James Garner

Life is sweet for James Garner now.For most of his professional life he has been successful and popular. But now, at the dawn of his golden years, he's relatively healthy and definitely happy."

The Ultimate Gift is an irresistible formula film, an inspirational tearjerker complete with a dying kid, a dysfunctional family, a reprobate made to see the error of his ways and the unwavering message that good is, as it should be, its own reward. Based on the novel by Jim Stovall, the film opens with the off-screen death of oil magnate Red Stevens (James Garner). Family and friends gather for the funeral, and it quickly becomes apparent that whatever else Red did in life, he wasn't much of a success at the family thing.

If you see only one made-for-TV holiday movie this year, make it "One Special Night," with Julie Andrews and James Garner.In fact, even if you hate holiday movies, see "One Special Night," tomorrow night at 9 on CBS. I haven't seen a pair of actors work this wonderfully together since Albert Finney and Tom Courtenay in "A Rather English Marriage" earlier this year on PBS' Masterpiece Theatre.Andrews plays Dr. Catherine Howard, a pediatric heart surgeon who drives a vintage Jaguar sports car and power walks to Mozart's Fifth Symphony.

The most striking thing about The Court, ABC's new legal drama starring Sally Field, is how much it resembles First Monday, a CBS midseason legal drama starring Joe Mantegna and James Garner. The Court, which arrives tonight as First Monday slinks toward cancellation, centers on a new associate justice joining the Supreme Court and finding herself as the swing vote in a court generally divided in a 4-4 split between conservatives and liberals. Instead of a male justice who is identified as Catholic and moderate (Mantegna)

The Ultimate Gift is an irresistible formula film, an inspirational tearjerker complete with a dying kid, a dysfunctional family, a reprobate made to see the error of his ways and the unwavering message that good is, as it should be, its own reward. Based on the novel by Jim Stovall, the film opens with the off-screen death of oil magnate Red Stevens (James Garner). Family and friends gather for the funeral, and it quickly becomes apparent that whatever else Red did in life, he wasn't much of a success at the family thing.

Noah Beery Jr., 81, a character actor who played sidekicks in movies and television for decades and then teamed up with James Garner in "The Rockford Files," died Tuesday in Tehachapi, Calif. He was born into a family of great Hollywood character actors. He was the son of Noah Beery Sr., a popular screen villain during the silent era, and the nephew of Wallace Beery, who won the Academy Award for his role in 1931's "The Champ."

Ah, youth. So overrated, especially during this summer of overheated adolescent fantasies. "Space Cowboys" arrives as a balm to seared adult psyches that have endured all manner of assaults at the multiplex this season. This nifty action adventure about a posse of superannuated space explorers proves just how limited Hollywood's youth-worshiping ethos really is. Indeed, "Space Cowboys" could be read as one long metaphorical rant against the kindergarten with money that show business has become.

New York -- Loose as a goose and banty as a cock, Mel Gibson saunters into a roomful of reporters and with the insouciant grace that is his screen signature, leaps over the rear of a couch to deposit himself on its cushions.But this is no movie and the couch doesn't know he's a movie star. When he hits, there's a slippery moment as the couch tips and seems about to deposit his royal buttness on the floor in a heap.The couch tilts, wobbles . . . and rights itself neatly. Of course it wouldn't dump him!

The most striking thing about The Court, ABC's new legal drama starring Sally Field, is how much it resembles First Monday, a CBS midseason legal drama starring Joe Mantegna and James Garner. The Court, which arrives tonight as First Monday slinks toward cancellation, centers on a new associate justice joining the Supreme Court and finding herself as the swing vote in a court generally divided in a 4-4 split between conservatives and liberals. Instead of a male justice who is identified as Catholic and moderate (Mantegna)

When Milton Eisenhower was president of Johns Hopkins he spoke at the University of Pittsburgh. Introduced as president of ''John'' Hopkins, he began by saying how happy he was to be speaking in ''Pittburgh.''* Burial Inscription: ''Here I lie between two of the best women in the world, my wives. But I requested my relatives to tip me a little toward Tillie.''* Notice on the front page of the New York Times: ''You obviously prefer to be eternally pursued. I'll be enjoying a chilled martini and the warm company of another.

Ah, youth. So overrated, especially during this summer of overheated adolescent fantasies. "Space Cowboys" arrives as a balm to seared adult psyches that have endured all manner of assaults at the multiplex this season. This nifty action adventure about a posse of superannuated space explorers proves just how limited Hollywood's youth-worshiping ethos really is. Indeed, "Space Cowboys" could be read as one long metaphorical rant against the kindergarten with money that show business has become.

If you see only one made-for-TV holiday movie this year, make it "One Special Night," with Julie Andrews and James Garner.In fact, even if you hate holiday movies, see "One Special Night," tomorrow night at 9 on CBS. I haven't seen a pair of actors work this wonderfully together since Albert Finney and Tom Courtenay in "A Rather English Marriage" earlier this year on PBS' Masterpiece Theatre.Andrews plays Dr. Catherine Howard, a pediatric heart surgeon who drives a vintage Jaguar sports car and power walks to Mozart's Fifth Symphony.

When Milton Eisenhower was president of Johns Hopkins he spoke at the University of Pittsburgh. Introduced as president of ''John'' Hopkins, he began by saying how happy he was to be speaking in ''Pittburgh.''* Burial Inscription: ''Here I lie between two of the best women in the world, my wives. But I requested my relatives to tip me a little toward Tillie.''* Notice on the front page of the New York Times: ''You obviously prefer to be eternally pursued. I'll be enjoying a chilled martini and the warm company of another.

Noah Beery Jr., 81, a character actor who played sidekicks in movies and television for decades and then teamed up with James Garner in "The Rockford Files," died Tuesday in Tehachapi, Calif. He was born into a family of great Hollywood character actors. He was the son of Noah Beery Sr., a popular screen villain during the silent era, and the nephew of Wallace Beery, who won the Academy Award for his role in 1931's "The Champ."

New York -- Loose as a goose and banty as a cock, Mel Gibson saunters into a roomful of reporters and with the insouciant grace that is his screen signature, leaps over the rear of a couch to deposit himself on its cushions.But this is no movie and the couch doesn't know he's a movie star. When he hits, there's a slippery moment as the couch tips and seems about to deposit his royal buttness on the floor in a heap.The couch tilts, wobbles . . . and rights itself neatly. Of course it wouldn't dump him!

If you don't have HBO, you better ask a friend who does to set the VCR tonight for "Barbarians at the Gate." This is a film people are going to be talking about.In fact, there are three TV movies this weekend that are likely to get people thinking and talking about them. Each is better in its own way than the true-crime, ripped-from-the-headlines trash the networks have been drowning in since the tremendous ratings success of the Amy Fisher trilogy.Two of the films are on cable. Besides HBO's "Barbarians," the Arts and Entertainment channel premieres the first installment of "A Year in Provence," a TV adaptation of Peter Mayle's best-selling account of how he and his wife turned in their pin stripes and moved to the south of France.

IT'S NOT JUST the nostalgia shows that are heading back to the future on television this fall. Five of this weekend's six new offerings seek to survive the current storm buffeting network television by mooring themselves to a buoy from the past.The most obvious is "WKRP in Cincinnati" coming back in first-run syndication after a nine-year hiatus. But take NBC's two Sunday night shows. Both James Garner in "Man of the People" and Robert Guillaume in "Pacific Station" are essentially reprising roles that worked for them before.

If you don't have HBO, you better ask a friend who does to set the VCR tonight for "Barbarians at the Gate." This is a film people are going to be talking about.In fact, there are three TV movies this weekend that are likely to get people thinking and talking about them. Each is better in its own way than the true-crime, ripped-from-the-headlines trash the networks have been drowning in since the tremendous ratings success of the Amy Fisher trilogy.Two of the films are on cable. Besides HBO's "Barbarians," the Arts and Entertainment channel premieres the first installment of "A Year in Provence," a TV adaptation of Peter Mayle's best-selling account of how he and his wife turned in their pin stripes and moved to the south of France.

IT'S NOT JUST the nostalgia shows that are heading back to the future on television this fall. Five of this weekend's six new offerings seek to survive the current storm buffeting network television by mooring themselves to a buoy from the past.The most obvious is "WKRP in Cincinnati" coming back in first-run syndication after a nine-year hiatus. But take NBC's two Sunday night shows. Both James Garner in "Man of the People" and Robert Guillaume in "Pacific Station" are essentially reprising roles that worked for them before.

Life is sweet for James Garner now.For most of his professional life he has been successful and popular. But now, at the dawn of his golden years, he's relatively healthy and definitely happy."