The Mike Douglas show 1976

 Paul's first interview with Mike Douglas on the set of Starsky & Hutch.

Mike Douglas: If my next guest was a real cop, instead of playing one on Starsky and Hutch,half the female population in the country suddenly would find themselves breaking the law on purpose, he's Paul Michael Glaser.

Paul : Hello Michael.

Douglas : Nice to see you.

PAUL: Nice to see you.

Douglas : Thank you for taking this time out to visit with us.

PAUL: My pleasure, really, thank you for having me.

Douglas : You two are the Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid of the television aren't you?

PAUL: I've heard that comparison made. That's interesting, sure I'll agree with that.

Douglas : Do you and David hang out when your away from the set?

PAUL: We do as much as we can ,you know doing a television show you spend a lot of time on the set. A lot of time working together, the off hours it isn't so much that we don't want to spend time with each other, it's just getting our private lives together, you only have so much time. But when we were in Hawaii shooting we played a lot of golf together, we enjoy hanging together.

Douglas : Did you play at Monakala?

PAUL: Yes! I play like three times a year, and we got to that third hole that's over the water.

Douglas : Yeah, par three.

PAUL: And Davey went up and hit off the pro's tee, and I hit off the men's tee, and I got on the green with my first shot!

Douglas : That's some golfing.

PAUL: Yeah, I had a good time though.

Douglas : You have been referred to as the sexiest guy on television.

PAUL: Really?

Douglas : Which surprises me as I thought I was. (laughs).

PAUL: I defer it,.. I defer it please!

Douglas : Do you enjoy that reputation?

PAUL: Well, I can't say that I don't, sure I'll get behind that any day, no pun intended. The way I envision myself is, I enjoy thinking that people might get off on me as an actor first, but if they want to get off on any part of me, be my guest, that's very nice, appreciate that.

Douglas : There's a quote of yours that I have written down so I wouldn't forget it. Quote " I've been waiting all my life to play Starsky" explain that, will ya?

PAUL: Yeah, I would like to, as a matter of fact, I'm glad you brought that up. I don't remember exactly when that came out or what context that came out of, as we all know the written press takes a lot of things out of context and turns it into god knows what. And what that really referred to is that I have a perception that there were a series of roles that I played that were in one way or another Starsky growing, developing.

Douglas : Leading up to what your doing.

PAUL: Yeah, right, there were two soap opera roles that I played that were angry young men against the bureaucracy, doing their best to get what could be done with a sense of humor, with a degree of charm and wit etc,etc. What that comment meant is I can see in retrospect the way Starsky developed, that's really all that meant.

 Douglas : Television has a way of bringing you instant success and in most cases financial security, has it changed your lifestyle?

PAUL: Oh, it can't help but change your lifestyle, I'm sure that you've experienced it yourself. I think that the main thing it does besides the obvious of taking away a good deal of your privacy is it throws a magnifying glass on your life, for yourself and really if you go on the understanding that actors are basically children.

Douglas : Acting out their fantasies.

PAUL: Yeah, acting out their fantasies, then I think what it does is it forces you to grow up, it says come on take responsibility for your life, this is what's coming down and either handle it or not.

Douglas : Did you want to grow up that quickly?

PAUL: I don't think anybody wants to grow up, what's that song?(sings) I won't grow up, I won't grow up, I don't want to go to school.

Douglas : But has it been difficult for you keeping your incredible success in the proper perspective?

PAUL: It's been very difficult, and I do my best to do that. It's a full time job and I work very hard at that, because It's an incredible opportunity to do other things that I want to do creatively.

Douglas : Yeah.

PAUL: And, I really enjoy that opportunity because that's the big gift, the greatest opportunity is being able to communicate with people, communicate your ideas, what you're about, what you think, what you feel about things, to people, you know.

Douglas : Yeah.

PAUL: Let them know that were all in this ball game together.

Douglas : Is there a lot of compromising as an actor doing a weekly series?

PAUL: Yes, yes, television has another side to it that I think is very fascinating, I saw a show last night that I was very charmed by, that show Eight is Enough.

Douglas : Oh yes,it's a marvelous show.

PAUL: What network are you on?

Douglas : I'm on all of them.

PAUL: Oh good.

Douglas : What about that show charmed you? Because I saw the same show.

PAUL: Well, there's um... I'm a master of shaggy dogs so this may seem totally obtuse and totally unconnected but we'll give it a shot... if you fall asleep I'll hit ya! (laughs) There's a wonderful side of television and that is the speed in which it is shot,demands if one can capture it like lightning in a bottle, you know, demands a degree of spontaneity, you know you see something, you allow yourself to open up free and relate to it boom, you don't always get to plunge the depths or scale the heights that you would like to, you know really get into what really makes the guy tick or the girl talk.

Douglas : Yeah.

PAUL: But, to that extent television can be a very exciting medium, now how do I connect that to Eight is Enough, well It's such a spontaneous show and it was so beautiful to see that group of actors and actresses relate so well to television, to the camera, to each other and to communicate such a marvelous sense of life and love.

Douglas : With a great sense of ease.

PAUL: With a great sense of ease, and a great smoothness, and I think that is a marvelous thing to do.

 Douglas : Paul,I hope I don't rub you the wrong way, but we have been reading so much about it as of late.

PAUL: What?

Douglas : You've had contractual disputes with producers Spelling and Goldberg, are they settled now?

PAUL: Oh yes, I ah...

Douglas : No hard feelings?

PAUL: No, no hard feelings at all, I have ambivalent feelings, I can't say that I don't still have them, I mean, as we know, like I just said in film one gets to explore things in a greater depth. The stage is really the actors medium,what television provides an actor when one achieves success is the opportunity to amass a degree of financial security and a degree of popularity which will enable one to do other things at other times, my biggest problem is being patient, I'm impatient, I say well.

Douglas : You were born that way.

PAUL: Right!...right, the big joke that I share with my friends is I have to learn to be patient... NOW !! (laughs).

Douglas : How much longer are you committed to the show?

PAUL: Well I've got the full contract.

Douglas : What is that?

PAUL: This year and two more, but we are not at odds at all, you know a large part of that procedure going to trial and everything was for me I think a very important aspect of growing up, you know I had to go toe to toe with the old man so to speak. I ran into a friend on the beach and I said to him look if I had to take a bath, I'm glad I took it now. Another adjustment I took is I fought my damndest to change the course of my life and go in another direction and ah.

Douglas : I think that would have been a mistake at the time, if you don't mind me saying.

PAUL: The writing was on the wall, that's the way I look at it, I said it's not time to do it now.

Douglas : I remember another actor doing it on an very popular show.

PAUL: Yeah.

Douglas: I think it was a big mistake on his part, I won't mention his name, but I'm sure you know who I'm talking about, and he could have been so well off, and he could have been sitting back and picking his spots, and he's in that other position.

PAUL: Yeah.

Douglas : And it was a wrong move for him, and I think he knows it.

PAUL: I think a lot of it had to do with just growing up and getting my blankety blank together.

Douglas : I know that there's a special girl in your life, I had the pleasure of meeting her in the greenroom, any plans? Any marriage plans?

PAUL: Ah, we both looked at each other and we go ah! (laughs) If we get past the first syllable were lucky.

Douglas : When do you feel a relationship evolves into marriage?

PAUL: Well since my relationship has not evolved into marriage, then I don't feel I'm a really good judge of that, of when it happens. From you know the Monday morning quarterback I do the Friday afternoon quarterback before the game, and I would say that for me when I decide I want to have children then at that time to give them some legitimacies in this society I would deal with getting married.

Douglas : Isn't living together as a couple a cop-out, in a sense?

PAUL: How? How would you say?

Douglas : I mean I have been married all of my life. I've been married since I was eighteen.

PAUL: I thought you were going to say eight!

Douglas : I was married at an early urge.

PAUL: (laughs)

Douglas: I mean age, and I just don't relate, I just don't understand what young people are saying when they say things like it's just a piece of paper and it kills a good relationship, I don't buy all that, I think marriage is a marvelous instruction.

PAUL: Well...

Douglas : The most important thing for me is to have that respect of that lady and my children.

PAUL: I agree with you, I think that what we hear in terms of these phrases that it's only a piece of paper, it ruins a good thing, all that is reactions out of making a commitment.

Douglas : What fear? For fear of making a mistake?

PAUL: Well...

Douglas : Reciting those vows is going to stop feelings for that person?

PAUL: Well an awful lot of people feel that, maybe that's it, you know, I'm not that equipped to answer that one.

Douglas : Do you want a family Paul?

PAUL: I'd love to have a family, I'd love to have a couple little girls, and a couple little boys and you know and say go out and do it kid! (laughs) I would really like that someday, I hope I get to that point when it happens.

Douglas : What do you look for in a woman?

PAUL: Well, the first thing you look for is a damn good friend, a really fine friend.

Douglas : That's really important.

PAUL: The chemistry goes without saying, either it's going to be there or it isn't going to be there and how good a friend the person is, if the chemistry isn't there between you I don't think it's going to happen. But once the chemistry is there the first thing is that friendship, she can be the woman she wants to be, and you can be the man to her woman.

Douglas : What do you demand from a woman? Cause you don't look like the kind of guy who would be beyond that, I mean you don't look like, you know. (laughs)

PAUL: (laughs)

Douglas : You don't look too subtle Paul, I mean I don't get that feeling from you. What would you demand from a woman?

PAUL: I'm very demanding, I'm very demanding of myself, I would demand that she would be there for me, not to be generally vague, but there for me, there in terms of being my friend, I being her friend. I trying to be there for her as much as she for me, but as the woman being that lovely creature that I enjoy looking at, being with, loving, that cooks my meals, I cook for Elizabeth once a year.(laughs)

Douglas:You cook too? Do you like sexually aggressive women?

PAUL: Well, I don't think that you can categorize it in any one area, in other words we all move through moods, sometimes one feels aggressive, sometimes one feels passive, sometimes one feels full of energy, sometimes one feels wiped-out. So I can't say that I like one or the other, I would like to say that I like to feel that I feel that I can enjoy the full spectrum.

Douglas : What are your plans for the future?

PAUL: I'm more interested in my plans for the present. And my plans for the present are to enjoy the present and get the most I can out of the present. In terms of specific work, projects, I have some really interesting projects that I'm really fascinated about. I've bought the love letters between Abbie and Anita Hoffman which I'm going to be doing as a play, we are looking for a writer now to adapt them, ah, we will be putting that on... we are getting the crank-it up sign now.

Douglas : No. I'm getting your running out of tape and they have to stop.

PAUL: Can you run to the store or something?

Douglas : Thank you Paul Michael Glaser.

PAUL: Thank you Michael.

Douglas : Wonderful visiting with you,let's do it again soon.

PAUL: OK , you got it.

Transcript by Pam.

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