The Rockford Files - Cast

Cast

• James Garner as James "Jim / Jimmy" Scott Rockford

Also starring:

• Noah Beery, Jr. as Joseph "Rocky" Rockford, Jim's father, a retired truck driver. (The role was played by actor Robert Donley in the 1974 pilot episode.)

Recurring stars:

• Joe Santos as Sergeant Dennis Becker, Jim's friend on the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) (promoted to lieutenant in season 5)
• Stuart Margolin as Evelyn "Angel" Martin, Jim's former prison friend. Angel is an untrustworthy con artist who constantly gets Jim in trouble, yet Jim remains his friend.
• Gretchen Corbett as Elizabeth "Beth" Davenport, Jim's lawyer and sometime girlfriend (seasons 1–4)
• James Luisi as Lieutenant Douglas J. "Doug" Chapman (seasons 3–6), Becker's boss (until Becker's promotion). He and Jim despise each other.
• Tom Atkins as Lieutenant Alex / Thomas Diehl (seasons 1–2 and 4)
• Luis Delgado as Officer Todd / Jack Billings
• Bo Hopkins as John "Coop" Cooper, Jim's disbarred attorney friend (Season 5)
• Pat Finley as Peggy Becker, Dennis' wife
• Isaac Hayes as Gandolph "Gandy" Fitch, an acquaintance of Jim's from his prison days. Gandy was a much feared inmate, and it is implied that even Rockford (whom he calls "Rockfish") was a victim of his brutality. Rockford helps prove that Fitch was sent to prison for a crime he did not commit.
• Tom Selleck as Lance White, a suave and dapper (and more successful) private investigator, who sometimes works with Jim on cases.
• James Whitmore, Jr. as Fred Beamer, an auto mechanic who aspires to be a private investigator, and involves himself in Jim's affairs, at one time assuming his identity, and plunging Jim into trouble. Whitmore later directed the television movie The Rockford Files: I Still Love L.A..
• Dennis Dugan as Richie Brockelman, a young, idealistic and somewhat naive private investigator who seeks Jim's help from time to time. Bereft of Jim's cynicism and physical toughness, this character was spun off for the short-lived Richie Brockelman, Private Eye.
• Kathryn Harrold as Dr. Megan Dougherty, a blind psychiatrist who originally hires Jim. Their relationship eventually blossoms into a romance. Jim is upset in a later episode to find she has become engaged to another man.
• Simon Oakland as Vern St. Cloud, a fellow private investigator, blustery, arrogant and used to getting his own way, St. Cloud and Rockford grudgingly accept each other's assistance from time to time, trading insults along the way.
• Louis Gossett, Jr. as Marcus Aurelius "Gabby" Hayes, an impeccably dressed Private Investigator, chauffeur driven, boastful and nearly always on a hustle, usually to Rockford's misfortune. Gossett appeared first in Foul On The First Play wearing a full wig with sideburns, appearing the following season in Just Another Polish Wedding without it.

Valentino, a cat that either Jim has adopted, or is a stray who frequents Jim's trailer, is seen in at least one episode, and is referred to in another by the same name.