James Garner, Rockford Files star, dies aged 86

James Garner, the US star of hit TV series The Rockford Files and Maverick and films including The Great Escape, has died aged 86. Garner had suffered ill health since a severe stroke in 2008.

“Mr Garner died of natural causes,” the West LA Division of the Los Angeles Police Department told the BBC, adding his body has been released to his family by a doctor.

Garner famously played laconic private investigator Jim Rockford. He won an Emmy for the role in 1977 and starred in 122 episodes of the hugely successful show from 1974 to 1980. He returned to it in the 1990s with eight Rockford Files TV movies.