David Soul, the actor who portrayed the blond half of TV’s ‘Starsky and
Hutch,’ dies at 80

https://apnews.com/article/actor-david-soul-starsky-hutch-dies-03dd29682458e44bddfccee4ce46607b

LONDON (AP) — Actor-singer David Soul, a 1970s heartthrob who co-starred as
the blond half of the crime-fighting duo “Starsky & Hutch” and topped the
music charts with the ballad “Don’t Give Up on Us,” has died at the age of
80.

His wife, Helen Snell, said Friday that “David Soul – beloved husband,
father, grandfather and brother – died yesterday after a valiant battle for
life in the loving company of family.”

“He shared many extraordinary gifts in the world as actor, singer,
storyteller, creative artist and dear friend,” Snell said in a statement.
“His smile, laughter and passion for life will be remembered by the many
whose lives he has touched.”

Born David Solberg, Soul was a Chicago native whose acting career dated
back to the 1960s, when he joined the avant-garde Firehouse Theater in
Minnesota. He continued to appear on stage and screen well into the 20th
century, but he was best known for his work in the 1970s.

Soul portrayed detective Ken “Hutch” Hutchinson alongside dark-haired Paul
Michael Glaser as detective David Starsky in “Starsky & Hutch, which ran on
ABC from 1975 to 1979 and grew so popular it spawned a line of children’s
toys.

He also had success as a singer, starting in 1976 with “Don’t Give Up on
Us” and following with such hits as “Going in With My Eyes Open” and
“Silver Lady.”

Soul first gained national fame in the 1960s appearing on “The Merv Griffin
Show” as “The Covered Man,” a singer disguised in a stocking cap who
shouted out lyrics such as “That is why I hide my face, because a man has
to be free.”

His other TV credits included early appearances on “Star Trek,” “All in the
Family” and “”I Dream of Jeannie,” the miniseries “Salem’s Lot” and a
short-lived version of the film classic “Casablanca,” in which Soul took on
Humphrey Bogart’s role as nightclub owner Rick Blaine.

Soul’s movies included “Magnum Force,” “The Hanoi Hilton” and a cameo with
Glaser in the 2004 big-screen remake of “Starsky & Hutch,” starring Ben
Stiller as Starsky and Owen Wilson as Hutch.

By the 1990s, Soul had moved to Britain, where he performed several stage
roles. In 2001, he won a libel case against a journalist who called “The
Dead Monkey,” a play that Soul was in, the worst production he had ever
seen - without having seen it. He also played the titular talk-show host in
“Jerry Springer - The Opera” in London’s West End.