Gerald So’s dream of James Garner as Rocky has died.
THR has posted that Beau Bridges will be playing Jim Rockford (Delmot Mulroney)’s dad, Rocky on the upcoming NBC remake of THE ROCKFORD FILES. Rocky was a former truck driver and helps his son out at times. Noah Beery Jr played the role in the original series.
Bridges is the third actor to be cast. In addition to Bridges and Mulroney, Alan Tudyk has been cast as Det. Dennis Becker.
I am bummed it's not Garner, but I'm surprisingly okay with the choice of Beau Bridges–partly because he looks like an older Mulroney. I might have watched the whole show if Garner were Rocky, but I'll watch at least fifteen minutes as is.
The casting of Alan ensures that I will watch the pilot, but I have my doubts.
Maybe they'll add Garner as the grandfather. No matter how good the show ends up being, it's got a tough road with viewers who watched the original series. James Garner will always be Rockford to me in one of the shows I most enjoyed watching.
Garner is in pretty poor physical shape. Check out his medical condition through goggle.