I grew up in Onondaga County in upstate New York. Back then
people would call Native Americans "chief" because we had a
reservation for the Onondaga Indians. It disgusted me, but I never knew just
how much I admired an actor with Cherokee blood. When I was young most guys
wished they were James Garner.
From the time we first saw him as Bret Maverick, and even
while we suffered through his movies with Doris Day, he was probably the
coolest guy on the big or the small screen. He made acting look effortless. His
likability factor was really high. Even in the movie where he had to tell Sally
Fields he was 60 years old, he was my hero.
I think it's both hilarious and horrible that we abused the
Native Americans who lived on the
Onondaga reservation, while we all longed to be a man with Cherokee blood.
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