The Rockford Files 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. James Garner's real-life 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 officer "Captain McEnroe" a number of times in the final season. 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
The Rockford Files 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 a Malibu, California beach. In early episodes of the first season, Rockford's trailer is located in a parking lot alongside the highway at 2354 Beach Boulevard (Pacific Coast Highway), Malibu and near the ocean; for the rest of the