In the rush to emulate the success of Star Wars, there were many imitations and rip-offs. The 1978 television series Battlestar Galactica was one of the most charming, thanks in no small part to the actor Richard Hatch, who has died aged 71 of pancreatic cancer. He was the dashing and clean-cut Captain Apollo, the show’s equivalent to Luke Skywalker, opposite the more roguish Han Solo figure, Lt Starbuck, played by Dirk Benedict. When Hatch first read the script, Apollo was named Skyler; other echoes of Star Wars were not so easily muted, however, and it was hardly surprising when 20th Century Fox, the studio behind George Lucas’s hit, sued Universal, the makers of Battlestar Galactica, citing 34 similarities between the two properties. The case was settled before reaching court in 1980, though by that point the series had already been cancelled.

With his dazzlingly bright teeth, glossy locks and boyish handsomeness, Hatch was almost ridiculously good-looking. Asked in 2012 if he thought his appearance had hurt his career, he said: “I think so. I had to prove myself over and over … When you’re good-looking, you struggle to prove that you can act.” There was a reassuringly uncomplicated air about him in Battlestar Galactica: he was essentially the boy next door in space. The limitations of playing the squeaky-clean hero, though, were immediately apparent to him. “I love Apollo – he’s amazing – but they weren’t challenging him enough,” he said. “He’s the true blue hero and the good guy never gets his due.”

The original show, in which some of the last remaining humans are pursued across the universe by an evil robot race known as the Cylons, ran for only one series but generated a sizeable fan base and considerable affection, with Hatch nominated for a Golden Globe. The extravagant cost of the show, rather than any lack of ratings, was said to have hastened its demise. British audiences got their first taste of it in cinemas when Universal re-edited the three-part pilot episode, Saga of a Star World, to create the feature film Battlestar Galactica (1978) as a way of recouping some of the show’s costs.

Although Hatch declined to take part in a short-lived follow-up series, Galactica 1980, he did accept a different role in the franchise when it was finally revived by the Syfy channel as a mini-series in 2003 followed by four series; the show ended in 2009. Hatch had spent many years trying to generate enough money and interest for a new Battlestar Galactica, even making his own trailers at great expense to try to convince Universal to give the show another shot, and writing spin-off novels continuing the saga.

He was initially sceptical of the writer and producer Ronald D Moore’s decision to discard the old Galactica characters entirely, but changed his tune when he was offered the role of Tom Zarek, a former rebel turned politician, which Moore pitched to him as “a political revolutionary, à la Nelson Mandela – but a little bit darker”. The character appeared in 22 episodes, introducing Hatch to a new generation of fans and providing him with exactly the sort of texture that had been lacking in Apollo.

He was born in Santa Monica, California and attended Harbor College, San Pedro. He showed an early interest in ballet and in pole-vaulting, but traced his liking for acting back to a class at college during which he overcame his shyness to read aloud a report about the assassination of President John F Kennedy. He got his first acting experiences in Chicago and Los Angeles repertory theatre groups and in off-Broadway shows, before he became a regular on the US soap opera All My Children from 1970 until 1972.

His subsequent TV appearances included Hawaii Five-O, The Waltons, Dynasty and The Love Boat. In 1976 he replaced Michael Douglas for the final series of the cop show The Streets of San Francisco. “Even my girlfriend at the time liked Michael Douglas and missed [his] character,” he noted.

His best performance was as Jan Berry, one half of the pop duo Jan and Dean, in the above-par TV biopic Deadman’s Curve (1978). The most impressive scene shows Jan performing on stage for the first time seven years after the car accident that nearly killed him. A technical malfunction reveals that he has been miming along to a backing tape. After pleading for clemency from the braying crowd, he begins falteringly to sing on his own again. Hatch and his co-star Bruce Davison, as Dean, turned what could have been a purely cloying moment into something sincere and electrifying.

Hatch’s film appearances were infrequent, though in the wake of his Battlestar Galactica success he landed a starring role in Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen (1981), in which he was the grandson of the famous sleuth (played on this occasion by Peter Ustinov). But there were usually TV opportunities for him – in guest spots on established series (Baywatch, Santa Barbara) or as the star of his own reality show, Who the Frak (2011), which followed him around as he worked as a life coach and motivational speaker. He also played a part in establishing SoulGeek.com, a dating website for science-fiction fans.

He is survived by his son, Paul, who is also an actor, and a brother, John.

• Richard Hatch, actor, born 21 May 1945; died 7 February 2017