We celebrate 50 years of Starsky & Hutch with Huggy tips: interview

The legendary Antonio Fargas tells us behind the scenes of filming in Los Angeles in the 70’s, and his place in the history of “Blaxploitation”, between pride and lucidity.

A cult series if ever there was one, Starsky & Hutch celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2025. A special birthday for Antonio Fargas, aka “Huggy the Good Tips”.

The American actor, who will soon be 80, remembers the crazy filming of the cop show, in the bustling Los Angeles of the 1970s. We met him during the Monte-Carlo Television Festival.

FIRST: How many times a day do people still call you “Huggy the Good Tips” in the street?

Antonio Fargas: (He laughs.) Actually, not that much. Many young people today don’t even really know what Starsky & Hutch is! On the other hand, I starred in the sitcom Everybody Hates Chris (produced by Chris Rock) in the 2000s, for four seasons, and some people recognize me more for that today. But it’s really a question of age…

What was your very first audition for the series like?

My audition was basically the role I played in the thriller Across 110th Street in 1972. Director Barry Shear, who helmed that film, also helmed the Starsky & Hutch pilot. He was the one who recommended me for the role of Huggy, and I didn’t even have to audition. At the time, I accepted a lot of somewhat crazy roles and I began to build a bit of a reputation for myself. In the first episode, I just make a small appearance in a cinema, where I give a tip to the two cops. But the producers already saw the character’s potential. And little by little, they gave him more space.

What was the atmosphere like filming in 1970s Los Angeles?

We shot 50% of the time in the studio, and 50% on location, in the streets of LA. For example, the bar where Huggy always hung out was a real city dive, and they recreated the interior in the studio.

Did you have the possibility to improvise?

The authors wrote according to our voice, our personality, and we could adapt the lines. Our job was really to bring each dialogue to life. And in fact, Huggy was a survivor in the series… just like me in life.

What do you mean by that?

This job is stressful. You never know what role you will have the next day. Especially back then: nothing lasted very long. You had to really like it to continue. I never played for money, but for the love of the game, for the pleasure of playing characters.

Did you have any say in Huggy’s clothing style?

Again, it was about surviving… So I was putting in what I was given and trying to make the most of it. Sometimes I found it a little too much, but it was what the character demanded. The hardest part was when the directors tried to explain to me how to be black. How to be a street guy. It was up to me to bring that about. I didn’t want to be told how to do it. I wanted to represent my people in the way I felt was right.

Did you feel like a representative of the black community on screen?

Yes, definitely. I acted in a lot of films during the Blaxploitation period… We were exploited on screen, and some intellectuals of the time didn’t like the roles I played. They criticized us for playing street guys, and it’s true that I played a lot of them. They preferred a Bill Cosby-style representation, more “model”, which went beyond certain clichés. But for me, there was passion and great material to explore in these neighborhood stories. I made a good living from these characters, even if, yes, I was sometimes afraid of caricaturing the African-American population. It was sometimes a real challenge not to fall into cliché, but I never ran away from it.

Have you even had the opportunity to drive Starsky & Hutch’s famous red car?

(He laughs.) No, not really actually! I think there’s a scene in the series where I’m the one driving… But other than that, I didn’t really have the right. This car was almost a character in its own right, and because of insurance, that wasn’t really possible. Besides, Paul (Michael Glaser) was the one driving most of the time, and the producers were super stressed when he and David (Soul) were doing their own stunts!

You have appeared in so many cult series, from The Fun Cruise to CHiPs, through Funny Ladies, Two Cops in Miami and MacGyver. Who impressed you the most?

Telly Savalas! We filmed a scene together in Kojak, where he sucked his famous lollipop. He gave me one, and we looked into each other’s eyes for a few moments… I still remember it very well. He was a very impressive guy.