Starsky & Hutch star Antonio Fargas talks about his love of theatre and Huggy Bear

How are you enjoying panto in Catford, Antonio?

Oh, it’s absolutely a great experience. Theatre is one of my first loves and then to have the panto experience on top of that for my third time, is delightful.

You have performed in panto before, then?

Did it about five years ago in Western Super Mare and then last year I was in Derby. I’m becoming an American veteran of it now.

There’s been a fair few US stars coming over here to give panto a bash. Is there a buzz about it in America at all?

Erm, no. I just think it’s a nice getaway for Americans to be invited and participate in it. I just keep thinking, and everybody here keeps asking, how would it go in America?

And, I’m not sure. I think it would take someone like Simon Cowell to organise some American stars and some British stars and maybe bring over some tours of people to come to the theatres in different cities. I have this whole plan anyway of how it can happen. But right now the buzz isn’t that sharp in the States. I can see it in the future though, but not now.

Are you enjoying spoofing your legendary Starsky & Hutch character, Huggy Bear in the Catford show?

Huggy Bear has been good to me and it’s nice to make a bit of fun about how long this has lasted in my mind and in the British public’s mind, and that we’re still talking about it because it was that special an experience. So to include it in my panto experience is an extra treat for me and the audience.

You’re still massively associated with that character. Do you enjoy that recognition or does it get a bit tiresome?

Well, it’s not a matter of enjoying it, it’s a matter of understanding it and keeping it in perspective. Also to realise that’s how powerful television is and memory, and if something happens in your life when you’re quite young that makes a special impact, like Starsky & Hutch did, and so many people over here to be still talking about it, I embrace my legacy rather than try to push it away.

It was a special time for me. It’s only four years out of my 49 years in the business that we’re talking about but I still think it’s an important one.

Your Starsky & Hutch co-star Paul Michael Glaser was in The Churchill, Bromley’s panto last year. Do you still stay in touch with him and David and Paul?

Well, yeah we have a special relationship that goes back 35 years. We spoke at Christmas time last year when I was in panto in Derby and he was doing the one in Bromley and I hope to speak to him again this Christmas while he’s in Sunderland. He’s doing Aladdin.

He enjoyed it then?

I think it gets a bit infectious. Once you get into the spirit of it, it makes a special thing for an American to come over and see how Christmas is celebrated here in a traditional way, especially with children.

The only hard part is being away from home during the holiday season but that’s what performers have to do to do their job.

Is being in panto as much fun as it looks?

It is a blast. But even in film and on stage, comedy is a very very tough thing to do. It takes real craftsmanship. To work with the craftsmen of stage and film you have here, it’s been a joy.

Taking time off and just having fun enjoying your craft, that’s what panto is. It’s a celebration of your craft and the spirit of theatre and Christmas.

How does it differ from straight drama for you?

You have a lot of sins which can be forgiven in this experience, because it’s in the spirit of having a laugh. The audience like to see how we work our way out of it in a fun way. It’s just one that’s a special time. It’s a great time of year to do that type of theatre. Maybe it should be celebrated, maybe not the panto form, but people loosening up a little bit more in theatre and connecting with the child in all of us.

You have few singing numbers in this show, we hear. This was quite a nice surprise. Have you done much of that before?

I always wanted to sing but I was very afraid of it and this panto experience has given me a chance. I did sing in a show with David Soul in Brixton a few years ago, called The Dead Monkey at the Fridge. I always wanted to sing and I sing well in the shower but, even with all my stage experience, I just didn’t feel comfortable until I started doing panto. I also did The Blue Brothers show where I sang. It’s something, even this late in my career, I feel I can enjoy.

Do you get spotted by fans when you’re out and about in Catford?

Yeah. I mean, that’s one of the joys of coming over here. People don’t expect to see you and when they do they can’t believe it’s you. A lot of time their reaction is ‘it can’t be you, you haven’t changed much’.

That’s one of the things where I can say thank you on a personal level to people. It’s very refreshing the way people approach you here and I quite enjoy it.

Apparently you’re very selective about what roles you take on nowadays. What is it you look for in a job?

Well the main thing that appeals to me is if I get ahead of the queue because they want and ask for me. I want to work with people who want to work with me and also on special things I think it’s worth getting excited about. I don’t feel I have to compete anymore, after 49 years in the business, I’m letting the game come to me as I wind it down. It feels good to have the luxury of having all those years under your belt and saying ‘you know what, my legacy is set and I just want to work with people who want to preserve it.’

Is it fair to say you we’re quite competitive in the early years of your career then?

Oh yeah. You have to be in this business, you’re competing against other actors - not the most healthy thing, unless you approach it healthy. Sometimes there’s only one job and about 500 people who want it. Getting a job or getting a series in this business is almost like hitting the lottery and a lot of times it has nothing to do with talent. It just has to do with the spiritual part of this. I think god has a lot to do with it, put it that way.

Is there anything else you’d still like to achieve career wise?

I’m looking to teach a little bit, share my experience directing possible theatre and film, mostly just travel and enjoy my family. Maybe do a download of a book, lecture or masterclass - teaching acting through survival. Survival through acting is my lecture.

What sort of wisdom would you offer through your teaching?

Well, the flavour is, the greatest character you’ll ever play is yourself. You have to realise you’re a perfect actor just by being yourself and when you want to play a character, it’s just a matter of changing circumstances. That’s the basis of it.

Is that have you’ve worked over the years, bringing a lot of yourself to your acting?

Yeah, I think you have to. You have to know yourself so you can be somebody else. Then you take the craft and plug that into that. You have actors who are better than others, who are able to use themselves and their experiences to infuse that into a character.

We’re getting very technical aren’t we?

We need to talk a bit about your blaxplotation films don’t we? How did you feel when Tarantino started paying Homage to the genre in his work? And did he ever approach you to take part?

Well, I know that he’s fan because he’s used a lot of people in films that I’ve worked with back in the day. Then he used the theme song from a film I did, Across 110th Street, when he worked with Pam [Grier].

I believe I have his respect and whether or not we can put that together in terms of a project, I certainly would look forward to that.

It says we did something good. I think the whole influence of television focused on the 1970s is also a tribute to the people who lived, experienced and worked in those times. Yeah, it’s nice to see there’s a period in film and cinema that has value to people in a historic sense.

Anything to add?

What I really enjoy in the UK there is such a love and respect for theatres, the well of where it all started. To know you have a network of theatres all around this country that celebrate theatre and Christmas time through panto, I really take my hat off to the culture which realises the importance of theatre.

Antonio stars in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at The Broadway, Catford until Jan 4. Box office 020 8690 0002.