{{short description|American actor (1926–2011)}} {{for|the Welsh footballer|Jack Garner (footballer)}} {{Infobox person | name = Jack Garner | image = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Jack Edward Bumgarner | birth_date = {{Birth date|1926|9|19}} | birth_place = Norman, Oklahoma, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|2011|9|13|1926|9|19}} | death_place = Rancho Mirage, California, U.S. | occupation = Actor | years_active = 1971–2011 | relatives =James Garner (brother) }}
'''Jack Edward Garner''' (né '''Bumgarner'''; September 19, 1926 – September 13, 2011) was an American golf pro and part-time actor. He was the elder brother of James Garner.<ref name=variety>{{cite news|title=Jack Garner dies at 85 |url=https://www.variety.com/article/VR1118042851?refCatId=14 |work=Variety |date=2011-09-14|accessdate=2011-09-28}}</ref><ref name=dsun>{{cite news|title=Jack Garner, entertainer, athlete, dies at age 84 |url=http://www.mydesert.com/article/20110922/OBITUARIES/109220301/Jack-Garner-entertainer-athlete-dies-age-84 |work=The Desert Sun |date=2011-09-22 |access-date=2011-09-28 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110926022358/http://www.mydesert.com/article/20110922/OBITUARIES/109220301/Jack-Garner-entertainer-athlete-dies-age-84 |archive-date=September 26, 2011 }}</ref><ref name=nt>{{cite news|first=Andy|last=Rieger|title=Jack Garner dies at age 84|url=http://normantranscript.com/headlines/x1492495785/Jack-Garner-dies-at-age-84|work=Norman Transcript|date=2011-09-15|access-date=2011-09-28|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130104060320/http://normantranscript.com/headlines/x1492495785/Jack-Garner-dies-at-age-84|archive-date=2013-01-04}}</ref><ref name=thr>{{cite news|first=Mike|last=Barnes|title=James Garner's Actor Brother Dies at 84 |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/james-garner-brother-dies-237294 |work=The Hollywood Reporter |date=2011-09-19|accessdate=2011-09-28}}</ref>
==Early life and career== Garner was born in Norman, Oklahoma, the son of Mildred Scott (née Meek) and Weldon Warren "Bill" Bumgarner.<ref name=variety/><ref name=nt/><ref name=latimes>{{cite news|title=Passings:Tom Wilson Sr., Jack Garner, Martha L. Willman |url=https://articles.latimes.com/2011/sep/22/local/la-me-passings-20110922 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130127141414/http://articles.latimes.com/2011/sep/22/local/la-me-passings-20110922 |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 27, 2013 |work=Los Angeles Times |date=2011-09-22|accessdate=2011-09-28}}</ref> He was the second of three boys including actor James Garner (youngest) and Charles Bumgarner (oldest).<ref name=nt/><ref name=latimes/> The family operated a general store on Denver Corner in eastern Norman.<ref name=nt/> The boys were sent to live with relatives after their mother died, while Garner's father remarried several times.<ref name=variety/>
Garner was a star athlete at Norman High School, playing on the state championship basketball team in 1945.<ref name=nt/> He pitched for a minor league baseball team affiliated with the Pittsburgh Pirates,.<ref name=variety/><ref name=latimes/><ref>{{cite web |title=Jack Bumgarner Minor Leagues Statistics & History - Baseball-Reference.com |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=bumgar001joh |website=Baseball Reference |publisher=Baseball-Reference.com |access-date=April 7, 2022}}</ref> then worked for several golf courses in Florida.<ref name=latimes/>Years later, brother James wrote about Jack's athletic abilities in his memoir: "At Norman High, he was a point guard on a championship basketball team and quarterbacked an all-state football team...But his best sport was baseball: Jack was a pitcher in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization for 11 years. He was a better athlete than I was and a lot more outgoing. I was always in his footsteps."<ref name=nt/>
Garner became a longtime member of the Professional Golfers' Association, played competitively, and later became a golf pro, coaching at<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.scpga.com/news/pga-mourns-loss-of-jack-garner/ |title=PGA mourns loss of Jack Garner |publisher=Official Website of the PGA of Southern California |date=2011-09-26 |access-date=2014-07-21 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140727174026/http://www.scpga.com/news/pga-mourns-loss-of-jack-garner/ |archive-date=2014-07-27 }}</ref> Oakmont Country Club in Glendale, California,<ref name=dsun/><ref name=latimes/> and elsewhere.<ref name=thr/> Garner taught Dan Aykroyd, co-star with James in the 1996 film ''My Fellow Americans'', to properly swing a golf club for a scene in the movie.<ref name=thr/>
==Acting== Jack and James eventually moved to Los Angeles to reconnect with their father, who had relocated to southern California.<ref name=variety/><ref name=dsun/><ref name=thr/> Both changed their names to Garner after the move west.<ref name=nt/> The third brother, Charles Bumgarner, who died in 1984 at the age of 60, remained in Norman and became a school administrator.<ref name=nt/> Jack Garner entertained as the lead singer for the Coconut Grove nightclub, located in the now defunct Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles early in his career.<ref name=latimes/>
Garner began acting in television during the late 1960s.<ref name=variety/> His roles included guest appearances on ''Love, American Style''; ''The Bionic Woman''; ''The Doris Day Show''; ''Daniel Boone''; ''The Green Hornet''; ''Mannix''; ''Medical Center'' and ''Murder, She Wrote''.<ref name=variety/><ref name=thr/> He appeared in ''The Rockford Files'' in more than twenty episodes of the show,<ref name=variety/> usually in bit roles, though he assumed the recurring supporting role of the indecisive, fence-sitting Captain McEnroe in the show's final season. Garner later appeared in ''Bret Maverick'' portraying Jack the Bartender from 1981 to 1982.<ref name=variety/> Garner reprised his ''Rockford Files'' role of McEnroe in a series of television movies based on the series from 1996 to 1999.<ref name=dsun/>
Garner's film roles included ''Wild Rovers'' in 1971, ''Maverick'' in 1994, ''My Fellow Americans'' in 1996 and ''Sunset'' in 1988.<ref name=variety/>
==Death== Garner suffered a fall in September 2011, which resulted in a broken hip.<ref name=nt/><ref name=thr/> Doctors determined that his heart was not strong enough to withstand surgery to repair the hip so Garner was transferred to a facility for long-term care.<ref name=nt/> However, his condition suddenly worsened within one week.<ref name=nt/> Garner died at a hospice in Rancho Mirage, California, near his home in Palm Desert, on September 13, 2011, six days shy of his 85th birthday.<ref name=dsun/> He was survived by his former wife, Betty Bumgarner; his daughter, Liz Bumgarner, and son-in-law, Don Dykstra (they have no children); and younger brother, James Garner.<ref name=variety/><ref name=dsun/> His memorial service was held at the Wiefels Mortuary in Palm Springs, California.<ref name=thr/>
== Selected filmography == {| class="wikitable sortable" |+ Film |- ! Year ! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |- |1971 |''Wild Rovers'' |Cap Swalling | |- |1988 |''Sunset'' |Cowboy Henry | |- |1996 |''My Fellow Americans'' |President Haney's Caddy | |}
{| class="wikitable sortable" |+ TV |- ! Year ! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |- |1971–1972 |''Nichols'' |Van Vechyen |2 episodes |- |1974 |''The Rockford Files'' |Capt. McEnroe, Sheriff Delbert Bassett, various other supporting roles |Credited and uncredited |- |1974 |''Emergency!'' |Gambler |1 episode (Propinquity) |- |1981–1982 |''Bret Maverick'' |Jack the bartender |All 18 episodes of the show<ref>{{cite book |last1=Brooks |first1=Tim |last2=Marsh |first2=Earle F. |title=The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present |date=2009 |publisher=Random House Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-307-48320-1 |page=181 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w8KztFy6QYwC&dq=Bret+Maverick+%22Jack+Garner%22&pg=PA181 |language=en}}</ref> |- |1991 |''Man of the People'' |Bernie |2 episodes |- |1995 |''Streets of Laredo'' |Old Waiter in Café | |}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{IMDb Name|307715}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Garner, Jack}} Category:1926 births Category:2011 deaths Category:American male film actors Category:American male television actors Category:Minor league baseball players Category:Hornell Maples players Category:Bartlesville Oilers players Category:Leesburg Pirates players Category:Uniontown Coal Barons players Category:Albany Senators players Category:Waco Pirates players Category:Texarkana Bears players Category:Decatur Commodores players Category:Port Arthur Sea Hawks players Category:People from Norman, Oklahoma Category:Male actors from Palm Desert, California Category:Accidental deaths from falls in the United States Category:Accidental deaths in California