When I turn up to interview Paul Michael Glaser, ahead of his appearance at Bradford’s Alhambra theatre next month, I imagine him wearing a chunky-knit cardigan, flashing that wide Starsky smile.

As one half of Starsky and Hutch in the 1970s US police show, he was an action hero with a heart; chasing low-life criminals in his beloved red and white striped Gran Torino while sharing a joke with his cop buddy.

To their fans, Paul Michael Glaser will forever be swarthy Dave Starsky, just as David Soul will always be cool Ken Hutch. The pair became iconic Seventies pin-ups, gazing at adoring schoolgirls from posters on bedroom walls.

Starsky and Hutch ended 35 years ago and, although the mention of their names turns middle-aged women into lovesick teens, both actors have moved on.

Now 70, Massachusetts-born Paul has had a long career on stage and screen, appearing in shows on and off Broadway and films such as Something’s Gotta Give, alongside Diane Keaton. He’s also a director, with credits including Arnold Schwarzenegger movie The Running Man and episodes of Miami Vice.

Paul played Perchik, the revolutionary student, in the 1971 film of Fiddler On The Roof. Now he has returned to the haunting musical, this time playing Tevye, the Jewish dairyman clinging to tradition within his family and his village in the face of social and political change in late 19th century Russia.

Playing Tevye would explain the grizzly grey beard Paul is sporting. He’s wearing a T-shirt and jeans – no chunky-knit cardi, sadly.

Given that he was in the film alongside Topol, the Israeli actor whose towering performance as Tevye earned him an Oscar nomination, did Paul find these big shoes to fill?

“You might think so, I happen not to think so,” he says, breaking into a half-smile. “Fiddler On The Roof is set in a specific time, but it’s a universal story. It’s a celebration of spirit. It is led by its music and we have musical instruments on stage. It helps to tell the story.

“It’s a multi-layered Everyman story, that’s why it has been so successful around the world for so long,” says Paul. “On one level it’s about a Jewish man trying to hold on to the traditions of his family and his community, but it’s also about much more than that.

“It’s about reaffirming our ability to overcome adversity – that’s the emotional connection people find in the story.”

The show is directed by Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel Horwood, who has the cast playing various instruments. The haunting score includes Sunrise, Sunset, If I Were A Rich Man, Matchmaker Matchmaker, Tradition, and the rousing To Life.

It is well documented that Paul has known tragedy in his personal life. In 1981 his wife Elizabeth contracted HIV through a transfusion while giving birth to their daughter, Ariel. They discovered the virus four years later, when Ariel and their son Jake were also found to be HIV positive. Elizabeth and Ariel both died but Jake survived.

Paul has drawn on his experience to write a series of books, Chrystallia and the Source of Light, about two siblings whose mother is dying, which he describes as a metaphor for his life.

“It’s about loss, love, our fear of death and what comes afterwards. It’s about searching for the source of light, for peace. It’s all around us, if we look for it,” he says.

He seems at peace with his own loss, and with the celebrity that came with his early fame.

“Everyone wants a picture these days,” he grins, as I tentatively ask him for one. Well, it’s not every day a girl meets Starsky! “I know what that show means to people,” he says, gazing into the camera.

  • Fiddler on the Roof runs at the Alhambra from February 25 to March 1. For tickets ring (01274) 432000.