James Garner_Feb2005
Actor James Garner covers his mouth at the 11th annual Screen Actors Guild awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles in this Feb. 5, 2005 file photo. Reuters/Lucy Nicholson

Actor James Garner, 86, who was designated the 41st Life Achievement Award Recipient of the Screen Actors Guild a decade ago, died at his Los Angeles home Saturday, according to the celebrity-news site TMZ, which cited anonymous law-enforcement sources. It did not report his cause of death.

Garner’s acting credits range between comedic parts and dramatic parts in 95 productions on screens large and small during an extraordinary career from 1956 to 2010, per IMDb.com.

The performer with an incredibly likable persona may be best known not for his starring film roles in movies such as “Victor Victoria,” “The Great Escape” and “Support Your Local Sheriff!” but for his starring television roles in series such as “Maverick,” “The Rockford Files” and “8 Simple Rules.”

When Garner was honored by SAG about 10 years ago, he said: “You look at the list of wonderful actors who have been recipients of this award, and I’m not all sure how I got here. I’m just so humbled to be a part of such a distinguished group. And, well, we actors, we seldom know how we are perceived by others, but this wonderful award lets me know, say, ‘Hey, Jim, you must have done something good.’”

And, today, it would not be at all editorializing to observe there are many film and TV fans who feel exactly that same way about the bulk of Garner’s work over a 54-year span.