Many people here might be too young to remember Garner's breakthrough TV role in the late 1950s western Maverick. Though little discussed, I think it was an important moment in the evolution of TV series. Garner played an antihero, with a considerable dollop of humor and wit. He was an itinerant gambler in the Old West, who got into scrapes due to his profession, and did his best to slide out of them without trouble, but still retained an important degree of honesty and humanity. He was not, by any means, a Marty Stu, an icon of perfection. That, at the time, was new. And the series was a huge success for several years.
Great long career, to be celebrated.
caw