James Garner of Maverick and The Rockford Files dead at 86

LOS ANGELES - Actor James Garner, best known for his prime-time television roles as the wisecracking frontier gambler on Maverick and as an ex-con turned private eye on The Rockford Files, has died at age 86, celebrity news website TMZ reported today.

Garner, who built a six-decade career playing ruggedly charming, good-natured anti-heroes and received the highest honour of the Screen Actors Guild in 2004, was found dead on Saturday evening by ambulance personnel sent to his Los Angeles home, TMZ said, citing unnamed law enforcement sources.

There was no immediate word on the cause or circumstances of his death, TMZ reported.