|
A
handsome actor who moved behind the cameras and became
a successful director, Paul Michael Glaser is best known
to some as the dark-haired, intense Starsky on the late
1970s ABC TV cop series "Starsky and Hutch".
Others may know him as the director of Emmy-nominated
episodes of "Miami Vice" and feature films
such as "The Running Man" (1987) and "The
Air Up There" (1994). Still others know of Glaser
because of the tragedy of AIDS and the hope his wife
brought to those infected with HIV. (Elizabeth Glaser
became infected with HIV in 1981 when she gave birth
to their daughter, Ariel.
When Ariel died in 1988, Elizabeth became an internationally-known
crusader for AIDS research and government allocations
for pediatric care until her death in 1994.) Paul Michael
Glaser knew he wanted to act while still in high school
in the Boston area and he spent summers working in stock
theaters before attending college. After receiving his
masters, he made his film debut as Perchik, the revolutionary,
in Norman Jewison's film version of the hit Broadway
musical "Fiddler on the Roof" (1971).
He then reprised his stage role as the boyfriend of
a free-spirited woman (Goldie Hawn) in "Butterflies
Are Free" (1972). Despite a subsequent screen lead
in John Huston's "Phobia" (1980), Glaser's
acting career seemed destined for the small screen where
he flourished in daytime dramas before hitting primetime
as Dave Starsky, the spark plug of the "Starsky
and Hutch" team. During the run of the series,
Glaser stepped behind the camera to helm episodes and
train in the craft. Glaser made his big screen directorial
debut with "Band of the Hand" (1986). Set
in Miami, it was the story of a Vietnam Vet who whips
a group of street toughs in an anti-drug vigilante group.
While the film set no box office fires, it won Glaser
the chance to direct the Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle
"The Running Man", about a futuristic world
in which convicted felons try to save their lives by
appearing on a deadly game show. Five years later, he
helmed the charming, though cliched romance "The
Cutting Edge", which featured winning performances
from Moira Kelly, D B Sweeney and Roy Dotrice. Glaser
followed with "The Air Up There", starring
Kevin Bacon as an American who goes to Africa to recruit
a basketball player. Glaser conceived the story for,
co-produced and directed the youth-oriented "Kazaam"
(1996), a whimsical tale of a rapping genie (Shaquille
O'Neal).
|
|
