Whatever Happened To Angel From The Rockford Files?

There have been some great Detective/Private Eye/Police/Crime series in the history of television. We all have our favorites.

Maybe Hawaii 5-O? How about Kojak? Of course there was Hill Street Blues, Columbo, Magnum P.I., Ironside, and on and on and on.

My favorite of all of them was The Rockford Files. Each week James Garner as Jim Rockford would find himself in one ticklish situation or another. While we all knew the case would be solved by the end of the hour, it was the trip Rockford took us on each week to get to that ending that was fun.

And it was even better if 'Angel' was a part of that ride. Yep, I really like The Rockford Files, but I loved it if Angel was part of the episode.

We all have our favorite television characters and for me, well, I also kind of like the supporting players, the 'sidekicks'. My all-time favorite was 'Barney' on the Andy Griffith Show''. Then you had 'Kramer' on Seinfeld', he'd be one of my Top 3. And the other?

'Angel' on 'Rockford', the best buddy that always caused trouble but somehow you had to love him.

So whatever happened to 'Angel'....and who was 'Angel'.

Well, 'Angel' was a brilliant actor named Stuart Margolin. He was so good at playing 'Angel' that he won the Emmy for Best Supporting Actor 2 years in a row (1979-1980), one of only a handful of actor's to do that for the same character in the history of television.

But hold on....Margolin was (and is) waaay more than that. A television director since the early 1970's, he has directed episodes of 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show', 'Magnum P.I.', 'Northern Exposure', 'Quantum Leap' and several others.

And wait, there's still more...he's also an accomplished songwriter and is a musician. At the age of 77, Stuart Margolin is a whole lot more than 'Angel'.

But I still love watching the 'Rockford Show' re-runs...especially if Jim's friend 'Angel' is part of the fun!