuccessful move which resulted in the show being canceled in 1962. Unhappy with his deal with the studio and wanting better pay and quality film roles (most importantly the freedom to accept film offers from other studios while also fulfilling his obligations to Warners), Garner clashed with studio head Jack Warner and ended up filing a lawsuit to get out of his contract. "They really stuck it to me," he later stated. "I was young and dumb. I said a couple things about being under contract that they didn't like, like that I felt like a ham in a smokehouse. They were waiting to get back at me by laying me off. We went to court and got out of my contract. I didn't want somebody in an office guiding my career. If I had a failure, I wanted it to be my failure. If I had a success, I wanted it to be my success." Though Garner went on to greater success in films and television after he left Maverick, most notably in the films The Children's Hour with Audrey Hepburn and Shirley MacLaine in 1961, The Great Escape in 1963, The Thrill of It All and Move Over Darling (both with Doris Day) in 1963, Grand Prix in 1966, Marlowe opposite Rita Moreno and Bruce Lee in 1969, Support Your Local Sheriff! in 1969, Support Your Local Gunfighter in 1971, and on the popular television series The Rockford Files (NBC, 1974-1980), he eventually revisited the character of Bret later in his career. Fond of Maverick despite his earlier dispute with Warner Bros., Garner starred in the TV movie The New Maverick in 1978, made a cameo appearance in the pilot for the series Young Maverick in 1979, starred in the one season NBC series Bret Maverick in 1981 and 1982, and made a second TV movie featuring the character The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw in 1991. He also returned to Warner Bros. to star in the feature film adaptation of Maverick in 1994, featuring Mel Gibson as the character Garner originated, Jodie Foster, and James as Marshal Zane Cooper, revealed in the movie to be Bret Maverick's father.
