The Original Starsky

Background:

“Being a celebrity forces me to get in touch and stay in touch or at least try to more than I ever did before so you don't lose yourself, don't lose your balance.” Paul Michael Glaser

Starting his career on the New York stage in the late '60s, Paul Michael Glaser became a TV star in the '70s when he played Detective David Starsky on the popular ABC crime drama series "Starsky and Hutch" (1975-1979). He also starred in such films as "Fiddler on the Roof" (1971), "Phobia" (1980), “Something's Gotta Give" (2003) and in the spoof film version of "Starsky & Hutch" in 2004.

Behind the camera, the possessor of a BA from Tulane University and a MA from Boston University has directed the TV movie “Amazons” (1984) and episodes of the TV series “The Agency,” “Judging Amy,” “Third Watch” and “Las Vegas.” He also helmed the theatrical features "Band of the Hand" (1986), “The Running Man” (1987), "The Cutting Edge" (1992), “The Air Up There” (1994) and Kazaam (1996).

The 5' 11" actor/director with blue eyes and dark brown curly hair lost both his daughter and his first wife to AIDS/HIV. He also has one son who is also AIDS/HIV positive. Glaser has since remarried and has one more daughter, but recently filed for divorce after 10 years of marriage.

Curly

Childhood and Family:

In Cambridge, Massachusetts, Paul Manfred Glaser, nicknamed Curly, was born on March 25, 1943. The youngest of three children born to Dorothy and Samuel Glaser, who was an architect, Glaser received a BA degree from Tulane University, in New Orleans, Louisiana, and later earned his MFA degree from the School of Fine Arts at Boston University. He was a member of the Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity.

While driving down Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood in June 1975, Glaser met his first wife Elizabeth Meyer. They smiled at each other then Glaser motioned her to pull over and invited her out for Chinese food. Elizabeth moved in with him three months later in September, 1975. They married on August 24, 1980, and had two children, daughter Ariel Glaser (born in 1981) and son Jake Glaser (born in October 1984). Ariel died on August 12, 1988, at age 7 from complications resulting from AIDS. Elizabeth, who became infected with HIV in 1981 through a blood transfusion while giving birth to Ariel, subsequently became an internationally-known crusader for AIDS research and government allocations for pediatric care until her death on December 3, 1994.

After Elizabeth's death, Glaser, who directed a PSA spot on AIDS awareness in 1989 starring a soon-to-leave-office President Ronald Reagan, served as chairman of the foundation until 2002 and remains an Honorary Chairman today.

“Our ability to love is our truest power, our greatest power as human beings.” Paul Michael Glaser

On November 24, 1996, Glaser married his second wife, producer Tracy Barone, and they have one daughter, Zoe Anne Glaser (born on October 7, 1997). After 10 years of marriage, Glaser filed for divorce in June 2007 citing "irreconcilable differences." He is seeking joint custody of their daughter.

Glaser was once roommates with Andy Summers of the rock group The Police and with Bruce Paltrow while in college. He is a very close friend of director Michael Mann, whom he met during the filming of a "Starsky and Hutch" (1975) episode, which was adapted from Mann's screenplay. Glaser later directed several episodes of Mann's TV shows "Miami Vice" (1984, including the Emmy-award winning episode "The Prodigal Son") and "Robbery Homicide Division" (2002). Mann also produced Glaser's crime film “Band of the Hand” (1986).

In his free time, Glaser enjoys yoga, meditation, and health foods. He also likes reading, swimming, writing screen plays, tennis, jogging, painting, playing golf, and spending time with family.

Fiddler on the Roof

Career:

While in high school, Paul Michael Glaser spent summers working in stock theaters before attending college. After receiving his Masters, he made his New York stage debut in a production of the rock musical based on the classic tragedy by William Shakespeare, "Rockabye Hamlet," in 1968. He later appeared in a number of Broadway productions, including “The Man in the Glass Booth.”

The following year, the aspiring actor entered television and played Dr. Peter Chernak #1 (1969-1970) on the CBS soap opera "Love Is a Many Splendored Thing," in which he was billed as Michael Glaser. Afterward, he made his feature film debut in Norman Jewison's Academy Award-winning film version of the Broadway musical, "Fiddler on the Roof" (1971), in which he was billed as Paul Michael Glaser while portraying Perchik the student revolutionary.

After playing Dr. Joe Corelli (1971) on the long-running CBS soap opera, "Love of Life," Glaser landed a starring role as the dark-haired Brooklyn transplant David Starsky, a streetwise detective with intense, sometimes childlike moods, on the popular crime drama series "Starsky and Hutch," opposite David Soul's Kenneth 'Hutch' Hutchinson. Glaser also directed several episodes of the show that was broadcasted between April 30, 1975, and May 15, 1979, on the ABC network.

About the show, Glaser commented, "We had a groundbreaking show with unique characters. But all people remember is that car."

He also commented about his co-star David Soul, who played his partner Kenneth 'Hutch' Hutchinson, saying, “David has taught me a lot! He’s understanding, intelligent and a fabulous human being. He has his weaknesses but so do I. Frankly, I love him. It’s the kind of relationship I’ve never had in my entire life. What we have between us is a very special chemistry, both on the set and off it.”

In the early '80s, Glaser played Dr. Peter Ross, a psychiatrist who uses radical techniques to treat his patients with various phobias, in director John Huston's mystery/thriller film "Phobia" (1980).

"The offers pretty much started coming in during the second season of the show ("Starsky and Hutch"), but I couldn't accept any then for contractual reasons. In season four, they would even visit the studio where we were shooting, since the rumors were going around the show would not have a fifth season. Many offers were to do another cop in another cop show. Some other weird offers that I won't get into now. But I didn't want to do something predictable. Financially I could afford to take my time and make a deliberate choice. One day I was called by famous director John Huston in person! I couldn't believe it. He offered me 'Phobia' and I immediately liked it. It was a huge honor and pleasure to work with him." Paul Michael Glaser

Four years later, in 1984, Glaser directed his first TV-movie, "Amazons," a thriller that follows a secret cult of sexy female warriors who plot to dominate the world by killing off important male politicians. In the subsequent year, he was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series and a Directors Guild of America for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Series' – Night after directing the episode "Smuggler's Blues" of the cop drama series "Miami Vice."

Glaser eventually made his feature directorial debut with "Band of the Hand" (1986), a drama starring Stephen Lang, Lauren Holly, and Laurence Fishburne. The film that was executive-produced by Michael Mann failed as a television pilot.

In 1992, billed as Paul M Glaser, Glaser directed "The Cutting Edge," a romantic comedy film about a spoiled figure skater (played by Moira Kelly) who is paired with a has-been ice hockey player (played by D. B. Sweeney) for Olympic figure skating. Four years later, he debuted as a feature producer in "Kazaam" (1996), a comedy starring basketball player Shaquille O'Neal as the title character. Glaser also provided the story and directed the movie.

The new millennium saw Glaser direct episodes of CBS’ serial drama starring Amy Brenneman, "Judging Amy," and episodes of CBS’ police procedural drama series "Robbery Homicide Division." He was also featured in Nancy Meyers' romantic comedy film "Something's Gotta Give" (2003; starring Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton) and had a cameo role in the spoof film version of his classic television show, "Starsky & Hutch" (2004), which was directed by Todd Phillips and starred Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson in the title roles. He recently appeared in a TV commercial for Consolidated Credit (2005).

"I hope that you choose ultimately to follow your heart and learn that whatever your plans, your goals, your dreams, life will take you in directions you haven't even dreamed of. Be open to the path not chosen, the door unopened. Welcome your fear and the choices that allow you that fear. Through all the changes, through all the disappointments, the unexpected turns, the victories, and the pain, the losses that you will experience, there will always be a constant. Along with your breath, there will always be one thing that you will know, that you have the ability to choose your heart." Paul Michael Glaser

Awards:

• TV Land: Favorite "Casual Friday" Cop, "Starsky and Hutch," 1975

• Golden Apple: Sour Apple, 1978 (shared with David Soul)