Stuart Margolin, who won back-to-back Emmys for his recurring role as Evelyn“Angel” Martin in The Rockford Files and racked up more than 120 careerscreen credits, died today, his stepson Max Martini said on social media. Hewas 82.
In an Instagram post (see it below), Bosch: Legacy regular Martini wrote: “Aprofoundly gifted step-father that was always there with love and support forhis family. RIP Daddy. Keep ’em cold.” He did not provide a cause of death orother details.
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Margolin won Emmys in 1979 and 1980 for the respective fifth and sixth seasonsof NBC’s The Rockford Files , playing the former cellmate of Jim Rockford(James Garner). Appeared in more than three dozen episodes, including theseries’ first and last, his shady-but-ending character constantly soughtRockford’s help after getting mixed up with former criminal associates.
James Garner and Stuart Margolin in ‘The Rockford Files’
The Rockford Files was an initial hit, ranking No. 14 among primetime showsin a three-network universe during its initial 1974-75 season and spurring aTop 10 single with its Mike Post’s instrumental theme song. But it became moreof a cult series after that, failing to make the full-season Top 30 again asit bounced around NBC’s schedule but winning the Emmy for Outstanding DramaSeries in 1978. It also was nominated in the category for its last two seasons.
Margolin reprized his Angel role in eight Rockford Files TV movies duringthe 1990s, a tribute to the show’s enduring popularity.
But it was hardly Margolin’s only credit.
Margolin appeared opposite Garner in series before and after The RockfordFiles. He was a regular on the short-lived Western Nichols, playing thetown bully to Garner’s violence-hating, get-rich-quick-minded titlescharacter. The show lasted one season on NBC in 1971-72.
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They would return for another NBC Western after Rockford ended. BrettMaverick was based on Maverick , the 1957-62 series starring Garner — wholeft in 1960 — as a wisecracking, dapper ladies man and cardsharp. Margolinco-starred as Philo Sandine, an Indian scout-slash-con man that wasn’t too farremoved from his Angel character. The series lasted one season in 1981-82 andaired in reruns on NBC in 1990.
Margolin began his career in the early 1960s, doing guest shots on suchpopular series as The Fugitive, Ben Casey and Alfred Hitchcock Presents.Margolin continued to appear on TV throughout that decade in memorable andenduring shows including Ironside, The Virgin ian, The Monkees, Bewitched,The FBI and The Partridge Family. He also became a familiar face on the randyanthology comedy Love, American Style, appearing in more than two dozenepisodes from 1966-73.
Margolin landed another 1980s series-regular role in the NBC sitcom mr.Smith, playing the boss of a character who was charged with keeping track ofthe title character — a talking orangutan who is America’s latest secretweapon. The high-concept but low-rated show lasted a handful of episodes infall 1983.
After that, Margolin settled into mostly character-actor mode, guesting onsuch series as Hill Street Blues, Crazy Like a Fox and The Tracey UllmanShow. He did land one more regular role, on the Canadian dramedy _Mom, P.I.,_playing a cynical private investigator who hires a widowed waitress (RosemaryDunsmore) as an assistant. It aired two seasons from 1990-92.
Margolin continued to work in TV for the next three decades, with guestcredits on popular shows including Touched by an Angel , 30 rock and_NCIS_ along with a recurring role on Beggars and Choosers.
He would get one last series-regular gig with Stone Undercover (aka TomStone ), a syndicated cop drama that aired 26 episodes on CBC in Canada from2001-02. Margolin played Jack Welsh, an old friend of the title star (ChrisWilliam Martin), who was — of course — something of a con man and helped theundercover Stone trap crooked businessmen.
Margolin also did some film work, mostly during the 2000s and 2010s. Among hisfinal credits was a role in 2018 the revived Fox sci-fi drama The XFiles.
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