50 Fun Facts About Starsky & Hutch

Which Ford model, bright red with a white stripe, does Starsky drive in the series Starsky & Hutch?

Gran Torino coupes played Starsky's car, chosen from the stock the studio leased for filming. The show made the model so popular that a limited run of factory replicas went on sale in 1976.

What mocking nickname does Hutch give Starsky's red-and-white car in Starsky & Hutch?

Striped tomato began as the Starsky actor's own jibe on first seeing the car. The writers liked it enough to hand it to Hutch as a regular insult.

Which actor played the dark-haired, streetwise detective Starsky in the 1970s series Starsky & Hutch?

Paul Michael Glaser played Starsky throughout the run and also directed five episodes himself, among them the series finale.

Which actor and singer played the blond detective Hutch in the 1970s series Starsky & Hutch?

David Soul played Hutch for all four seasons and stepped behind the camera to direct some episodes himself.

Which actor played Huggy Bear, the flashy street informant of the original Starsky & Hutch series?

Antonio Fargas played Huggy Bear after a string of blaxploitation films. Decades later he voiced the character again for a video game based on the series.

What is the name of the fictional California beat patrolled by the detectives of Starsky & Hutch?

Bay City was the detectives' invented beat. The real streets on screen were mostly in and around Los Angeles, where the series was filmed on location.

What radio call sign do the two detectives use in the 1970s police series Starsky & Hutch?

Zebra Three was the pair's radio call sign. The actor playing Starsky thought it ludicrous that two undercover cops answered it from such a loud car.

Which comedian played Starsky opposite Owen Wilson's Hutch in the 2004 film version of Starsky & Hutch?

Ben Stiller played Starsky in a film that swapped the detectives' personalities. On the big screen Starsky became the serious one and Hutch the laid-back one.

Which rapper played the informant Huggy Bear in the 2004 film version of Starsky & Hutch?

Snoop Dogg played Huggy Bear as an underworld boss. He later goes undercover, grudgingly, as the villain's golf caddy to help crack the case.

In the 2004 Starsky & Hutch film, which animal does Starsky accidentally shoot in a villain's garage?

A pony, bought as a Bat Mitzvah gift for the villain's daughter, was standing behind the garage door when Starsky shot off the lock.

Which ballad took the Starsky & Hutch actor who played Hutch to number one in America and Britain in 1977?

Don't Give Up on Us spent four weeks at number one in Britain and a week on top in America. Its singer never reached the American top 40 again.

In the Starsky & Hutch episode The Fix, which drug do mobsters forcibly inject into Hutch?

Heroin is forced on Hutch by a jealous crime boss who wants him to talk. The episode was judged so graphic that it stayed off British terrestrial television until 1999.

What kind of business does the informant Huggy Bear run in the series Starsky & Hutch?

A bar is Huggy Bear's base, first trading under his own name and later renamed The Pits.

In Starsky & Hutch, Starsky is a streetwise transplant to California from which New York borough?

Brooklyn gave Starsky his street-smart edge. The scripts also made him an Army veteran, a contrast to his more reserved and bookish partner.

Which Minnesota city is the hometown of the blond, more reserved detective Hutch in Starsky & Hutch?

Duluth is where Hutch grew up. The writers also gave him a failed marriage, making him the divorced half of the partnership.

What is the first name of Detective Hutchinson, the partner nicknamed Hutch in Starsky & Hutch?

Ken is short for Kenneth, and the character's full name is Kenneth Richard Hutchinson. Like his partner, he holds the rank of sergeant.

Which composer of the Mission: Impossible theme wrote the dark first-season theme for Starsky & Hutch?

Lalo Schifrin cut the first-season theme down from the chase music he scored for the pilot. It lasted one year before a new tune replaced it.

Which saxophonist wrote Gotcha, the theme tune that Starsky & Hutch adopted in its second season?

Tom Scott wrote Gotcha, the best known of the show's themes. A reworked version came back for the final season after a different tune was tried in between.

Which producer, later behind Charlie's Angels and Dynasty, made Starsky & Hutch with partner Leonard Goldberg?

Aaron Spelling personally walked his Starsky out to meet the red-and-white car during work on the pilot. The actor took an instant and lasting dislike to it.

Which writer, an Emmy winner for Brian's Song and Roots, created the police series Starsky & Hutch?

William Blinn created the series and came back decades later as a producer of the 2004 film version.

Which actor played Captain Dobey, the gruff boss of the two detectives in the series Starsky & Hutch?

Bernie Hamilton played the captain in every season, though a different actor had the part in the pilot. After the show he largely gave up acting to produce records.

What did the actor playing Starsky do before the third season of Starsky & Hutch to try to leave the show?

The actor sued the producers to win release from his contract. He came back after winning more creative control, chances to direct and a big pay rise.

Which relative of Starsky turns up as a small-time hustler in the final season of Starsky & Hutch?

His younger brother Nick comes to visit and is courted by the mob, then needs the detective's help to get clear of it. The episode is titled Starsky's Brother.

Early drafts of the Starsky & Hutch finale, in which Starsky is gunned down, ended with what fate for him?

Death was Starsky's fate in the early drafts. The makers let him pull through so that reruns would still make sense and the series could be revived later.

In the Starsky & Hutch episode A Coffin for Starsky, what gives Starsky only 24 hours to live?

An injected poison, slow to act, is given to Starsky by an unknown attacker. He talks his way out of hospital to join the hunt for whoever did it.

Which future Dynasty star played a photographer in Starsky & Hutch's two-part Voodoo Island story?

Joan Collins played the photographer Janice in the feature-length story that opened the third season, set among murders on a tropical island.

Which actress, soon famous as Chrissy Snow, played several different guest roles across Starsky & Hutch's run?

Suzanne Somers kept returning as a different character each time, including in an episode about a killer who drains his victims' blood.

Which future director of Heat and Collateral wrote four early episodes of Starsky & Hutch?

Michael Mann wrote for the series at the very start of his screen career, years before he ran another stylish cop show, Miami Vice.

A replica of Starsky's car from Starsky & Hutch made a one-off cameo in the first episode of which series?

The Dukes of Hazzard put a factory replica in its opening episode, driven by the mechanic Cooter. Fans suspect an in-joke, as the Dukes' own car was taking over as television's star vehicle.

Which actor played Reese Feldman, the drug kingpin hunted by the detectives in the 2004 Starsky & Hutch film?

Vince Vaughn played the kingpin, who plans to move his product by hiding it inside cars given away at a charity ball.

In the 2004 Starsky & Hutch film, what do the detectives disguise themselves as at a Bat Mitzvah?

Mimes is the disguise the pair choose to get close to the villain at his daughter's party. The stunt goes so badly that their captain suspends them both.

In the 2004 Starsky & Hutch film, which drug does Starsky stir into his coffee, believing it is sweetener?

Cocaine from an evidence packet ends up in Starsky's cup after a lab wrongly identifies it as artificial sweetener. He goes on to lose a disco dance-off.

Which director, later known for The Hangover films, made the 2004 big-screen version of Starsky & Hutch?

Todd Phillips directed and co-wrote the film, which took about $170 million worldwide against a $60 million budget.

Which comedian made an uncredited appearance as the prison inmate Big Earl in the 2004 Starsky & Hutch film?

Will Ferrell played the inmate, who makes the detectives perform humiliating acts before he will tell them anything useful.

Which Stephen King story became a 1979 miniseries starring the actor who played Hutch in Starsky & Hutch?

Salem's Lot cast him as an author who returns to his small hometown, and it reached screens only months after his detective series ended.

Which Arnold Schwarzenegger action film was directed by the actor who played Starsky in Starsky & Hutch?

The Running Man was a job he inherited in mid-shoot. He took over the dystopian thriller after its first director fell behind schedule and left.

Which classic biker film's two heroes do the detectives dress as in the 2004 Starsky & Hutch movie?

Easy Rider supplies the Captain America and Billy costumes that the pair wear to blend in at a motorcycle hangout.

Which Dirty Harry sequel featured the future Hutch of Starsky & Hutch as a young police officer?

Magnum Force cast him as one of a vigilante squad of rookie officers hunted by Clint Eastwood's Harry Callahan, two years before his own detective series.

In which screen musical did the future Starsky of Starsky & Hutch make his film debut as the student Perchik?

Fiddler on the Roof gave him the part of the radical student who courts one of the milkman's daughters, four years before his detective series began.

Which car did the creator of Starsky & Hutch first plan for Starsky, recalling a green and white one he owned?

Chevrolet Camaro convertibles were the original idea, but the studio leased its screen cars from a rival maker, so Starsky ended up in something else.

The actress hired as a possible Starsky replacement in Starsky & Hutch played Pinky Tuscadero in which sitcom?

Happy Days had made Roz Kelly famous as Fonzie's girlfriend. Scripts were written around her Officer Linda Baylor, but the star came back and Baylor appeared in a single episode.

On which British motoring show did the Starsky & Hutch actor who played Hutch put two cars out of action?

Top Gear dressed his test car with a white stripe and a red police light. His rough driving then broke its gearbox, and the gearbox of the replacement car too.

The Starsky & Hutch actor who played Hutch first won national attention singing on a talk show with what gimmick?

Wearing a mask, he sang as the Covered Man on The Merv Griffin Show in the 1960s, explaining that he wanted to be known for his music.

The first wife of Starsky & Hutch's Starsky actor founded a leading children's charity fighting which disease?

AIDS claimed his wife Elizabeth and their daughter after a contaminated blood transfusion in 1981. The paediatric foundation she started still carries her name.

Which former pro football player played Captain Doby in the 2004 film version of Starsky & Hutch?

Fred Williamson, nicknamed the Hammer in his playing career, plays the captain who suspends the detectives and is later shot in the shoulder by Starsky.

Which Los Angeles beach community hosted much of the location filming for the series Starsky & Hutch?

San Pedro stood in for the detectives' patch. The building used as their first-season police headquarters there now serves as a local government office.

Before Starsky & Hutch, the informant name Huggy Bear first appeared in a 1973 episode of which police drama?

The Rookies used the name for another informant in an episode by the same writer, who then carried it over to his new series.

Which composer, later famous for the Back to the Future films, scored several Starsky & Hutch episodes early on?

Alan Silvestri was a young television composer when he worked on the series, years before his long partnership with director Robert Zemeckis began.

Which 2000s sitcom gave the original Huggy Bear of Starsky & Hutch a regular role as the storekeeper Doc?

Everybody Hates Chris cast him as Doc, a shrewd and miserly but grandfatherly storekeeper, decades after his time as a street informant.

Which Shaquille O'Neal film was directed by the actor who played Starsky in Starsky & Hutch?

Kazaam grew out of his own story idea, with the basketball star as a genie who makes his home in a boombox.