# Did Jim Rockford carry a gun?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jim-rockford-carry-a-gun/716737>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Tags:** tv-shows-scripted\
**Created:** [April 3, 2015, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jim-rockford-carry-a-gun/716737 "2015-04-03T19:41:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2024, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jim-rockford-carry-a-gun/716737/61 "2024-03-15T15:51:26Z")

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> [@TriPolar](#):
>
> It’s been common practice in TV dramas.

There is, of course, a Trope for this.

> **[You Look Familiar - TV Tropes](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/YouLookFamiliar)**
>
> A guest actor who returns to play more than one character in the same continuity. The use of the same actor for different characters is typically intended to go unnoticed or at least unremarked. Ed Wasser played Shadow minion Morden in Babylon 5 …

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**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2024, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jim-rockford-carry-a-gun/716737/62 "2024-03-15T17:50:46Z")

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> [@hajario](#):
>
> It’s not like it was a secret at the time or that no one noticed. They just didn’t care. The staff of the show appreciated an actor that they liked personally and were reliable. Obviously tv watching has changed.

I think it was probably less noticeable during a show’s first run. When you only see one episode per week, and the same actor shows up again a few years later, you’d have to have a good memory to notice. When that same show is in syndication and plays five, or more, times per week, and we see them multiple times, it jumps out a bit more.

_Law & Order_ had a habit of bringing guest actors into the regular cast. S. Epatha Merkerson, Jerry Orbach, Annie Parisse, and Diane Neal (_SVU_) all played one-shot characters before joining the cast. Camryn Mannheim was on the show a few times in the early seasons, and became the precinct lieutenant when the show was revived a couple years ago.

A bit of trivia; can anyone think of an actor who played two different named characters (not just “guy unloading boxes”) in the _L&O_-verse who died? I know of one, but there may be more.

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**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2024, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jim-rockford-carry-a-gun/716737/63 "2024-03-15T20:06:24Z")

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> [@Robot\_Arm](#):
>
> _Law & Order_ had a habit of bringing guest actors into the regular cast. S. Epatha Merkerson, Jerry Orbach, Annie Parisse, and Diane Neal (_SVU_) all played one-shot characters before joining the cast. Camryn Mannheim was on the show a few times in the early seasons, and became the precinct lieutenant when the show was revived a couple years ago.

And is specifically mentioned in the above link:

> This is such a common occurrence amongst the various incarnations of _[Law & Order](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Franchise/LawAndOrder)_, that fans of that show have come to call those who look familiar [“Repeat Offenders”](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FanNickname).

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