Jim Rockford (television character) Jim Rockford (television character) James Scott Rockford is a fictional character on the television series "The Rockford Files". The character, played by James Garner, is a struggling private investigator operating in the greater Los Angeles area. Rockford is the principal character of the series, and Garner was the only actor to appear in every episode of the series. Unlike many other fictional "private eyes", he is an ex-convict, albeit one who was falsely imprisoned (at San Quentin Prison) and later fully pardoned. One episode tells that because of the carelessness of his parole officer, Rockford had to hire an attorney
The Rockford Files is a Little Chicken", during which Rockford house- and cat-sits for an absent Beth) is the content of the answering machine message in any way connected to the plot or situations of the episode itself. In "Guilt" although not connected to the plot it does get referenced during the opening scene. The recorded message is Angel giving a racing tip and when Jim gets back to the trailer he plays back another message from Angel asking why Jim ignored the tip. The show went into hiatus late in 1979 when Garner was told by his doctors to take time off