HALLIE EPHRON: I was saddened to see that James Garner died last week. Dead at 86 -- not a bad run. And I thought: was he adorable or what? I wish I'd met the guy just so I could say I did.
I had such a crush on him, first when he played Maverick with wry humor, his hat tipped back on his head. Then again, much older as Murphy Jones in Murphy's Romance when he ogles Sally Fields's behind as she grabs a bale of hay. Could he really have been as nice as he seemed? So I read his obituary skimming past his considerable credits to find out that he grew up in an unhappy home (his stepmother beat him and his two older brothers) in Oklahoma where his father ran a country store. He got into acting on a lark. And... he was still married to the woman he married two weeks after he met her in 1956. And he had two daughters.
If you asked me why I was so in love with him it would be a) he's knock-down-dead gorgeous and b) he made me laugh.
Another actor I was mad about was Robert Mitchum. Look at him,
is he the anti-James Garner or what? He died at 79 in 1997, and his NY Times obit described him as "rugged with dignity." True to his image on screen, in real life he was hard-drinking, chain-smoking bad boy who slept around. If you ask me why I had a thing for Robert Mitchum it would be: a) those hooded eyes were sexy as could be and b) he scared me to death.
If I had to pick, James Garner (white hat) or Robert Mitchum it would be no contest -- though I'm not saying which one or for what.
So today I'm asking you to reveal yourself. Who would you rather be (or be with)?
- Robert Mitchum or James Garner?
- Barbara Stanwyck or Debbie Reynolds?
- John Boy or Walter White?
- Sharon Stone or Cameron Diaz?
- Benedict Cumberbatch or Robert Downey Jr.?
- Jack Nicholson or Carey Grant?
- Tina Fey or Sarah Silverman?
- Jennifer Anniston or Jennifer Lopez?
