Remember how James Garner, in TV's Rockford Files, used to spin his car 360 degrees?

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Cannell, who created hits from "The Rockford Files" to "The A-Team, " was already a TV titan when he published his first novel in 1996.

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In 1979, he left NBC Universal where he spent eight years under contract creating and writing series such as the Rockford Files, to start his own independent production company.

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