Actor Garner Gives $500G to Univ. of Okla.

[Brett Ferino]

Veteran actor and Oklahoma native James Garner is giving $500,000 to help aspiring actors at the University of Oklahoma.

Garner's gift will be used to endow a $1 million faculty chair in the university's School of Drama.

The university will request matching funds from state regents to create the James Garner Chair in Drama, the drama school's first endowed position. The chair will be designated for the director of the school.

"It is appropriate that the first endowed chair in drama would come from James Garner, who has remained so dedicated to the university and to his hometown of Norman throughout his nationally acclaimed career as an actor," OU President David Boren said.

Garner, 74, got choked up as he spoke to the standing-room-only campus crowd that gathered for the announcement.

"Oh, has somebody got a Kleenex?" the Norman native said. "Strangely enough, I have a fear of public speaking. I don't have it in front of a camera because I know I can always do it over."

Garner has starred in several TV series including "Maverick" and "The Rockford Files." He also has made more than 40 movies, including "Murphy's Romance," for which he received an Academy Award nomination in 1985.

OU's School of Drama, founded in 1903, is the oldest drama school west of the Mississippi River and the second-oldest university theater school in the United States.