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It’s
only 7am in Los Angeles,
but the trans-Atlantic
phone line is wide awake
with the unmistakeable
tones of Antonio
Fargas."I’m up
and ready," he
tells Doreen Brooks, as
that familiar chuckle
effortlessly crosses the
Pond.
"I
usually get up early so
I’m used to it,"
he says. "I like
the quiet and solitude
and I like preparing my
day. It gives me a
little bit of meditative
preparation and, when
you work in this
industry, you have to
get up early
anyway."
But
the actor with a
pedigree as starry as
Hollywood Boulevard won’t
be found among the
track-suited troops on
parade for jogging
duties.
"I
just do some creative
gymnastics," he
quips.
It
was in the mid-Seventies
when Antonio began his
love affair with British
TV viewers, wooing them
with his portrayal of
Huggy Bear, the grass
whose covert information
grew into a lush lawn of
tip-offs for cult cops
Starsky And Hutch. But,
nearly three decades
later, he sounds not a
Ford Torino’s
screeching brake away
from the snout who was
so supercool that it was
rumoured he could freeze
ice cubes. Today,
though, he’s talking
about a very different
role. In BBC One’s
Holby City, Antonio
gives a moving
performance as Victor
Garrison, an ageing
R&B musician showing
unmistakeable signs of
Parkinson’s disease.
He relies heavily on his
partner but, when she is
rushed into Holby and
urgently needs an
operation, he has to
choose between his
career and the welfare
of the woman who has
been his rock, and is
prepared to sacrifice
her well-being for his
happiness.
"I’d
like to think that the
role came about because
people are starting to
see me as a little bit
beyond the Starsky And
Hutch cool guy – the
Huggy thing – which
was only four years out
of my whole acting
career," says the
actor, now in his
mid-fifties.
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The
native New Yorker, one
of 11 children born to a
Puerto Rican refuse
collector and his
Trinidadian wife, began
his acting career at the
age of 14 in director
Shirley Clarke’s The
Cool World, a drama
about life on the rough
streets of Harlem. He’s
also starred in Shaft,
Cleopatra Jones, Car
Wash and I’m Gonna Git
You Sucka, but it was
when he landed a role
alongside silver screen
legend Anthony Quinn in
director Barry Shear’s
Seventies cop movie
Across 110th Street that
his career took off.
Shear went on to direct
Starsky And Hutch and
set his heart on Antonio
for the part of bar
owner Huggy, who will be
played in the upcoming
Starsky And Hutch movie
by rapper Snoop Doggy
Dog.
The
6ft star delivered some
gloriously politically
incorrect lines during
the series, including
this one to a barmaid:
"Now, sugar, I
believe in women’s
lib, which means you’re
entitled to steal as
much as any male
bartender!"
Antonio’s
role as Victor in Holby
City adds to his CV as
one of the most
versatile of actors,
spanning theatre, film,
television, musicals –
including The Blues
Brothers in London’s
West End – and even
that uniquely British
institution, the
pantomime. Two years
ago, he played the
villain Fleshcreep in
Jack And The Beanstalk
in Weston-super-Mare and
is eager to plunge into
panto again – oh yes
he is!
"It
was a lot of fun,"
he recalls, "and a
complete change. It was
also acceptance by a
British audience of
Antonio Fargas in a
traditional English
theatre piece. It worked
very well and I had a
great time."
Antonio,
who also has his own
music production
company, maintains a
close friendship with
Starsky And Hutch stars
Paul Michael Glaser and
David Soul, and is
relaxed about the fact
that his alter ego of
Huggy Bear will never be
far away.
"It
doesn’t bother me at
all," he says.
"It’s wonderful
that, so long
afterwards, people still
have an identification
with me through that
character, and it hasn’t
stopped me doing a lot
of the things that I
wanted to do and that I
have done. And it has
benefits, too," he
reveals with a chuckle.
"When I was doing
the panto, and taking a
taxi to the theatre
every day, on several
occasions the cab
drivers wouldn’t let
me pay. It happens a lot
when I’m in the UK.
"They say things
like, ‘I want to give
something to thank you
for great childhood
memories’.And that’s
the rewarding part about
the recognition. I take
it as an honour and
affirmation of a job
that we did well – and
I hope we lifted people’s
hearts."
The
father of four – one
of his sons, Justin, is
a rising star in
American football –
relaxes by gardening,
fishing and listening to
music, although he’s
one of the
hardest-working actors
in America.
"It’s
nice to stay busy,"
says the star who’s
still cool. "It
satisfies both the bills
and my artistic
endeavours!"
Holby
City Tuesday 27 May 2003
| BBC1 |
