Actor James Garner, 86, found dead at Los Angeles home - police

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, Los Angeles police confirmed early on Sunday.

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 from natural causes on Saturday night by officers dispatched to his Los Angeles home, a police officer answering calls at the LAPD's West Los Angeles station said.

There were no further details immediately available about the circumstances of his death.

Celebrity news website TMZ reported earlier that an ambulance crew was sent to Garner's home at about 8pm local time and found him deceased.