Paul Michael Glaser

Paul Manfred Glaser was born March 25, 1943, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the youngest child and only son of Jewish parents Dorothy and Samuel Glaser, an MIT graduate and well-known Boston architect. He grew up in Brookline and Newton. Although his family did not observe Shabbat, they did celebrate Judaism's major holidays, including Glaser's own bar mitzvah. Samuel designed a shul in Rhode Island.

Glaser attended the Buckingham Browne & Nichols School until 1961 before transferring to the Cambridge School of Weston, completing high school. He attended Tulane University, where he was roommates with film director Bruce Paltrow, majoring in theater and English with a minor in architecture, and graduating in 1966.{{Cite book|title=Rock gold: all the hit charts from 1955 to 1976|last=Miron|first=Charles|publisher=Drake Publishers|year=1977|isbn=9780847314676|pages=64}} He was a member of the Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity. He earned a master's degree in fine arts from Boston University in acting and directing in 1967.{{Cite news|url=https://www.scotsman.com/news/paul-michael-glaser-beyond-starksy-hutch-1-3117038|title=Paul Michael Glaser beyond Starsky & Hutch|last=Christie|first=Janet|date=29 September 2013|work=The Scotsman|access-date=4 April 2019|archive-date=5 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190405054545/https://www.scotsman.com/news/paul-michael-glaser-beyond-starksy-hutch-1-3117038|url-status=live}}

File:Paul Michael Glaser at F.I.S.T premier 1978 cropped and airbrushed.jpg premiere in 1978.]]

Glaser made his movie debut as Perchick in the 1971 movie version of the musical Fiddler on the Roof.

He found fame playing Detective Dave Starsky opposite David Soul in the television series Starsky & Hutch, of which he directed several episodes. It ran for four seasons (1975–1979) on ABC.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}

After that series, Glaser continued to act on television and in movies, and directed the 1987 film The Running Man starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as well as the 1992 movie The Cutting Edge. He also directed episodes of several TV series, including Miami Vice, Robbery Homicide Division and Judging Amy. Glaser returned to the big screen in 2003 in Something's Gotta Give, as Diane Keaton's ex-husband, and with a brief cameo in the 2004 film version of Starsky & Hutch, in which Starsky was played by Ben Stiller. He directed the children's movie Kazaam featuring Shaquille O'Neal. He guest featured in "The Scarlet Letter", the October 1, 2009, episode of CBS's The Mentalist.

Between 2013 and 2019, Glaser appeared as Alan in several episodes of the television series Ray Donovan. In an interview published in April 2018, Glaser, having not acted since that role was asked if he had retired from acting, and replied, "People ask me, 'What's your favorite: acting, directing or writing?' My answer: What life occurs. It's what happens. You never know when something will cross your path. I try to stay open to everything. I'm doing a guest appearance on Grace and Frankie right now. As long as it's a good group of people, I'm open to anything. That's the thing I enjoy most about filmmaking or acting: experience." That same month, Glaser had his first American solo exhibition for his paintings and digital illustrations at Cosmo Lofts in Hollywood. The show was titled "Act III", because his foray as an artist marked the third stage of his career, following acting in front of the camera, and writing/directing behind it.{{cite web|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/starsky-hutch-star-paul-michael-glaser-charts-third-act-solo-art-exhibition-1104299/|title='Starsky and Hutch' Star Paul Michael Glaser Charts 'Third Act With Solo Art Exhibition|author=Gardner, Chris|newspaper=The Hollywood Reporter|date=April 24, 2018|accessdate=May 28, 2021|archivedate=May 28, 2021|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20210528224222/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/starsky-hutch-star-paul-michael-glaser-charts-third-act-solo-art-exhibition-1104299/}}

Glaser has been married twice. He married his first wife, Elizabeth Glaser, in 1980. In August 1981, she contracted HIV through a blood transfusion while giving birth to the couple's first child, Ariel. Elizabeth did not know that she was infected with the virus until four years later, when both she and Ariel became sick with a mysterious illness. When the entire family was tested, Elizabeth, Ariel and the couple's one-and-a-half-year-old son Jake were found to be HIV positive. Ariel died three years later, soon after her seventh birthday.{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-08-25-vw-1121-story.html|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|title=Breaking a Silence: 'Starsky' Star, Wife Share Their Family's Painful Battle Against AIDS|author=Huck, Janet|date=August 25, 1989|accessdate=May 28, 2021|archivedate=February 28, 2021|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20210228134119/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-08-25-vw-1121-story.html}}{{cite web|url=https://www.today.com/popculture/paul-glaser-second-wife-divorce-1C9430731|author=Barone, Tracy|title=After a public death, the struggle to create a new family|date=June 26, 2016|accessdate=May 28, 2021|archivedate=June 26, 2016|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160626131701/https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-barone-glaser-family-marriage-20160626-snap-story.html}} Elizabeth died December 3, 1994.{{cite news|last=Kennedy|first=Randy|title=Elizabeth Glaser Dies at 47; Crusader for Pediatric AIDS|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/12/04/obituaries/elizabeth-glaser-dies-at-47-crusader-for-pediatric-aids.html|access-date=2013-06-04|newspaper=The New York Times|date=1994-12-04|archive-date=2013-02-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130224110854/http://www.nytimes.com/1994/12/04/obituaries/elizabeth-glaser-dies-at-47-crusader-for-pediatric-aids.html|url-status=live}}

Glaser later married Tracy Barone, who adopted Jake, who was 10 years old at the time. The couple had a daughter, Zoe. That marriage ended with Glaser filing for divorce in June 2007.

As of 2007, Jake remained healthy,{{cite web|url=https://www.today.com/popculture/paul-glaser-second-wife-divorce-1C9430731|title=Paul Glaser, second wife to divorce|publisher=Associated Press|via=Today|date=June 28, 2007|accessdate=May 28, 2021|archivedate=May 28, 2021|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20210528220038/https://www.today.com/popculture/paul-glaser-second-wife-divorce-1C9430731}} and as of 2016, had maintained his relationship with Tracy.

Director

• Band of the Hand (1986)
• The Running Man (1987)
• The Cutting Edge (1992)
• The Air Up There (1994)
• Kazaam (1996) (Also producer and story writer)

Actor

Director

TV movie

• Amazons (1984)

Actor

{{reflist}}

{{commons category}}

• {{IMDb name|0001274}}
• {{tcmdb name}}
• {{IBDB name}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20121004151707/http://www.lortel.org/LLA_archive/index.cfm?search_by=people&first=Paul&middle=M.&last=Glaser Paul Michael Glaser] at Internet Off-Broadway Database
• [http://www.pedaids.org Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation]
• {{emmytvlegends name|paul-michael-glaser}}

{{Paul Michael Glaser}}

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Category:1943 births

Category:Living people

Category:20th-century American Jews

Category:21st-century American Jews

Category:20th-century American male actors

Category:21st-century American male actors

Category:Male actors from Cambridge, Massachusetts

Category:American HIV/AIDS activists

Category:American male film actors

Category:American male soap opera actors

Category:Film directors from Massachusetts

Category:American health activists

Category:American male television actors

Category:American television directors

Category:Boston University College of Fine Arts alumni

Category:Jewish American male actors

Category:Buckingham Browne & Nichols School alumni

Category:Tulane University School of Liberal Arts alumni