a maverick leaves us

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“When I started working, I didn’t have a clue what I was doing, in that I was just wandering around, hoping that I could succeed. Then after I got a little under my belt, it took me about 25 years to feel like I knew what I was doing.”

James Garner

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Ok.

When James Garner passed away last week it wasn’t like some famous celebrity died where people lined the streets and mourned … or like some royalty had passed … it was like a good friend had died … and a few old friends gathered in a bar and raised a beer or two in tribute to someone who always seemed to be there when you needed them.

James Garner was never the toughest guy … in fact … he was only tough as a last resort.

He was a wise ass.

He was wise.

He had character.

He was never a coward but certainly preferred talking his way out of something rather than fighting his way out.
He was Maverick <in an old tv series and movie remake with Mel Gibson & Jodie Foster>.
He was Rockford in The Rockford Files.

And he was the original Polaroid camera spokesperson.

This was good stuff for advertising. And maybe most importantly … it was good use of a character driven actor.

It didn’t really ask him to be anything other than what he was … it did not demand him to overact … it didn’t demand him to be overtly sales-ey.

He was simply Rockford <with a dose of Maverick> which I imagine we all felt James Garner was in real life … showcasing a product.

This advertising is neither showy nor overtly entertaining … it is simply good simple watchable likeable straightforward advertising.

And my gut tells me … this was James Garner type advertising.

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Garner Polaroid TV commercials: http://www.technologizer.com/2014/07/20/james-garner/

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I will admit.

I didn’t miss James Garner until I found out that I wasn’t going to have him around in our lives anymore.

But then I did.

It’s a compliment to him … and a nudge to me to pay attention to the people who blend in seamlessly with Life … and enhance lives in doing so. Some people just blend in and make everything around them better <but you gotta pay attention to notice them>.

Because that seems to be the man James Garner was.

I didn’t know James Garner … but he not only seemed like a good man … but a good person.