With The Rockford Files, James Garner picked up where he left off in 1969’s Marlowe, embodying the charming, self-deprecating L.A. private eye who spies on rich people in Bel-Air when he’s not sparring with the LAPD. Jim Rockford was actually a direct descendant of Philip Marlowe and Sam Spade, updated for the 197os: He lived in a trailer off the beach in Malibu, drove a Pontiac Firebird, and favored checked, polyester sport coats—he was like a James Bond you could have a beer with (preferably canned domestic). The Rockford Files’ cases of the week captivated NBC audiences through several seasons and TV movies, winning Emmys for its star and the series overall. Like Peter Falk in Columbo, Garner’s appeal meant that he didn’t need much in the way of a supporting cast, outside of LAPD colleagues like harried Sergeant Dennis Becker (Joe Santos), and Rockford’s old San Quentin cellmate Angel, a role for which Stuart Margolin won a pair of Emmys himself. But although he had plenty of episode-long flings, Rockford lacked a girl Friday like Sam Spade’s Effie, and his profession made it difficult for him to maintain a romantic relationship for very long. It would take quite a dynamic performer to cut through all that testosterone, and in Rockford’s fourth season, Rita Moreno did just that.
In the new, Lin-Manuel Miranda-produced documentary Rita Moreno: Just A Girl Who Decided To Go For It, the EGOT winner is brutally frank about the racism and sexism (including emotional abuse and sexual assault) she experienced under the Hollywood studio system. Even after the performance that earned her Oscar—Anita in 1962’s West Side Story—she says she didn’t make another movie for several years, rejecting parts that were basically “all Latina characters in gang movies.” In Rita Moreno: A Memoir, she writes that “the little tube was more welcoming than the big screen,” and she eventually landed a regular gig alongside “Easy Reader” Morgan Freeman in the PBS children’s program The Electric Company from 1971 to 1977. Moreno notes that around this time she also started “marathon ‘guesting.’ I was a guest star on dozens of shows. For instance, I returned three or four times to guest on Rockford Files with my old friend Jim Garner.”
Moreno and Garner did indeed go way back: She was his very first screen test partner over at 20th Century Fox. The studio passed, but Garner soon went on to play the lead in the TV series Maverick, which made him a bankable star. The liberal, civil-rights-minded pair also reunited on what Moreno called “a famous flight—a planeload of celebrities dedicated to the cause” who flew to Washington in 1963 to participate in the March On Washington, where they were in the audience at Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech.
(Much more recently, Moreno made headlines by protesting the backlash against Miranda’s self-acknowledged lack of Afro-Latinx representation in In The Heights, remarking to Stephen Colbert, “Well I’m simply saying, can’t you just wait a while and leave it alone… [T]hey’re attacking the wrong person.” She walked the comments back the very next day, saying, ‘”I’m incredibly disappointed with myself… I was clearly dismissive of Black lives that matter in our Latin community. It is so easy to forget how celebration for some is lament for others.”)
The chemistry between Garner and Moreno definitely sizzled with her appearance in Marlowe, so it made sense that she would eventually show up on her pal’s popular P.I. program. Although famous for being the early stomping grounds for Sopranos creator David Chase and a production of the prolific TV writer Stephen J. Cannell, Rockford Files also featured prominent women behind the scenes, like producer Meta Rosenberg, and writer Juanita Bartlett (Rosenberg’s former secretary), who wrote all three of Moreno’s episodes.
Moreno made her debut as as Rita Capkovic in The Rockford Files’ fourth-season episode “The Paper Palace.” The proverbial sex worker with a heart of gold (who’s also a police informant), lonely Rita wants to make actual friends.So she wrangles a dinner party invite out of Rockford regular Dennis Becker, where she fortunately meets Jim Rockford—because then she’s attacked in her own apartment by some mysterious French-speaking assassins, and she hires Rockford to find out who’s after her.
The murderous plot is kind of half-baked by Rockford standards, but the real star of the show is Moreno as Rita: constantly chattering to fill in any conversational lapses, complaining about boring stakeouts, crashing bigwig cocktail parties, flirting with Jim’s adorable dad Rocky (Noah Beery). A lot of Rita’s charm can be credited to the actor herself, as Moreno explained to Variety: “One of the nicest things [about Rockford] is they actually allowed me to improvise here and there. I thought of things that the character would say.” Also, in a move that was fairly progressive for the 1970s, Rita is a sex worker with agency. As she tells Jim: “I do what I do. I’m not gonna apologize, I’m not gonna explain.” He rightly responds: “I’m not asking you to.” The long-term affection between the two stars is palpable in their characters’ incessant banter.
Unsurprisingly, Moreno was soon asked back for a follow-up. Season five’s “Rosendahl And Gilda Stern Are Dead” is an embarrassment of riches, even by ’70s detective show standards: Rita accidentally witnesses a mob hit orchestrated by Phil Gabriel (Abe Vigoda) that also involves surgeon Russell Nevitt (Robert Loggia), and needs Jim to help her flush out the real killer. Again she functions as a delightful sidekick to Rockford, rivaling Garner in his near-exclusive territory of charisma and charm. There are nods back to her original appearance—her hatred of stakeouts, her love for Rocky—but she also hilariously pesters Jim Rockford, as when he breaks in to Dr. Nevitt’s office, pointing out that what he’s doing is illegal. Rockford: “Rita, on my best day, I’m borderline.”
Rita shows up again in season six’s “No Fault Affair,” where she develops a crush on Jim, to everyone’s dismay. She even appeared, at Garner’s request, in the last Rockford Files ever, the 1999 TV movie If It Bleeds… It Leads; it’s revealed that Rita finally settled down and got married to a schoolteacher, played by Barney Miller himself, Hal Linden. Moreno told Variety that there was talk of giving Rita a spin-off, although the character’s profession would have made that kind of difficult: ‘What made me laugh a lot after was people would say to me, ‘I love that character, you should do a series about her.’ I’d say, ‘What, of a hooker? Are we gonna do phone booth scenes?’ People loved her so much they forgot she was a hooker.” But as Moreno was between shows at the time (and would remain so, outside of a few failed series like Nine To Five and B.L. Stryker, until she was hired to play Sister Peter Marie Reimondo on Oz in 1997), it’s easy to imagine her as a series regular along with The Rockford Files’ primarily male cast—to Jim Rockford’s perpetual irritation/amusement.
Moreno was already an EGOT winner when she got her second Emmy for guesting on Rockford Files. Although IMDB lists the win as for “The Paper Palace,” Moreno writes in her memoir, “I garnered two Emmy nominations for two separate episodes, and my second nomination turned into an Emmy.” She wasn’t able to accept her first Emmy (for her appearance on The Muppet Show). She made up for it with her second win, racing to the stage, stopping to hug an obviously thrilled Garner (The Rockford Files also won Best Drama Series that year). In her speech, Moreno primarily lists her many blessings, including Garner, Rosenberg, Bartlett for being “a lady who really knows how to write about ladies,” her husband and daughter. Then the girl who just decided to go for it—with decades of stardom still ahead for her—offered the following hope for her audience: “I can only wish for you… that you were me.”
29 Comments
Rita Moreno! I had just listened to an episode of Maron with Sally Struthers, who had nothing but the worrrrst things to say about Rita Moreno, when I caught her whole really-bad-take on In the Heights. Then, a few nights ago, a friend shared a childhood story about Rita Moreno that scarred her (and her mother) for life. I’m kind of loving it, because– I mean, who woulda thought? It’s always more fun to be surprised.
Without defending any of it (seriously), folks who came up in theatre and branched out? MASSIVE chips on their shoulders, and they will not put up with that broad category of material known as “your (anyone’s) bullshit.”
I’d offer there’s a huge difference between “not putting up with bullshit,” which suggests a no-nonsense professionalism, and “being a nasty, toxic a-hole.”
You aren’t wrong, which is why I’m not defending it. And a good portion of them fall into the latter category you describe.
oh c’mon, dish….
.
That’s a really small dish. Give more or I’ll have to assume you’re lying 🙂
Hahaha. I don’t know what happened to my obnoxiously verbose response, but long story short: RM was a performer (and guest, I think) at an upstate NY resort (the kind that don’t really exist anymore), was a nightmare to the staff and patrons, and dramatically screamed into the air for help when approached by my friend and her mom. Repeated the same behavior for other guests, had the staff apologizing to everyone, etc. It’s not Armie Hammer levels of insanity, it’s just kind of fun, crazed behavior.
worth the anticipa-.
James Garner and Rita Moreno is probably a better & more charismatic pairing than any American actor & actress from any movie from the 1970s
Love both Garner and Moreno, but no, there were just too many great actor and actress pairings of all kinds in that decade to even put them in the top 10. Harold and Maude, Klute, Young Frankenstein, Manhattan, Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Carnal Knowledge, The Three Days of the Condor, Taxi Driver, Bad News Bears. No slight intended to Garner and Moreno, there was just a ton of talent and great performances in that decade.
All great, but I personally will take Jim Garner over any of those dudes
No argument with a subjective opinion and as I said, I love Garner and Moreno too. The Rockford Files was a seminal series for me as a little kid, not a radical show but one that gently nudged me into an irreverent somewhat pragmatic view of life. I think that irreverence and cynicism about institutions and human nature, combined with compassion for human beings, were the most powerful elements of Garner’s screen persona and definitely had an impact on me. That said, Al Pacino was my favorite actor of the ‘70s.Moreno was a part of my childhood because of the Electric Company, so I’ll always have a soft spot for her. As a screen actor I put her in same pool as I would Lee Remick or Ann Margaret — definitely someone capable of great work and in the top echelon of their peers. But its someone like Cicely Tyson, Madeline Kahn or Diane Sands (who died way too early) who felt really transformational to me, while Jane Fonda and Faye Dunaway were also impactful.Again, this is just my POV, but your post really got me thinking about the various actors that mattered to me back then and why. Also made me remember how much I loved The Bad News Bears and that I had a crush on Kristy MacNicol.
Jane Fonda in the 70s might have had the best run of any American actress in any decade. But Ellen Burstyn was not far off! Jim Garner in The Rockford Files was just an ideal fit, sort of like Peter Falk as Columbo, I can’t imagine anyone else in those roles or see any point in making them with anyone else. But as it is both are perfect shows
Too many people erase Gretchen Corbett as Beth Davenport from the Rockford Files. She was in as many episodes as Angel, and was a legit love interest for Rockford for several years, even if neither were exclusive.When I was watching last year, I was shocked how often she showed up, not part of Rockford lore.
I think she was supposed to be in the show more but there was a contract issue? She was signed to a studio that Garner had sued in the 60’s, so they decided not to do him a favour. Or something like that? Anyway, everyone’s loss – she was terrific.
I was just gonna comment on this: Beth Davenport is in something like 30 episodes of Rockford, and is the love interest for a fair amount of them, but Ihnat pretended like she doesn’t exist?
#justice4beth
Apparently The Rockford Files is streaming for free on Peacock! Now to investigate what the fuck “Peacock” is…
I’ve got season one on DVD right in the next room. Feel free to borrow it.
As a little kid, I watched The Rockford Files along with my dad. At the time, Jim Rockford reminded me of him—mostly the shitty wardrobe. Anyway, whenever I see Rita Moreno anywhere, her Rockford character is the first thing that comes to mind.
Rockford was my dad’s favorite show, hands down
I kind of wonder if they named her character “Rita” because James Garner would have kept calling her that anyway.Such a crappy world that I read any article where most of it is about two people being friends.
Well, his own character was named Jim, so… your theory makes sense.
I am trying to think of whom James Garner did not have chemistry with. Rita Moreno, even Donald Pleasance in The Great Escape, Julie Andrews, and so much with Mariette Hartley in those Polaroid commercials that people thought they were really married.
Season five’s “Rosendahl And Gilda Stern Are Dead” is an embarrassment of richesI’m just going to need a few minutes to bask in the greatness of that episode title.
Rockford Files has a lot of beautiful verbose episode titles throughout its six season run. Here’s a few more to sun for the afternoon in — careful don’t get sunburned: “Chicken Little is a Little Chicken,” “The Oracle Wore a Cashmere Suit,” “Sticks and Stones May Break Your Bones, But Waterbury Will Bury You,” “A Good Clean Bust with Sequel Rights,” “Deadlock in Parma”
Thanks for the tip! As someone said “Rockford Files” is streaming on Peacock, I’m going to have to start watching.
Gwen, I love the idea for this column. As someone who watched too much TV in the 70s, I have memories of great work done in the episodic form. Can I recommend that you do a future column on Patty Duke’s guest shot in the first season of “Police Woman”? Or Jodie Foster’s turn as a ten year old in “Ghost Story”?