1970s TV Star Unrecognizable at Monte-Carlo Festival – Can You Guess Who?

A television star of the 1970s looked unrecognisable as he posed for a photo at the 64th Monte-Carlo television festival. 

He’s been on our screens for more than 60 years having first landed a role in cinema in Shirley Clarke’s 1964 film The Cool World. 

The actor went on to make his presence felt in a number of films of the early 1970s including Shaft, Foxy Brown and Huckleberry Finn before landing the role he is most famous for later in the decade. 

Transitioning into television, the star bagged a part in Starsky & Hutch – a series following Detectives Ken ‘Hutch’ Hutchinson (David Soul) and Dave Starsky (Paul Michael Glaser) as they fought crime on the streets of the fictional Bay City, California. 

The mystery man in-question played a golden hearted street informant who came to be a much-loved character during the era – but would you recognise him all these years later?

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The star pictured kicking back in the sun on Tuesday is none other than American actor Antonio Fargas, 78, who played the golden-hearted street informant Huggy Bear in Starsky and Hutch. 

Some 50 years after the show first aired, the father-of-one attended the festival sporting a stylish white button-up shirt along with a pair of cream coloured slacks.

Sporting a new-look goatee beard and seeming in great spirits, the grey fox posed for pictures on the coast in picturesque Monaco before heading to the Golden Nymph Awards Nominees Party at the Monte-Carlo Bay Hotel. 

While he is arguably most famous for his role in Starsky & Hutch, Antonio’s career actually continued to flourish after the show finished. 

He has appeared in more than 50 movies and TV shows during an extended career in the world of acting, including a role as a 90-year-old witch doctor in The Great White Hope and as Baz in the British boxing film Sucker Punch in 2006. 

British viewers may also remember Antonio from an appearance he made on the hugely popular ITV show I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! during series 4 in 2004. 

Antonio’s inclusion on the Ant and Dec fronted show was somewhat short-lived however, with the 78-year-old the fourth celebrity to be voted out. 

But he’s no doubt best known as Huggy Bear, with Antonio admitting that it’s ‘special’ to be remembered as the character.

During an interview with Gloria Hunniford in 2006, he said: ‘It’s amazing, thank goodness I’m very comfortable with being a character-based actor.

‘After so many years in the business to still identify with a show that was so special to me, it’s amazing.

‘I just enjoy my life, I’ve been able to do lots of other things and I’m still creating things and new adventures, so I’m very happy.’

Speaking about what made Starsky & Hutch so successful, Antonio added: ‘I think the main attraction was relationships. 

‘There was these two guys (Starsky & Hutch) who cared for each other and had each other’s back, plus they were two good-looking guys. 

‘You also had a car, and music and clothes and a hip-talking informer and you don’t think about what it’s going to be and if it’s going to last forever. 

‘It was a job, and we worked hard, had fun and tried to make it good. And we did a good job.’ 

Antonio has one son, Justin Fargos, who studied at the University of Southern California before going on to enjoy a a professional career in the NFL, playing seven seasons as a running back for the Oakland Raiders.