‘Rockford Files’ star Garner dies, aged 86

Actor James Garner, best known for his television roles as the wisecracking frontier gambler on Maverick and as an ex-con turned private eye on The Rockford Files, has died at age 86, police said early yesterday.

Garner, who built a six-decade career playing charming anti-heroes and received the highest honour of the Screen Actors Guild in 2004, was found dead from natural causes on Saturday night at his Los Angeles home, police said.

An Oklahoma native, he entered showbusiness in the 1950s after serving in the Korean War and first rose to fame on the TV western Maverick.