Author ● Journalist ● Radio Host ● Collaborative Writer
Synopsis. Bret’s effort to clear Mike McComb of a murder charge becomes complicated when he falls in love with saloon singer Jenny Hill.
The final episode produced by Roy Huggins, “The Strange of Jenny Hill” features singer/actress Peggy King (The George Gobel Show) and longtime character actor William Schallert (The Patty Duke Show, Get Smart, Dobie Gillis).
JAMES GARNER
in
THE ROCKFORD FILES
An NBC World Premiere Movie
Original Air Date: March 27, 1974
Synopsis. Rockford reluctantly agrees to investigate the death of Harvey Butler, an elderly derelict whose body was found beneath the Santa Monica pier two months ago. (Although the police consider the case unsolvable, Butler was strangled to death by a man named Jerry Grimes, a karate expert with a mean streak.) Butler’s daughter Sara (played by Lindsay Wagner) thinks there’s a connection between her father’s death and socialite Mildred Elias (Nita Talbot), who has been putting Sara’s brother, Nick (Bill Mumy) through medical school. Although his initial investigation leads him nowhere, Rockford becomes curious when he discovers Grimes tailing him shortly after the private eye interrogates Mildred Elias.
The sequence in which Rockford literally upends Jerry Grimes (William Smith) not only demonstrates how Rockford will often use elemental means to work his way out of trouble, it also showcases the character’s droll sense of humor. It’s an important scene that encapsulates what The Rockford Files is all about. As is the case with many of the other staples of the series, the development of that sequence was the collaborative effort of Roy Huggins and Stephen J. Cannell.
LEARN MORE about this episode in the revised third edition of 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES, featuring more than sixty new pages of never before published information about both the original Rockford Files and the CBS reunion movies, including twenty new interviews and six new appendices. 25 percent of the net proceeds from the sales of 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES will be donated to The James Garner Animal Rescue Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising funds to help rescue organizations, shelters, individuals, fosters, and veterans with emergencies, evacuations, medical care, adoptions, training, pet supplies, shelter, rehabilitation, boarding, transportation, food, and other pressing needs. JGARF is one way for Garner fans to honor Jim’s memory and extend his legacy. Plus… if you order 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES directly from Black Pawn Press, you will receive an exclusive bonus gift. Go to Rockford45.com for more details.
Synopsis. The first of Robert Colbert’s two appearances as Brent Maverick, Bret and Bart’s younger brother.
Little is known about young Brent Maverick, the “other brother” who came and went after only two appearances. Whatever background Brent may have, it can’t be anywhere nearly as interesting as that of the actor who played him. The path that led Robert Colbert to film and television—and, eventually, Warner Bros.—is a remarkable story in which a radio commercial, a poem, and actor Mickey Shaughnessy all play pivotal parts.
LEARN MORE about this episode in the revised third edition of 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES, featuring more than sixty new pages of never before published information about both the original Rockford Files and the CBS reunion movies, including twenty new interviews and six new appendices. 25 percent of the net proceeds from the sales of 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES will be donated to The James Garner Animal Rescue Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising funds to help rescue organizations, shelters, individuals, fosters, and veterans with emergencies, evacuations, medical care, adoptions, training, pet supplies, shelter, rehabilitation, boarding, transportation, food, and other pressing needs. JGARF is one way for Garner fans to honor Jim’s memory and extend his legacy. Plus… if you order 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES directly from Black Pawn Press, you will receive an exclusive bonus gift. Go to Rockford45.com for more details.
Synopsis. Professional illusionist The Great Malooley is also a professional killer whose performance at the Red Ox masks a plan to exhume the legendary Kirschfeld Diamonds, which he believes are buried underneath the saloon. To keep Maverick out of the way, Malooley frames him for the murder of a drunk who had threatened Bret the night before.
The third of three attempts to resurrect Maverick in the late ’70s and early ’80s, Bret Maverick (NBC, 1981-1982) saw James Garner reprise the role that originally made him a star.
Synopsis. Bart is among the passengers who are victimized by two men who hold up a stagecoach bound for Virginia City. Bart suspects a connection between the robbers and another passenger, Anne Sanders (she told them where Bart hid his money), so he trails Anne in the hopes that she will lead him to the holdup men (and the $1,500 they took from him). Bart’s suspicions are well-founded: after he captures the two men, Anne not only fails to identify them, but enables them to escape.
LEARN MORE about this episode in the revised third edition of Maverick: Legend of the West, featuring more than 100 pages of new information about the show that made James Garner a star. 25 percent of the net proceeds from the sales of the third edition will be donated to The James Garner Animal Rescue Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising funds to help rescue organizations, shelters, individuals, fosters, and veterans with emergencies, evacuations, medical care, adoptions, training, pet supplies, shelter, rehabilitation, boarding, transportation, food, and other pressing needs. JGARF is one way for Garner fans to honor Jim’s memory and extend his legacy. The revised third edition of Maverick: Legend of the West is available both in softcover and, very soon, as an eBook through Black Pawn Press, Amazon.com, and wherever books are sold online.
LEARN MORE about this episode in the revised third edition of 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES, featuring more than sixty new pages of never before published information about both the original Rockford Files and the CBS reunion movies, including twenty new interviews and six new appendices. 25 percent of the net proceeds from the sales of 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES will be donated to The James Garner Animal Rescue Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising funds to help rescue organizations, shelters, individuals, fosters, and veterans with emergencies, evacuations, medical care, adoptions, training, pet supplies, shelter, rehabilitation, boarding, transportation, food, and other pressing needs. JGARF is one way for Garner fans to honor Jim’s memory and extend his legacy. Plus… if you order 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES directly from Black Pawn Press, you will receive an exclusive bonus gift. Go to Rockford45.com for more details.
Synopsis. Bart wins $800 from George Parker, the mayor and owner of the town of Parkerville—and a notoriously bad loser. After George has Maverick robbed and beaten, George’s younger brother, Bill, who has long held a grudge against his sibling, convinces Bart to help him even the score. After Bill and his mother set up Maverick as a cattle buyer, Bart takes out a $100,000 life insurance policy, then arranges to have himself “killed.” George, who owns the company, discovers Bart’s plan and refuses to pay the claim. But as Maverick points out, that move could cost the company millions in canceled policies, so George is forced to keep Bart alive. But the charade backfires when a greedy undertaker tempts Doc Holliday into killing Maverick for $50,000.
“Triple Indemnity” marks the first of Peter Breck’s five appearances as Doc Holliday, the legendary gunslinger whom Gerald Mohr had previously played in two first-season episodes.
Synopsis. Maverick meets Agatha Christie’s Ten Little Indians in an episode that sees Bret impersonate his friend Homer Eakins. Homer’s wealthy uncle has summoned his offspring to his ranch to determine which one is most worthy of inheriting a $2 million fortune. One by one, however, each potential heir is mysteriously murdered.
“Black Fire” features the following Pappyism: “A man who can’t find his own troubles doesn’t deserve to share somebody else’s.” Guest stars include Oscar winner Jane Darwell (The Grapes of Wrath) and Hans Conried (The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T, Make Room for Daddy).
Synopsis. Frankie French, a somewhat ditzy young woman from Tucson, is summoned to Ten Strike by a mysterious benefactor—the town banker. Unbeknownst to Frankie, the banker is really her father, an escaped killer named Frankovich who surfaced in Ten Strike eight years earlier and assumed the identity of a deceased man named Scott. Only one person in town knows Frankovich’s secret: saloon owner Mae Miller, who knew him from her days as a showgirl. When Frankovich learned he was dying, he set about taking care of his affairs, including establishing an inheritance for Frankie. Mae decides to kill Frankovich and pin the crime on Frankie.
Connie Stevens not only starred as lounge singer Cricket Blake on the Warner Bros. detective series Hawaiian Eye, but helped launch Warner Bros. Records with the release of “Kookie, Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb” (a duet with 77 Sunset Strip star Edd Byrnes that became a Top Five record for the label) and “Sixteen Reasons,” which Stevens recorded as a solo artist and reached No. 3.