Stuart Margolin (January 31, 1940 – December 12, 2022)[1] was an American film, theater, and television actor and director who won two Emmy Awards for playing Evelyn "Angel" Martin on the 1970s television series The Rockford Files. In 1973, he appeared on Gunsmoke as an outlaw. The next year he played an important role in Death Wish, giving Charles Bronson his first gun. In 1981, Margolin portrayed the character of Philo Sandeen in a recurring role as a Native American tracker in the 1981–1982 television series, Bret Maverick.
Early life
Margolin was born January 31, 1940, in Davenport, Iowa, to Morris and Gertrude Kalina Margolin but spent much of his childhood in Dallas, Texas, where he learned to golf.[2]
Margolin stated that he led a "hoodlum" childhood, was kicked out of Texas public schools, and was sent by his parents to a boarding school in Tennessee. While he attended that school, his family moved to Scottsdale,
Arizona.
Margolin was released from reform school and moved to be with his family in Arizona. Soon, however, he decided to move back to Dallas and see his friends. His parents made arrangements for Margolin to attend a private school there.[3]
Television and film
Margolin played the recurring character Evelyn "Angel" Martin, the shifty friend and former jailmate of Jim Rockford (James Garner) on The Rockford Files, whose various cons and schemes usually got Rockford in hot water.[citation needed] Margolin was earlier paired with Garner in the Western series Nichols (1971–72), in which he played a character somewhat similar to the Angel character in The Rockford Files. That show lasted for only one season.[2]
At times, Rockford would pay Angel to "hit the streets" and discover information that would help solve a case. Margolin won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for this role, in 1979 and 1980;[1] he is one of only five actors to win this award twice for the same role.[4]
In 1969, Margolin wrote and co-produced The Ballad of Andy Crocker, an ABCtelevision movie that was one of the first films to deal with the subject matter of Vietnam veterans "coming home".[5] He also co-wrote the title song and had an uncredited cameo in the film. Margolin had an uncredited role as the Station Wagon Driver in Heroes,[citation needed] another story about Vietnam veterans dealing with what we now refer to as PTSD.
Margolin co-starred in Mom P.I. a Canadian television series as Bernie, the street-smart Private Investigator who begrudgingly helps single mom, waitress Sally Sullivan (Rosemary Dunsmore) solve crimes. Mom P.I. is a 26 episode 1990–92 comedy-drama series.[9]
In Canada, Margolin appeared in the 2009 CTV/CBSpolice drama series The Bridge.[10][11] Margolin appeared as bail jumper Stanley Wescott in the episode "The Overpass" (Season 5 Episode 2; 2013) of the Canadian CBC Television series Republic of Doyle, which itself was inspired by The Rockford Files.[12] While not a wholesale recreation of the Angel Martin character, the Stanley Wescott role sported many similar attributes.[13] The episode also featured Margolin's stepson, Max Martini, in the role of Big Charlie Archer.[citation needed]
In addition to acting in the original and 1990s TV movie versions of The Rockford Files, Margolin also directed some episodes: "Dirty Money, Black Light" (1977), "Caledonia – It's Worth a Fortune!" (1974), "The Rockford Files: Friends and Foul Play" (1996), "The Rockford Files: If It Bleeds... It Leads" (1998).[citation needed]
Margolin wrote several songs for and with longtime friend and singer-songwriter Jerry Riopelle that have appeared on Riopelle's albums since 1967. Margolin was first associated with Riopelle's late 1960s band the Parade, co-writing many of their songs and playing percussion on various tracks. He and Riopelle (along with Shango member Tommy Reynolds) co-wrote Shango's 1969 Caribbean-flavored novelty record "Day After Day (It's Slippin' Away)",[15] which hit No. 57 on the U.S. charts and No. 39 in Canada.
Margolin had tracks he co-wrote covered by R. B. Greaves and Gary Lewis and the Playboys in 1968–69. Margolin's frequent songwriting partner Jerry Riopelle established a long-running solo career beginning in 1971; Riopelle released 8 albums between 1971 and 1982, every one of which contained at least one song (often more) written or co-written by Margolin. In turn, Margolin released a solo album in 1980, And the Angel Sings, which featured his interpretations of a number of Margolin and/or Riopelle compositions previously recorded by Riopelle.
Starting in 2004, he was a regular participant in the theater program of the Chautauqua Institution.[16]
Personal life and death
He married Patricia Dunne Martini in 1982. He had three stepchildren: actor Max Martini, costume designer Michelle Martini, and editor/ producer/ director Christopher Martini.[2]
He was the younger brother of Emmy-winning director/producer/writer Arnold Margolin, both of them lived in Lewisburg, West Virginia,[3] and acted together there in a professional community theater production of Laughter on the 23rd Floor.[17]
Margolin had frequently been misidentified as the brother of actress Janet Margolin (1943–1993);[18][19] the two were not related, although they appeared together as husband and wife in the pilot for the 1977 TV series Lanigan's Rabbi.[citation needed]
According to stepdaughter Michelle Martini, Margolin had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer a decade earlier. He died in Staunton, Virginia, on December 12, 2022.[2]
