Retro : Reactivating ‘Rockford’ : JAMES GARNER GETS BACK IN THE P.I. BUSINESS WITH MOVIES FOR CBS

“This is Jim Rockford. At the tone leave your name and message. I’ll get back to you.”

“The Rockford Files” have been reopened after 15 years of inactive status.

Emmy Award-winning James Garner, who starred in the popular 1974-79 NBC series, is back as the ex-con Los Angeles private investigator Jim Rockford in “The Rockford Files: I Still Love L.A.,” airing Sunday on CBS. Garner also is set to star in five more “Rockford Files” movies over the next two years.

As much as Garner loved the original series, he says, “There was a lot of agony attached to it because it damn near killed me physically. It was very difficult. The camera follows me pretty much wherever I go, which means I am in every shot in the series. That’s a lot, plus 10 pages of dialogue a day.”

And, he adds, “there was all that trouble with the lawsuit,” referring to his long-running feud with the series’ owners.

Five years ago, Garner settled an eight-year battle with Universal Television over his 37.5% share of the profits from “Rockford.” In 1981, the actor sued Universal for $16.5 million plus punitive damages, claiming that Universal’s “shady” accounting procedures had robbed him of millions of dollars. (Universal refused comment). Before the undisclosed settlement, Universal accountants determined that despite taking in more than $120 million in revenues from syndication, foreign and other sales, the series had earned less than $1 million in profits and Garner’s share amounted to $249,313.

Though Garner agreed to do “Rockford,” wild horses can’t drag him to shoot the movies on the Universal lot. “I just can’t do that,” he says, during a break in the filming at a warehouse-turned-police station in Downtown Los Angeles. “I will do ‘Rockford,’ but I will not go on the lot.”

Garner isn’t the only “Rockford” regular back for this week’s movie. Joe Santos, who played Det. Dennis Becker, still has a love-hate relationship with his P.I. pal. And Stuart Margolin, who played Rockford’s former prison buddy, Angel Martin, is up to his usual shenanigans.

This “I Still Love L.A.” TV film, Garner says, brings Rockford “up to date. It’s about Los Angeles and everything that has happened here over the past three years. We had riots, fires and earthquakes. That’s the background of the story. I have a new trailer and a different car. I have my old car, but it is in pretty bad shape. I have been married and divorced.”

He’s also been hired by his ex-wife, prominent defense attorney Halley (Kit) Kittredge (Joanna Cassidy) to investigate the murder of an aging film star.

One regular from the old series who won’t be in the movie is Noah Beery Jr., who played Rockford’s folksy dad, Rocky. Beery died earlier this month at age 81. “We miss him a lot,” Garner says softly.

Garner also is executive producer of the new “Rockford” movies. “ ‘Rockford’ had been offered to me for the last two years,” he explains. “I was busy doing this and that and then it came up again and I said, ‘Well, if I am ever going to do it, now is the time to do it. I am going to get too old.’ So I just decided to do it.”

He also asked Stephen J. Cannell (the show’s co-creator) and former producer-writers Juanita Bartlett and David Chase to come on board. “I said, ‘Folks, do you want to do some ‘Rockfords’? Each one of them will write two a piece. So I have got the original writers and creators. We had a production meeting one day and there were 22 people from the old show working on it. It was like we just went to work again and nothing had happened.”

Santos felt the same way. It took all of “five minutes” to get back into character, Santos says.

And even less to click with Garner. “I have had the opportunity to work with a lot of terrific actors,” Santos says. “He’s probably, I think, one of the top six actors not only in this country, but the world. Most actors don’t have a good sense of humor. Jimmy always had that.”

Playing Angel again has “been delightful,” says Margolin, who has been concentrating on directing. “I was rather anxious, maybe even scared, because I haven’t been acting a lot. But so far it has been really fun. Everybody seems to be responding very well.”

“The Rockford Files: I Still Love L.A.” airs Sunday at 9 p.m. on CBS; repeats of “The Rockford Files” air weekdays at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on A&E.;