6. Requiem for a Funny Box

Complete story — includes the ending

Kenny Bell ( Chuck McCann ), a comedian whose career is in decline, tries to hire Rockford to protect him from his still very successful ex-partner, Lee Russo ( Robert Quarry ). Later Kenny hires Rockford to recover, for ransom, his ‘funny box’ catalogue of jokes that has just been stolen. However when Jim goes to make the exchange he finds Russo’s dead body. Kenny denies any involvement in what Rockford was doing, so Lieutenant Diehl ( Tom Atkins ) is ready to pin the murder on Jim. It forces him to investigate further, and he turns up a personal connection between Russo and a leading local mobster ( Jason Evers ). With Meredith MacRae and Gilbert Green. This 1977 episode is notable for its depiction of the efforts high profile homosexual men would go to in that era to keep their sexual orientation secret, as well as the denial and lack of support they often received from their families.