Paul Michael Glaser, David Soul and the cast of Starsky & Hutch

Starsky and Hutch was one of the light, youth-oriented police-action shows that populated TV in the 1970s.  The two young plainclothes cops were both swinging bachelors, and their personalities mashed perfectly - they almost seemed to operate as one.  Starsky was was the streetwise member of the team, and Hutch the better-educated.

- The Complete Directory To Prime Time Network TV Shows 1946 - Present

The 1970s was an era of "cool cops" on American television.  Thee was The Mod Squad and there was Starsky & Hutch..  Starsky & Hutch, starring Paul Michael Glaser and David Soul, ran on the ABC network for four seasons and 92 episodes, from April 1975 to May 1979.  The show chronicled the adventures of two hip police detectives as they took on cases in the roughest and seediest neighbourhoods of the city (presumably Los Angeles, California).

Paul Michael Glaser portrayed Detective Dave Starsky, the dark-haired detective, while David Soul played Detective Ken Hutchinson "Hutch," the blond detective.  Together they tackled muggers, drug pushers, pimps, hoodlums and various other criminals.  Although the duo sometimes went undercover, they were often highly visible, driving around town in their trademark hot-rod, Starsky's bright red Ford Torino with large white stripe on both sides.  Paul Michael Glaser was quoted in USA Today (March 3, 2004) as saying, "We had a groundbreaking show with unique characters.  But all people remember is that car."

THE CAST OF STARSKY & HUTCH

PAUL MICHAEL GLASER (Detective Dave Starsky)

Paul Michael Glaser was born Paul Manfred Glaser on March 25th, 1943, to a Jewish family in Cambridge Massachusetts.  His father, Samuel Glaser, was a Boston architect.  In 1966, Paul graduated from Tulane University in New Orleans, majoring in theatre and English and minoring in architecture.  In 1967, he received a Master's Degree in Fine Arts (acting and directing) from Boston University School for the Arts.

In the late 1960s, Paul Michael Glaser performed in several Broadway productions and he began appearing on television. From 1967 to 1968, he played Noel on the medical drama The Doctors and from 1969 to 1970, he played Dr. Peter Chernak on the daytime soap Love Is a Many Splendored Thing.  He then portrayed Perchik in his first feature film, the 1971 classic Fiddler on the Roof.

In the early 1970s, Glaser guest-starred in episodes of such TV series as Cannon (1972), The Streets of San Francisco (1972), The Waltons (1973), Kojak (1974) and The Rockford Files (1974).  In 1975, he rose to fame as Detective Dave Starsky in the hit series Starsky & Hutch.  After Starsky & Hutch ended, Glaser continued to act on television and in films.  He appeared in several TV movies, including Wait Till YourMother Gets Home! (1983), Jealousy (1984), Attack on Fear (1984), Single Bars, Single Women (1984), And Never Let Her Go (2001), Ladies Night (2005) and Faceless (2006).

From 2004 to 2005, Glaser portrayed Captain Jack Sleeper on the NBC series Third Watch, a crime drama set in New York City that revolved around police, firefighters and paramedics.  In 2008, he guest-starred in an episode of Criminal Minds.  In 2009, he appeared in two episodes of The Mentalist.  From 2013 to 2019, he portrayed Alan in four episodes of the crime drama Ray Donovan.

In 2019,  Paul Michael Glaser appeared as Leo in two episodes of the Netflix comedy Grace and Frankie, starring Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda.  In a 2018 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he described his character, Leo, as a "failed guru" that Frankie (Lily Tomlin), knew before.  "That's fun,," he said, adding that "Jane and Lily are really lovely."

Paul Michaael Glaser married Elizabeth Meyer in 1980.  In August 1981, Elizabeth contacted HIV after receiving an HIV-contaminated blood transfusion while giving birth.  Tragically, she inadvertently passed the virus to her infant daughter, Ariel, through breastfeeding.  Ariel Glaser died in 1988.  The Glasers' son, Jake (born 1984), also contracted HIV through Elizabeth in utero, but he survived to adulthood.

Elizabeth became an AIDS activist and child advocate.  After the loss of her daughter, she was determined to save her remaining child, Jake, and other HIV children.  In 1988, she co-founded the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric Foundation to raise public awareness about the HIV infection and to raise funding for the development of pediatric AIDS drugs.  Elizabeth passed away on December 3, 1994 at the age of 47.

Elizabeth Glaser

In 1996, Paul Michael Glaser married Tracy Barone.  They had a daughter, Zoe Glaser (born October 7, 1997), but they divorced in 2007.

Paul Michael Glaser is an avid photographer and artist.  On April 24, 2018, he unveiled his first U.S. solo art exhibition at Cosmo Lofts in Hollywood, California.  The show featured paintings and digitally-produced pieces.  When asked how he spends his time these days, Glaser told The Hollywood Reporter the following: "I paint and I write and I pursue golf - very unsuccessfully - but I enjoy the challenge and being outdoors."  When asked about his children, he stated that Jake is "doing great" and that he helps him with a lot of his paintings.  He described Jake as "very sociable - tenacious too, just like his mother."  He said that his son "works as a consultant to various organizations."  At he time of the interview, his daughter Zoe was attending New York University (NYU) in New York.


DAVID SOUL (Detective Ken "Hutch" Hutchinson)

David Soul was born David Richard Solberg in Chicago, Illinois, USA on August 28, 1943.  He is of Norwegian descent.  His mother, June Johanne (Nelson) was a teacher.  His father, Dr. Richard W. Solberg, was a Lutheran minister and a Professor of History and Political Science for the Lutheran Church in America.  David spent the first twelve years of his life between South Dakota and post-World War II Berlin.  His father moved the family to Germany where he served as Religious Advisor to the U.S. High Commission and later as Senior Representative for the Lutheran World Federation, a refugee relief organization.  They returned to the U.S. when David was 13.

David was a good baseball player and was offered a professional contract with the Chicago White Sox organization.  However, he turned down the offer, opting instead to move to Mexico with his family.  He withdrew from his second year at Augustana College, a Lutheran university in Sioux Falls, South Dakota (where his father taught) and studied for a year at the University of the Americas in Mexico City.

David got into the entertainment business by happenstance.  While he was in Mexico, a group of students gave him a guitar and taught him Indigenous songs.  When he returned to the U.S. midwest, he found employment singing folk songs at University of Minnesota coffee house.  He eventually sent an audition tape and a photo of himself to the William Morris Agency in New York and was signed by them.  He also shortened his last name to "Soul."

In 1965, David travelled by bus to New York City.  In 1966 and 1967, he attracted attention as the "Covered Man" on The Merv Griffin Show.  He sang while wearing a mask and declared, "My name is David Soul and I want to be known for my music." After removing the mask, he continued his semi-regular appearances on the Griffin show.

David studied acting in New York.  In 1967, a talent executive at Columbia/Screen Gems noticed him on The Merv Griffin Show and he was signed to a $250-per-week contract with Screen Gems.  It was then on to Los Angeles for the up-and-coming actor.  He was cast in his first television role, as Dennis Blake in a 1967 episode of Flipper entitled "The Firing Line: Part One (Season 3, Episode 23, Air Date: March 11, 1967.

In 1967, David also appeared as an orderly in an episode of I Dream of Jeannie entitled "My Master, the Weakling" and as Makora in an episode of Star Trek entitled "The Apple."  In 1968, he won the role of the middle brother, Joshua, on the hit series Here Come the Brides.  The series starred Robert Brown and Bobby Sherman and ran for two years and 52 episodes. During this time, David became strongly opposed to the Vietnam War and deeply involved in the anti-war movement.  In 1971, he appeared in the anti-war movie, Dalton Trumbo's Johnny's Got His Gun.  In 1972, he had a recurring role in 13 episodes of the legal television drama Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law.

Over the years, David has appeared in numerous episodes of TV series such as Dan August (1971), Ironside (1971), All in the Family (1971),  The F.B.I. (1972), The Streets of San Francisco (1972), Medical Center (1974), Cannon (1973) (1974), The Rookies (1974) and MacMillan and Wife.(1974).  Of course, he is best known for his role as "Hutch" on Starsky & Hutch from 1974 to 1979.  The "Hutch" role came about because David caught the eye of producer Aaron Spelling with his performance in Clint Eastwood's 1973 film Magnum Force.  In Magnum Force, he played the role of a corrupt motorcycle cop.

In 1988, David received glowing reviews for his portrayal of a cold-blooded police killer Michael Lee Platt in In the Line of Duty: The F.B.I. Murders.  The TV movie was considered controversial because of its high level of violence.

In 1995, David Soul was invited to Britain to perform in the play Catch Me if You Can.  He immigrated to the United Kingdom and moved to London with his girlfriend, American actress Alexa Hamilton.(the couple broke up in 2004).  He has since toured England and Scotland and has spent years in London working in theatre, television and film.  In 2002 and 2003, David portrayed Professor Alan Fletcher in the British medical drama Holby City.  In July of 2004, David took over the role of Jerry Springer in a West End production of Jerry Spring: The Opera at the Cambridge Theatre, which the BBC televised in 2005.

David Soul has been married five times  His first wife was actress Miriam "Mim" Solberg (née Russeth)., whom he wed on December 7, 1963.  They had a child together, Kristofer, but the marriage only lasted only about a year, and they divorced in 1965.  In 1968, David married actress Karen Carlson, whom he met on the set of Here Come The Brides. (She played Mary Ellen on the show).  David and Karen had a child together, Jon, but divorced in 1977.  

On October 12, 1980, David married for the third time, to Patti Carnel, ex-wife of Bobby Sherman, his fellow castmate on Here Come the Brides.  David was stepfather to Tyler and Christopher, Patti's two children by Bobby Sherman.  He and Patti had a son together, Brendan Soul, and divorced in 1986.  In October of 1982, when Brendan was just nine months old, David was arrested for assaulting Patti.  When the story broke, there were ugly headlines and Soul was ordered by the court to undergo psychotherapy sessions and alcoholism counselling.

At the time, David was filming the 1983 NBC miniseries, Casablanca, in which he had the Humphrey Bogart part.  His career was going downhill and he desperately needed a hit.  He feared that the miniseries would be a $5 million miss.  Both he and Patti were on edge and David was drinking to ease the tension.

In 2003, David talked to the BBC about the violence he had inflicted on Patti as part of a campaign launched by BBC1 to raise awareness of the issue.  Appearing on the program Dangerous Love, he stated, "There is no excuse.  The hardest part is to look at oneself and to those you love and that you have hurt.  We live with the guilt and shame."

David wed his fourth wife, Singaporean-born American actress Julia Nickon, in 1987.  The marriage lasted until 1993 and the couple had a daughter, China Alexandra Soul (born May 5, 1988). China is a singer/songwriter.

China Soul 

In June of 2010, David  married his fifth wife, Helen Snell.  They met while David was performing in the British stage production of Deathtrap.


THE REST OF THE CAST OF STARSKY & HUTCH

BERNIE HAMILTON (Captain Harold Dolby) 1928 - 2008

Bernard "Bernie" Hamilton played the hot-tempered but compassionate Captain Harold Dolby on Starsky and Hutch.  Bernie was born in East Los Angeles on June 12, 1928.  He attended Oakland Technical High School in Oakland, California, where he played football and became interested in acting.

In the 1950s and early 1960s, Bernie appeared in bit parts in feature films, many of them uncredited.  He film debut was as baseball player Ernie in The Jackie Robinson Story (1950).  He also played a reporter in Carmen Jones (1954), Goodbye George in Let No Man Write My Epitaph (1960) and Charlie in The Devil at 4 O'Clock (1961).  He won acclaim for his performance as Frank Richards in One Potato, Two Potato (1964), in which he played the black husband of a white woman, portrayed by Barbara Barrie.

Prior to Starsky & Hutch, Bernie made guest appearances in episodes of a number of TV series including Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1960), The Twilight Zone 1961), Ben Casey (1963), The Dick Van Dyke Show (1963), Ironside (1967), All in the Family (1973), Sanford and Son (1973) and The Six Million Dollar Man (1975).

From 1975 to 1979, he played the no no-nonsense Captain Dolby in 91 of the 92 Starsky & Hutch episodes.  Originally, a white actor was cast to play the police caption on the show..  However, executive produces Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg remembered Bernie because he had portrayed a police captain in an earlier Spelling-Goldberg television series.  They thought he'd be right for the part.

After Starsky & Hutch finished its run in 1979, Bernie Hamilton phased himself out of acting.  He limited himself to a appearances in episodes of only three TV series: The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo (1980), Galactica (1980) and The Love Boat (1985).  For 20 years, Bernie focused on being a producer of R&B and Gospel recordings for Chocolate Snowman, a record label he founded.  He produced and sang on an album called "Capt. Dolby Sings the Blues."

Bernie after Starsky & Hutch

Bernie Hamilton married Maxine King in 1950 and they divorced in 1968.  He was the father of two children, daughter Candy and son Raoul.  He died of cardiac arrest in Los Angeles on December 30, 2008, at the age of 80.


ANTONIO FARGAS (Huggy Bear)

Antonio Fargas played the streetwise police informer Huggy Bear on Starsky & Hutch.  The lanky actor with the mischievous eyes has been appearing on stage and screen for decades.  Born
Antonio Juan Fargas in New York City on August 14, 1946, he was one of he 11 children of Mildred ((née Bailey) and Manuel Fargas.  Manuel, Antonio''s Puerto Rican father, worked for the City of New York, sanitation worker and his mother, Mildred, was from Trinidad and Tobago.  He  grew up in Spanish Harlem.

Anotonio is a veteran actor and has performed on stage and screen for about 60 years.  In a 2013 Popdose Interview, Antonio explained how he first got into acting, which he attributed to his mother.  "When I was 14 years old," he said, " there was an ad in the newspaper where they were looking for young African-American men to play in a film about gangs, likening it to West Side Story, except the story was set in Harlem.  My mother encouraged me to try out for it, even though I had no experience at all . . . So I found myself getting a small role in that film, and that was the beginning of my career."

Antonio appeared in many "blaxploitaion" films of the early 1970s, such as Shaft (1971).  "I don't care if it's the junkie or the piimp, it's still empowering to the black community," he told the Los Vegas Review-Journal of his "blaxsploitation" days.  You feel proud to be a part of the picture."

Prior to Starsky and Hutch, Antonio appeared in episodes of such series as The Bill Cosby Show (1971), Ironside (1973), Sanford and Son (1974), Police Woman, and Kojak (1974).  From 1975 to 1979, Antonio played Starsky and Hutch's  primary informant, the flamboyant, jive-talking Huggy Bear, in all 92 episodes of the series.

During his Starsky & Hutch years, Antonio made guest appearances on episodes of The Love Boat (1978) and Vegas$ (1978).  After Starsky & Hutch, Antonio's career continued to thrive.  He guest-starred in episodes of CHiPs, Charlie's Angels (1980), Nurse (1981) and Hardcastle and McCormick (1983).  In 1983 and 1984, Antonio played the role of Les Baxter on the daytime soap All My Children.  In 1988, he appeared in an episode of Miami Vice.

In the 1990s, Antonio guest-starred on MacGyver (1991), The Fresh Prince of Bel Air (1994), The Steve Harvey Show (1999) and L.A. Heat (1999).  From 2005 to 2009, Antonio Fargas had a regular role in 27 episodes of Everybody Hates Chris, the Chris Rock comedy about a black teenager in an all-white school during the 1980s.  Antonio portrayed Doc Harris, the local grocery store owner.

Fargas as Doc Harris

Fargas appeared in a 2006 episode of TV series Heroes and in the 2008 British boxing film Sucker Punch.  In 2018, he played Huggy Bear in an episode of the crime series Captain Sharif.  He also played a character named Harold in a 2018 episode of Code Black.


END NOTES

* While studying at Tulane University, Paul Michael Glaser was roommates with television and film director Bruce Paltrow who passed away in 2002.

Paul Michael Glaser directed the 1987 film, The Running Man, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger

* In 1977, David Soul he had a hit song with "Don't Give Up on Us," which topped the charts in the United States and in the UK.

*  In 2004, David became a British citizen, while retaining his U.S. citizenship.  His daughter, China, also moved to Britain and became a British citizen.

* David is a fan of the English football (soccer) club Arsenal FC.

* David Soul recently released a 3-D compilation called Gold.  It features 44 tracks spanning his music career.

* Starting in the late 1960s, Bernie Hamilton operated a a nightclub/art gallery on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles.

* Bernie's older brother was jazz drummer Chico Hamilton.  Chico Hamilton died on November 25, 2013.at the age of 92.

* Antonio Fargas' son, Justin Alejandro Fargas (born January 25, 1980), is a former American football running back.  Justin played college football at the University of Southern California.  He was selected by the Oakland Raiders in the first round of the 2003 NFL draft and played for the Raiders from 2003 to 2009.

* Antonio appeared on the BBC drama Holby City, as did David Soul.

* David Soul and Paul Michael Glaser made cameo appearances in the 2004 feature film adaption of Starsky & Hutch, starring Ben Stiller as Starsky and Own Wilson as Hutch.  Rapper Snoopy Dog played Huggy Bear.

Glaser and Soul in more recent photo

SOURCES: The Complete Directory To Prime Time Network TV Shows 1946 - Present; The Hollywood Reporter, "'Starstky and Hutch' Star Paul Michael Glaser Charts 'Third Act' With Solo Art Exhibition," by Chris Gardner, April 24, 2018; The Official Website of David Soul;  People Magazine, "The Souls; Dark Night," by Brad Darrach and Gioia Diliberto, April 18, 1983; The Telegraph, "David Soul talks of guilt after beating his wife, by Sarah Womack, January 18, 2010;  Las Vegas Review Journal, "Playing It Cool," August 12, 2007; The Popdose Interview, "The Popdose Interview: Antonio Fargas," by Will Harris, November 29, 2013; Wikipedia; Internet Movie Database (IMDb.com)


- Joanne