Vale: David Soul

US actor David Soul, best known as one half of ’70s crime duo Starsky & Hutch, has died, aged 80,

He died in the UK on Thursday “after a valiant battle for life in the loving company of family”, his wife Helen Snell said.

“He shared many extraordinary gifts in the world as actor, singer, storyteller, creative artist and dear friend,” she added in a statement.

“His smile, laughter and passion for life will be remembered by the many whose lives he has touched.”

Soul starred as Detective Kenneth “Hutch” Hutchinson opposite Paul Michael Glaser’s Detective Dave Starsky in the wildly popular 1970s US series that was exported around the world. Under the radio call sign “Zebra Three”, they were known for usually tearing around the streets of fictional Bay City, California.

“We didn’t have a clue it was going to be so successful. That only happened in the second year,” Soul said in a 2020 interview. “Paul and I basically ran the shoot — the streets were our playground, and we’d be driving around with people shouting, ‘It’s Starsky and Hutch!’ But we took it very seriously. We improvised a lot, and we trusted each other, totally. There was no one-upmanship or anything like that.”

The pair also had cameos in a 2004 feature film remake of the hit show, starring Ben Stiller as Starsky and Owen Wilson as Hutch.

At the height of his acting fame, he built a pop career, recording five albums, with hit singles Don’t Give Up On Us, released in 1976, and Silver Lady a year later.

Other notable credits included in Here Come The Brides, The Yellow Rose, Unsub, Salem’s Lot, The Disappearance of Flight 412, In the Line of Duty: The F.B.I. Murders , Murder She Wrote, Little Britain, Poirot, Dalziel and Pascoe, Lewis, Holby City, Hanoi Hilton, Tides of War, Filth, and Magnum Force.

He also enjoyed a stage career in Blood Brothers, touring Australia alongside Stefan Dennis, and notably as the lead in Jerry Springer: The Opera.

Source: ABC, Wikipedia, Hollywood Reporter