The Rockford Files

The Rockford Files
Title card with Noah Beery, Jr., answering machine
Created by	Roy Huggins Stephen J. Cannell
Starring	James Garner Noah Beery, Jr. Joe Santos Gretchen Corbett Stuart Margolin
Theme music composer	Mike Post Pete Carpenter
Composers	Mike Post Pete Carpenter (co-composer with Post) Artie Kane (two episodes) Dick De Benedictis (one episode)
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	6
No. of episodes	122 (+ 8 TV movies) (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer	Stephen J. Cannell
Running time	60 minutes
Production company	MCA/Universal
Original release
Network	NBC
Release	September 13, 1974 – January 10, 1980

The Rockford Files is an American television drama series starring James Garner that aired on the NBC network between September 13, 1974, and January 10, 1980, and has remained in syndication to the present day. Garner portrays Los Angeles-based private investigator Jim Rockford with Noah Beery, Jr., in the supporting role of his father, a retired truck driver nicknamed "Rocky".

The show was created by Roy Huggins and Stephen J. Cannell. Huggins created the television show Maverick (1957–1962), which starred Garner, and he wanted to recapture that magic in a "modern day" detective setting. He teamed with Cannell, who had written for Jack Webb productions such as Adam-12 and Chase (1973–1974, NBC), to create The Rockford Files.

The show was credited as "A Public Arts/Roy Huggins Production" along with Universal Studios and in association with Cherokee Productions. Cherokee was owned by Garner, with partners Meta Rosenberg and Juanita Bartlett, who doubled as story editor during most of The Rockford Files run.

The series theme music by composers Mike Post and Pete Carpenter was released as a single and went to #10 on the Billboard Hot 100, remaining on the chart for 16 weeks. and won a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement for 1975.

In 2002, The Rockford Files was ranked #39 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.

A pilot for a remake of the series was written and produced for NBC by David Shore in 2010, with Dermot Mulroney playing the title character, but was not picked up by the network. Complaints were voiced that it was not written well and that Mulroney was miscast. NBC gave the property to Peter Berg to rewrite and produce. As of January 2011, the project is still in development at NBC.

Premise

See also: List of The Rockford Files episodes

Rockford's investigation of a missing woman takes him to a local cemetery.

Rockford has a few heated words with would-be private eye Freddie Beamer.

Producers Roy Huggins and Stephen J. Cannell devised the Rockford character as a rather significant departure from typical television detectives of the time, essentially Bret Maverick as a modern detective. Rockford had served time in California's San Quentin Prison in the 1960s due to a wrongful conviction. After five years, he was pardoned. His infrequent jobs as a private investigator barely allow him to maintain his dilapidated mobile home (which doubles as his office) in a parking lot on the beaches of Malibu, California.

In early episodes of the first season, Rockford's trailer is located in a parking lot alongside the highway (address 2354 Pacific Coast Highway) and near the ocean; for the rest of the series, the trailer is at Paradise Cove (address 29 Cove Road), adjacent to a pier and a restaurant ("The Sand Castle", now known as the "Paradise Cove Beach Cafe") (34°01′12″N 118°47′15″W). In the television movies from 1994 to 1999, Rockford is living in a trailer that has been extensively enlarged and remodeled.

In contrast to most television private eyes, Rockford wears low-budget "off the rack" clothing and does his best to avoid fights. He rarely carries his Colt Detective Special revolver, for which he has no permit, preferring to talk his way out of trouble. He works on cold cases, missing persons investigations, and low-budget insurance scams, and repeatedly states that he does not handle "open cases" to avoid trouble with the police; he has been a P.I since 1968; his usual fee is $200.00 per day plus expenses.

Cast

• James Garner as James "Jim / Jimmy" Scott Rockford
• Noah Beery, Jr. as Joseph "Rocky" Rockford, Jim's father, a retired truck driver. (The role was played by actor Robert Donley in the 1974 pilot episode.)

Intermittently recurring players:

• Joe Santos as Sergeant Dennis Becker, Jim's friend on the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) (promoted to lieutenant in season 5)
• Stuart Margolin as Evelyn "Angel" Martin, Jim's former prison friend. Angel is an untrustworthy con artist who constantly gets Jim in trouble, yet Jim remains his friend.
• Gretchen Corbett as Elizabeth "Beth" Davenport, Jim's lawyer and sometime girlfriend (seasons 1–4)
• James Luisi as Lieutenant Douglas J. "Doug" Chapman (seasons 3–6), Becker's boss (until Becker's promotion). He and Jim despise each other.
• Tom Atkins as Lieutenant Alex / Thomas Diehl (seasons 1–2 and 4)
• Luis Delgado as Officer Todd / Jack Billings
• Bo Hopkins as John "Coop" Cooper, Jim's disbarred attorney friend (Season 5)
• Pat Finley as Peggy Becker, Dennis' wife
• Isaac Hayes as Gandolph "Gandy" Fitch, an acquaintance of Jim's from his prison days. Gandy was a much feared inmate, and it is implied that even Rockford (whom he calls "Rockfish") was a victim of his brutality. Rockford helps prove that Fitch was sent to prison for a crime he did not commit.
• Tom Selleck as Lance White, a suave and dapper (and successful) private investigator, who sometimes works with Jim on cases.
• James Whitmore, Jr. as Fred Beamer, an auto mechanic who aspires to be a private investigator, and involves himself in Jim's affairs, at one time assuming his identity, and plunging Jim into trouble. Whitmore later directed the television movie The Rockford Files: I Still Love L.A.
• Dennis Dugan as Richie Brockelman, a young, idealistic and naive private investigator who seeks Jim's help from time to time. Bereft of Jim's cynicism and physical toughness, this character was spun off for the short-lived Richie Brockelman, Private Eye.
• Kathryn Harrold as Dr. Megan Dougherty, a blind psychiatrist who hires Jim. Their relationship eventually blossoms into a romance. Jim is upset in a later episode to learn that she has become engaged to another man.
• Simon Oakland as Vern St. Cloud, a fellow private investigator, blustery, arrogant, and accustomed to getting his way, St. Cloud and Rockford grudgingly accept each other's assistance from time to time, trading insults along the way.
• Louis Gossett, Jr. as Marcus Aurelius "Gabby" Hayes, an impeccably dressed Private Investigator, chauffeur driven, boastful and nearly always on a hustle, usually to Rockford's misfortune. Gossett appeared first in Foul on the First Play wearing a full wig with sideburns, appearing the following season in Just Another Polish Wedding without it.
• Rita Moreno as Rita Capkovic, a former call girl and police informant, who has given up that profession for that of a hair dresser. Associates from her former life as a callgirl (particularly her former pimp) cause problems, which lead her to seek out Jim's help in going straight. Jim and Rita are mutually attracted, and a potential romance is suggested.
• Al Stevenson as L.J., a friend of Rocky's, who often performs odd jobs for Rocky (in one episode, Jim discovers him alone at Rocky's house repairing a shower faucet). L.J. is closer to Jim's age than Rocky's, and it is likely they met during the latter's career as a trucker.

Valentino, a cat that either Jim has adopted, or is a stray who frequents Jim's trailer, is seen in one episode, and is referred to in another by the same name.

Characters

Rockford's pursuit of cases often leads to difficulties with his friend in the LAPD, Sgt. Dennis Becker (Joe Santos), a homicide detective struggling to advance in the department under a series of overbearing lieutenants. The two most notable are Alex/Thomas Diehl (Tom Atkins) during the first, second and fourth seasons and Doug Chapman (James Luisi) in the third to sixth seasons. Those higher-ups invariably dislike Rockford (and private investigators generally) because of their perception that either he is meddling in open cases or is trying to make the LAPD look incompetent in its handling of closed cases. Further, Rockford often calls Becker asking for favors, such as running license plates through the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) computer system, often annoying the already overworked cop. By the fifth season, Becker is promoted to lieutenant; it was stated in the episode where Becker is promoted that Becker's association with Rockford, considered by LAPD brass to be a shifty ex-con, had hampered Becker's chances for promotion. Chapman intensely dislikes it when Becker becomes his "equal". In season 6 episode The Big Cheese, the third-to-last of the series, Rockford gets a degree of revenge when Chapman inadvertently makes incriminating statements about his tax evasion before an undercover IRS agent who is with Rockford. Becker appears in 89 of the 123 episodes.

Noah Beery, Jr. as "Rocky" Rockford, Jim's father

Rockford's father, Joseph "Rocky" Rockford, is an ex-Seabee, semi-retired, semi-truck driver who nags his son to find stable (and less dangerous) employment, often urging him to follow in his footsteps as a truck driver (especially in early seasons). The relationship of father and son was an integral part of the show. Rocky appears in 101 episodes, and usually becomes involved (like it or not) in his son's cases. Occasionally, he hires Jim himself. Jim Rockford's mother is never shown or named, and is referred to indirectly. Although never directly stated, the way Jim and Rocky talk about her would seem to indicate she had died (before the series' start). Rocky was portrayed by Noah Beery, Jr., nephew of actor Wallace Beery.

Rockford's scheming former San Quentin cellmate, Evelyn "Angel" Martin (something of a comic relief character played by Stuart Margolin), almost always gets Rockford in trouble, usually by involving him in hare-brained scams, which as often as not result in his arrest or being placed on somebody's hit list. In spite of this, Jim considers Angel as one of his best, if most exasperating, pals.

Rockford has a close relationship with his attorney, the idealistic, tenacious Elizabeth "Beth" Davenport (Gretchen Corbett). It is implied that the two become romantically involved for a time. After Corbett was dropped from the show following the fourth season (allegedly due to contract disputes between Universal, which owned her contract, and Cherokee Productions, Garner's company), a new legal adviser (John "Coop" Cooper, a disbarred attorney who befriends Jim), and a new romantic interest (Kathryn Harrold as Dr. Megan Dougherty) for Rockford were added. Megan Dougherty was a blind highly independent psychiatrist, who makes three appearances in the fifth and sixth seasons. Rockford has romantic flings with numerous women, but none become permanent.

Garner's brother, Jack Garner, made 23 appearances playing (at various times) a policeman, a gas station attendant, and a stranger in a bathroom. The most regular character Jack played was that of police "Captain McEnroe" a number of times in the final season.

Credits

The show's pilot was written by Cannell, who also wrote 36 episodes and was the show's co-creator. Juanita Bartlett, one of the show's producers and Garner's partner at Cherokee Productions, wrote 34 episodes. She also wrote Scarecrow and Mrs. King "The Greatest American Hero", and In the Heat of the Night. David Chase wrote 16 episodes; Northern Exposure and The Sopranos. The show's co-creator, Roy Huggins, also wrote for the show, often under the pen name John Thomas James. Directors included William Wiard (23 episodes), Lawrence Doheny (10 episodes), and Ivan Dixon (previously on Hogan's Heroes) (9 episodes). Veteran actor James Coburn directed an episode. Coburn had co-starred with Garner in the classic movies The Great Escape (1963) and The Americanization of Emily (1964). Garner directed one episode in the second season, "The Girl in The Bay City Boys' Club". It was Garner's only directing credit.

Firebird Esprit

Familiar to viewers was Jim Rockford's gold Pontiac Firebird Esprit car. One oft-recurring element of the show was the famous "Jim Rockford turn-around" (also known as a J-turn or a "Rockford", commonly employed as an evasive driving technique taught to Secret Service agents driving for the President of the United States). When evading a tail or when otherwise cornered, Rockford would shift into reverse, speed up backwards in a straight line, sharply turn his wheels causing the front end to swing around; Jim always matched his steering to his speed allowing him to spin his car around 180 degrees and then quickly shift into forward gear, speeding off to escape while maintaining a straight course. James Garner claimed in a Season One DVD interview that he performed this stunt for the duration of the series. The car's license was 853 OKG, although the license in some early episodes displayed the number 835 OKG. Garner writes in his autobiography, The Garner Files, that he believes that the letters OKG stands for "Oklahoma Garner" but that he does not know the origin of the numbers 853. The number was last assigned to a look-alike Firebird driven in and around the city of Riverside, California. As of April 5, 2013 the California DMV shows no record on file for license plate 853 OKG.

Starting with the 1974 model year, Rockford would get a new model-year Firebird Esprit each year throughout the series, though they have identical "copper mist" color with a corresponding upgraded interior (and, occasionally, sharp-eyed car connoisseurs would spot the different model year cars used in various chase scenes that differed from those in an actual episode, especially in later seasons). Although the series ran until early 1980, no Firebird was used past the 1978 model year as Garner reportedly was displeased with the restyled front end of the 1979 and later Firebird models and as such did not wish them featured on the show (although an answering machine message in one episode in the final season indicated his car was 1979 Firebird).

Answering machine introduction

Main article: List of Jim Rockford's answering machine gags

Each episode began with the image of Rockford's answering machine, and the opening title sequence was accompanied by someone leaving Rockford a message. The messages were unrelated to the episodes. They were a humorous device that invited the viewer to return to the quirky, down on his luck world of Jim Rockford. The messages had to do with creditors, deadbeat clients, or were just oddball vignettes. Though a distinctive and clever entry device, the messages were difficult for the writers to create. Suggestions from staffers and crew were welcome and often used.

End

The show went into hiatus late in 1979 when Garner was told by his doctors to take time off because of bad knees and back trouble, as well as an ulcer. He sustained the former conditions largely because of his insistence on performing most of his stunts, especially involving fist fights or car chases. Because of his physical pain, Garner eventually opted not to continue with the show some months later, and NBC cancelled the program in mid-season. It was alleged that Rockford became very expensive to produce, mainly due to the location filming and use of high-end actors as guest stars. According to sources, NBC and Universal claimed the show was generating a deficit of several million dollars, a staggering amount for a nighttime show then, although Garner and his production team Cherokee Productions claimed the show turned a profit. Garner told a story to Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show that the studio once paid a carpenter $700 to build a shipping crate for a shoot-out on a boat dock, though there were shipping crates on the dock. The script often called for Garner to damage his car, so the car could be sold, repaired, and repurchased for each episode.

Aftermath

Garner attempted to fulfill his Rockford contract with a 1981 Maverick revival titled Bret Maverick. Later in the 1980s he became engaged in a legal dispute with Universal regarding the profits from Rockford Files that lasted over a decade. The dispute caused significant ill will between Garner and the studio. The dispute was settled out of court in Garner's favor, but the conflict meant that the Rockford character would not re-emerge until 1994.

Universal began syndicating the show in 1979 and aggressively marketed it to local stations well into the early and middle 1980s. This accounts for its near-ubiquity on afternoon and late-night schedules in those days. From those showings, Rockford developed a following with younger viewers, with the momentum continuing throughout the 1990s and 2000s (decade) on cable. In 2006 the show was broadcast for a few months on Superstation WGN. In 2007, the Retro Television Network began broadcasting the program nationwide, as did the digital cable channel Sleuth and Chicago TV station WWME-CA. ION Television has rights to the show and it is slated for future broadcast. In the fall of 2009, the show reappeared in Canada on Deja View. The series was broadcast in the UK on BBC1 and has since been repeated on BBC2 and ITV and also on Granada +Plus, which later became ITV3, although none of these channels repeated the later seasons. In Australia, the series runs Monday - Friday on cable and satellite channel Fox Classics and on 7Mate. Currently the series airs in the United States on the Me-TV digital subchannel network, and the series is available in full via Netflix Watch Instantly, with the first three seasons available on Hulu Plus.

Rockford's style influenced a number of detective characters, most notably Tom Selleck as Thomas Magnum in Magnum, P.I.. Tenspeed and Brown Shoe, also created by Cannell, was another detective modeled after the Rockford character. Selleck made two guest appearances on Rockford in the comic role of private investigator Lance White, a character who was everything Rockford was not — wealthy, highly educated, debonair, irresistible to women, and ethical to a fault. Rockford's producers would tap Selleck after the Rockford cancellation for Universal's Magnum, P.I., where he played a character similar in many ways to Rockford, although with wholesome, patriotic undertones in the context and plots. Several episodes of Magnum make reference to the character Lance White.

Rockford was penciled in to appear in the seventh season Magnum, P.I. episode "A.A.P.I." (1986; in which Cannell guest starred), concerning a murder at a Private Investigator awards ceremony, but a dispute between Garner and Universal (Garner reportedly refused to set foot on any Universal film set until it was resolved) meant that the planned cameo was dropped.

Episodes

Main article: List of Rockford Files episodes (including TV movies)

The series pilot aired on NBC March 27, 1974, as a 90-minute made-for-television movie. In the pilot, Robert Donley played Rockford's father; Lindsay Wagner also starred and later made a return appearance. The pilot was titled Backlash of the Hunter for syndication.

Four written but unproduced, Season 6 episodes were referred to in "Thirty Years of the Rockford Files" by Ed Robertson (2005). There is no mention of these episodes being filmed. This would appear to be the source of the unsubstantiated rumor that four filmed but unaired Rockford episodes were destroyed in a fire in 1980.

Movies

Eight Rockford Files reunion TV movies were made from 1994 to 1999, airing on the CBS network (whereas the original series aired on NBC) and reuniting most of the cast from the original show. Beery died on November 1, 1994, so the first of these movies, which aired later that month, stated, "This picture is dedicated to the memory of Noah Beery, Jr. We love you and miss you, Pidge." ("Pidge" was Beery's nickname.)

Spinoffs

• The limited-run series, Richie Brockelman, Private Eye was not technically a spin-off of The Rockford Files, as the character of Richie Brockelman, played by Dennis Dugan, first appeared in a 1976 TV movie produced by Cannell. However, Brockleman did appear in the 1978 Rockford episode "The House on Willis Avenue", which was broadcast the week before Richie Brockelman, Private Eye began its five-week run in The Rockford Files time slot. The character of Richie Brockelman returned to Rockford in the 1979 episode, "Never Send a Boy King To Do a Man's Job."

• Universal made a back door pilot featuring the characters Gandolph "Gandy" Fitch and Marcus "Gabby" Hayes (played by Isaac Hayes and Lou Gossett, Jr., respectively) titled Gabby & Gandy. The series never came to fruition, but the pilot was broadcast as an episode of Rockford called "Just Another Polish Wedding".

• A second back door pilot was made for a series that would have featured Greg Antonacci and Gene Davis as Eugene Conigliaro and Mickey Long, two humorously incompetent characters who were introduced in the Rockford episode "The Jersey Bounce" (these same character names are used in both episodes but they are clearly different as both of them and Rockford do not know each other in the second episode, "Just A Coupla Guys." Although not stated as such, the "Just A Coupla Guys" episode could be looked at as a flashback with events of "The Jersey Bounce" taking place afterwards). The series pilot involved them trying to ingratiate their way into the New Jersey mob and aired as the next-to-last episode of the The Rockford Files. David Chase, who wrote both episodes, would later create The Sopranos, which centered on the New Jersey mob.

Ratings

Season	Ranking	Timeslot
1974-75	#12	Fridays at 9:00 p.m.
1975-76	#32
1976-77	#41
1977-78	#46
1978-79	#59	Fridays at 9:00 p.m./Saturdays at 10:00 p.m.
1979-80	#??	Fridays at 9:00 p.m./Thursdays at 10:00 p.m.

Awards

Golden Globe Awards

Year	Category	Nominee(s)	Result
1978	Best TV Actor - Drama	James Garner	Nominated
1979	Best TV Actor - Drama	James Garner	Nominated
1980	Best TV-Series - Drama		Nominated
	Best TV Actor - Drama	James Garner	Nominated

Primetime Emmy Awards

Year	Category	Nominee(s)	Episode(s)	Result
1976	Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series	James Garner		Nominated
1977	Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series	James Garner		Won
	Outstanding Continuing Performance by a Supporting Actor in a Drama Series	Noah Beery Jr.		Nominated
1978	Outstanding Drama Series			Won
	Outstanding Lead Actress for a Single Appearance in a Drama or Comedy Series	Rita Moreno	"The Paper Palace"	Won
	Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series	James Garner		Nominated
1979	Outstanding Drama Series			Nominated
	Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series	James Garner		Nominated
	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series	Rita Moreno	"Rosendahl and Gilda Stern are Dead"	Nominated
	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series	Stuart Margolin		Won
		Noah Beery Jr.		Nominated
		Joe Santos		Nominated
1980	Outstanding Drama Series			Nominated
	Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series	James Garner		Nominated
	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series	Lauren Bacall	"Lions, Tigers, Monkeys and Dogs"	Nominated
		Mariette Hartley	"Paradise Cove"	Nominated
	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series	Stuart Margolin		Won
		Noah Beery Jr.		Nominated

Writers Guild of America Awards

Year	Category	Nominee(s)	Episode(s)	Result
1977	Episodic Drama	Juanita Bartlett	"So Help Me God"	Nominated
1978		Stephen J. Cannell, Booker Bradshaw, & Calvin Kelly	"Beamer's Last Case"	Nominated
		David Chase	"Quickie Nirvana"	Nominated
1979		Stephen J. Cannell	"The House on Willis Avenue"	Nominated
1980		David Chase	"Love Is The World"	Nominated

Other Awards

Year	Award	Category	Nominee(s)	Work	Result
1977	American Cinema Editors, USA	Best Edited Episode for a Television Series	Rod Stephens	"No Fault Affair"	Nominated
1977	Bambi Awards	TV Series International	James Garner		Won
1977	Edgar Allan Poe Awards	Best Television Episode	David Chase	"The Oracle Wore A Cashmere Suit"	Nominated
1978			Juanita Bartlett	"The Deadly Maze"	Nominated
2005		Special Edgar Award	David Chase		Won
2005	TV Land Awards	Favorite Private Eye	James Garner		Nominated

DVD releases

Universal Studios Home Entertainment has released all six seasons of The Rockford Files on DVD in Region 1. The Rockford Files- Movie Collection, Volume 1, was released on November 3, 2009. Universal Playback has released the first 5 seasons on DVD in Region 2. the pilot for The Rockford Files is in the season 2 set

DVD Name	Ep#	Release dates
		Region 1	Region 2	Region 4
Season One	23	December 6, 2005	August 29, 2005	February 6, 2008
Season Two	22	June 13, 2006	August 21, 2006	February 6, 2008
Season Three	22	February 27, 2007	May 7, 2007	September 2, 2009
Season Four	22	May 15, 2007	July 30, 2007	TBA
Season Five	22	January 15, 2008	May 12, 2008	TBA
Season Six	11	January 20, 2009	November 19, 2009	TBA
Movies Collection, Volume 1	4	November 3, 2009	March 1, 2013	TBA
Movies Collection, Volume 2	4	TBA	March 1, 2013	TBA
Season 1 – 4 Collection	89	TBA	October 22, 2007	TBA
The Complete Series	130	TBA	TBA	TBA

Remake

On July 30, 2009, it was revealed that NBC, Universal Media Studios and Steve Carell's Carousel Television, were teaming up to produce a revival of the show. David Shore, creator of House, was tapped to head the series. In February 2010, it was announced that Dermot Mulroney would play Jim Rockford in the series. In January, a casting call had been issued, listing series regular roles for Rocky, Angel, Dennis Becker, Beth Davenport and Lt. Doug Chapman. As of March 12, 2010, Alan Tudyk had been cast as Det. Dennis Becker. On March 16, 2010, Melissa Sagemiller was cast as Beth Davenport, and on March 19, Beau Bridges was cast as Rocky.

On May 13, 2010, the Rockford Files remake was canceled by NBC, although there may still be a redevelopment of the concept.

In April 2012, it was announced that Vince Vaughn will be producing and starring in a theatrical version of Rockford Files.

External links

• Stephen J. Cannell's script for The Rockford Files pilot episode
• The Rockford Files — at the Museum of Broadcast Communications
• Interview Stephen J. Cannell's Archive of American Television explanation of Huggins' approach
• The Rockford Files — at the Thrilling Detective
• The Rockford Files — at the Sandbox
• Rockford's answering machine messages — at the Sandbox (complete transcription)
• IMDb:
  • Original: The Rockford Files at IMDb
  • 2010: The Rockford Files at IMDb
• Template:Tv.com show
• The Rockford Files at epguides.com
• The Rockford Files at AllMovie