- A DEADLY MAZE
Original Air Date: December 23, 1977
Synopsis. Facing a serious cash flow stoppage, Rockford agrees to find a man’s missing wife—a case he’d normally decline. Jim doesn’t realize that his client, Eric Von Albach (played by Larry Linville), is a behavioral scientist who is using him as a guinea pig in a government-funded study to determine how monetary reinforcement influences certain people’s ability to complete their work under stress. The “missing wife” case was part of the charade Von Albach concocted to measure Rockford’s reactions. The experiment hits a snag, however, when the woman Von Albach hired to play his wife ends up dead.
Larry Linville was an inspired choice to play the cold, calculating, eccentric, and ever scientific Professor Von Albach. At the time of this episode, Linville had just completed his five-year stint as Major Frank Burns on M*A*S*H.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