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Antonio Fargas (born August 14, 1946) is an American actor known for his roles in 1970s
blaxploitation In American cinema, Blaxploitation is the film subgenre of action movie derived from the exploitation film genre in the early 1970s, consequent to the combined cultural momentum of the black civil rights movement, the black power movement, ...
and comedy movies, as well as his portrayal as Huggy Bear in the 1970s TV series ''
Starsky & Hutch ''Starsky & Hutch'' is an American action television series, which consisted of a 72-minute pilot movie (originally aired as a '' Movie of the Week'' entry) and 92 episodes of 50 minutes each. The show was created by William Blinn (inspired ...
''.


Early life

Fargas was born in New York City to Mildred (née Bailey) and Manuel Fargas; he was one of 11 children. His father was Puerto Rican and worked for the City of New York. His mother was from
Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago, officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean, comprising the main islands of Trinidad and Tobago, along with several List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, smaller i ...
. Raised in New York's
Spanish Harlem East Harlem, also known as Spanish Harlem, or , is a neighborhood of Upper Manhattan in New York City, north of the Upper East Side and bounded by 96th Street to the south, Fifth Avenue to the west, and the East and Harlem Rivers to the east ...
, Fargas graduated from Fashion Industries High School in 1965.


Acting career

Fargas' breakout role was in the comedy film '' Putney Swope'' (1969). After starring in a string of blaxploitation movies in the early 1970s, such as '' Across 110th Street'' (1972) and '' Foxy Brown'' (1974), he gained recognition as streetwise informant Huggy Bear in the television series ''
Starsky & Hutch ''Starsky & Hutch'' is an American action television series, which consisted of a 72-minute pilot movie (originally aired as a '' Movie of the Week'' entry) and 92 episodes of 50 minutes each. The show was created by William Blinn (inspired ...
''. He appeared in ''
All My Children ''All My Children'' (often shortened to ''AMC'') is an American television soap opera that aired on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from January 5, 1970, to September 23, 2011, and on The Online Network (TOLN) from April 29 to September 2, 2 ...
'' beginning in 1982 as Les Baxter, the upper-class lawyer who was the father of
Angie Hubbard Jesse and Angela "Angie" Hubbard are fictional characters and a supercouple from the ABC and The Online Network daytime drama ''All My Children''. Jesse is portrayed by Darnell Williams and Angie is portrayed by Debbi Morgan.From 1990 to 1991 ...
; the character of Les was killed in 1987. As a nod to his early roles, Fargas had a part in the blaxploitation spoof '' I'm Gonna Git You Sucka'' (1988) as well as another Wayans brothers "hood" parody, '' Don't Be a Menace'' (1996). He guest-starred in the mid-1990s sitcoms ''
Living Single ''Living Single'' is an American television sitcom created by Yvette Denise Lee that aired for five seasons on the Fox network, from August 22, 1993, to January 1, 1998. The show centers on the lives of six New York City friends who share perso ...
'', ''
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'', '' The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air'' and '' The Steve Harvey Show''. Fargas played the driver in the 1997 music video for the
Backstreet Boys Backstreet Boys (often abbreviated as BSB) are an American vocal group consisting of Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, AJ McLean, and cousins Brian Littrell and Kevin Richardson (musician), Kevin Richardson. The band formed in 1993 in Orlando, Flori ...
hit " Everybody (Backstreet's Back)" and also appeared as a robot in their music video for " Larger than Life (song)" in 1999. Some of Fargas' notable appearances on British television shows include Series 4 of the reality series '' I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!'' in 2004 and '' Frank Sidebottom's Proper Telly Show'' in early 2006. He played the part of Toledo in a revival of August Wilson's '' Ma Rainey's Black Bottom'' at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester in 2006. He had a regular role as Doc on the 2005–2009 television series ''
Everybody Hates Chris ''Everybody Hates Chris'' (stylized in all lowercase) is an American semi-autobiographical sitcom created by Chris Rock and Ali LeRoi that originally aired on UPN from 2005 to 2006, and then on The CW until 2009. The series is based loosely ...
''. In 2008, Fargas acted in the British boxing film ''
Sucker Punch A sucker punch (American English), also known as a cheap shot, coward punch, one-punch attack, or king-hit (Australian English), is a punch thrown at the recipient unprovoked and without warning, allowing no time for preparation or defense on t ...
''. He appeared in an episode of Fox's '' Lie to Me'' as the father of a murdered firefighter.


Personal life

Fargas' son Justin Fargas, a
University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...
alumnus, is a former NFL
running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...
who played seven seasons for the
Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team based in Oakland, California, from its founding in 1960 to 1981, and again from 1995 to 2019 before Oakland Raiders relocation to Las Vegas, relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan ...
, amassing over 3,000 rushing yards in his career. Fargas's daughter-in-law is Nikki Caldwell, the president of the Las Vegas Aces of the WNBA.


Filmography


Film


Television


See also

*
List of Puerto Ricans This is a list of notable people from Puerto Rico which includes people who were born in Puerto Rico (Borinquen) and people who are of full or partial Puerto Rican people, Puerto Rican descent. Puerto Rican citizens are included, as the governm ...


References


External links


Official Website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fargas, Antonio Living people 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors American male film actors American male television actors American actors of Puerto Rican descent American people of Trinidad and Tobago descent Male actors from New York City Year of birth missing (living people)