Jim had never ducked a fight. In 1960, Warner Bros. had suspended him because of a writers’ strike while Maverick was being filmed. That didn’t seem right to him. So he fought back, declared his contract void, sued the studio, and won his case at trial. That legal precedent benefited actors for decades. Later in his Rockford run, Jim would go to war with Universal. He’d end up accusing the studio of “creative accounting,” a phrase that actors and directors quickly rallied around. So when Jim told me not to overlook the power I had, I paid close attention.
