Gerald McRaney Shares a Great Story about ‘Rockford Files’ Star James Garner

Gerald McRaney had just arrived at his little dressing room for his first day of work on "The Rockford Files" when somebody knocked on the door.

"Geez, can they be ready that quickly?" McRaney remembered thinking.

He opened it up and found James Garner standing there. "Hey, Hoss, I'm Jim. Just wanted to welcome you to the show. Hope you have fun."

That was the entire exchange, and McRaney told Rich it explained the man completely. "I'm a day player. I'm doing a scene, and he went out of his way to welcome me to his show."

The better story came months later. McRaney's parents had come out for a visit, and he arranged for them to have lunch with him at the commissary at Universal, which he described as a big to-do for them. On his way, he noticed that "The Rockford Files" was shooting right across the street.

McRaney walked over on the chance that Garner was around. He was. An assistant answered the trailer door, said hello, and McRaney asked whether Garner might have a moment to come meet his parents.

There was an executive inside with Garner, and the executive said something to the effect of, "We don't have time for that."

Garner's answer, according to McRaney: "Well, we're going to have to make some time, aren't we?"

He came out and spent the next hour with McRaney's parents. The executive stayed in the trailer, cooling his heels and, as McRaney put it, learning some manners.

"I will never forget that as long as I live," McRaney said. "He was the finest gentleman I think I've run across in this business. Rest his soul, but he was such an outstanding man."

None of this was lost on a young actor who knew exactly whose show he had walked onto. Asked by Rich if he had been a fan of "Maverick" and "The Great Escape," McRaney did not hesitate. Garner was one of the guys he looked up to when he was an amateur just getting started, and McRaney said he looks up to him to this day.