A street-edged character player of TV and movies, often cast as an urban detective or crook, Joe Santos is perhaps best remembered as Detective Dennis Becker, cop pal who respects James Garner's Jim Rockford, on "The Rockford Files" (NBC, 1974-80) and its numerous TV-movies.

Santos began his on-screen career with a bit part in "My Body Hungers", a low-budget 1967 film. Subsequent roles included DiBono in "The Panic in Needle Park" and Ezmo in "The Gang that Couldn't Shoot Straight" (both 1971). He was a little known working actor when cast in "The Rockford Files", which triggered much