Monday, February 15, 2021

The Rockford Files - Episode: The Great Blue Lake Land and Development Company (1975)

Above photo: Bartine Zane Burkett played feisty Mildred Jensen. She was 77 years old when she played this part. So far she is the only actor/actress I found who had a credited role in "The Rockford Files" who was born in the 1800's. 
UPDATE: 02/15/2021 From the comment section: I want to make a correction regarding the actress who played "Mildred" in The Great Blue Lake Land And Development Company. Her original name was Bartine Burkett and her married name was Bartine Zane. I knew her very well the last fourteen years of her life. She was my dear friend and I miss her very much. She made some films with Buster Keaton and Laurel And Hardy before they were a team. Some films and commercials can be found on Youtube. Thank you, Randall Sills Burbank, California


Above Photo: Bob Hastings who is 85 years old and still kicking played Paul Tanner. God Bless Bob!


Above photo: The late great Richard Shull played "Fast Harry DeNova", a slick talking salesman and con-artist.
 
Below Richard Shull in an United Airlines commercial.




 
 
Above photo: Another great actor who has since passed away, Dana Elcar played the local county sheriff, Sheriff Mitchell.
 

 Above Photos: Once again The Rockford Files manages to find a very beautiful and sexy actress to play a role in one of their episodes. Actress Mary Ann Chin as Billie Carlton. In 1975 when this episode was produced Mary Ann Chin spelled her name Mary Ann Chinn. If anybody knows what Ms. Chin is up to these days, please let me know.


We need help with the location of this gas station in this scene.
(See below photos)

UPDATE FROM COMMENT SECTION: 02/23/2021
The gas station and service buildings were in Acton, Ca. as was the Sheriff's office. The address of the gas station was 31918 Crown Valley Road. The Sheriff's office was on the opposite corner of the gas station in Acton. It's no longer there, but you can see it clearly in the Matt Helm movie "The Silencers" which was filmed (in part) in Acton as well.

THANK YOU BRIAN

                          


Episode: "The Great Blue Lake Land and Development Company " (1975)

B-J's Complete Service Shop - Most likely the sign for this gas station was a prop and not the real name of the gas station. 
 

The above three photos shows Jim Rockford stopping at a rural gas station and grocery mart. The address plate on the building reads 31918 and I believe that is the actual address for the building/business.

This episode had three main filming locations:
Palmdale, CA, Santa Clarita, CA and
Lake Los Angeles, CA.
So I would imagine this old time gas station was once located in one of these three locations.
 

We do not have a location for this old County Sheriff's Office. It may also be a building on the set of Universal Pictures Studios and not a real sheriff's office. 

8 comments:

Doug Easterly said...

Well I kind of noted the tongue in cheek here: BJs COMPLETE SERVICE - hey it was the sexualized 70s!!

Unknown said...

I want to make a correction regarding the actress who played "Mildred" in The Great Blue Lake Land And Development Company. Her original name was Bartine Burkett and her married name was Bartine Zane. I knew her very well the last fourteen years of her life.

Unknown said...

PS: She was my dear friend and I miss her very much. She made some films with Buster Keaton and Laurel And Hardy before they were a team. Some films and commercials can be found on Youtube.
Thank you,
Randall Sills
Burbank, California
818 841-4581

Brian said...

The gas station and service buildings were in Acton, Ca. as was the Sheriff's office. The address of the gas station was 31918 Crown Valley Road. The Sheriff's office was on the opposite corner of the gas station in Acton. It's no longer there, but you can see it clearly in the Matt Helm movie "The Silencers" which was filmed (in part) in Acton as well.

Anonymous said...

Hi, the "Great Blue Lake" land office looks very familiar. Does anyone have the physical address of the building? The surrounding terrain appears to be Santa Clarita near the Cal-Arts campus.

Anonymous said...

Does anyone know how actor Ned Wilson died? He was on two episodes of The Rockford Files. It says he died at 49 in 1983 but no information can be found about him.

Anonymous said...

I just saw him on Charlie's Angels The Vegas Connection episode. From what I gathered, he died of AIDS.

Anonymous said...

Anyone know where the desert scenes were filmed?