For many he will always be the blonde from Starsky and Hutch. David Soul, who achieved fame in the seventies thanks to the legendary detective series, died last Thursday at the age of 80. It was his wife, Helen Snell, who was responsible for spreading the news yesterday through a statement. “David Soul – beloved husband, father, grandfather and brother – died after a brave battle for life in the loving company of his family,” she began. And he continued the writing highlighting his versatility as a performer: “he shared many extraordinary gifts in the world as an actor, singer, storyteller, creative artist and dear friend. “His smile, laughter and passion for life will be remembered by many people whose lives he has touched.”
And, in addition to being an actor, Soul also stood out as a singer. He reached number 1 on the Billboard 100 Hot chart in 1977 with the song Do n’t give up on us (1977), which also became number one in the United Kingdom. That same year he published another of his most remembered songs, Silver Lady.
But without a doubt it was the role of detective Kenneth Hutch Hutchinson that marked a turning point in the career and life of David Soul, born Richard Solberg in Chicago and a British national twenty years ago. Together with his inseparable companion David Starsky, played by Paul Michael Glaser, the series marked an entire generation of young people and children who, in full transition, followed, week after week, the frenetic action of the episodes, more than 90, that They aired between 1975 and 1978 on the ABC network and, in Spain, somewhat later, starting in 1977.
One of the successes of the series was the chemistry between the two protagonists, somewhat antagonistic in appearance and character, in addition to the exciting chases they carried out in a mythical car, the Striped Tomato, a fast Ford Gran Torino, from 1975, red and with white stripes. When Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson starred in the film adaptation of the series in 2004, Soul and Glaser did not hesitate to participate in the film making a fun cameo.
But in addition to Starsky and Hutch, David Soul participated in other successful series in that same decade of the seventies, such as Star Trek: And he also managed to play prominent roles in the cinema. Highlights include his appearances in Magnum Force, in which he shared the scene with Clint Eastwood, and The Mystery of Salem’s Lot, a miniseries based on the novel of the same name by Stephen King, in which he acted alongside James Mason.
But in the eighties everything changed. David Soul, who did not know how to manage success, fell into alcoholism and his career went into a tailspin. Not only did he squander his fortune and sell his percentage of the rights to the series for around 90,000 euros, but his character became violent and he even attacked his third wife, Patti Carnel, when she I was seven months pregnant. He went to prison and did therapy for a couple of years, which also marked his life. Once he got over the hump, he dedicated himself to visiting prisons to raise awareness among inmates about the problems of domestic violence and alcoholism.
With six children and five marriages, David Soul’s love life was also marked by instability. Finally, in the mid-nineties, the performer moved to live in London, where he met his last wife, Helen Snell, and where he resumed his career as an actor on the West End stage. Suffering from health problems due to his past with alcohol and tobacco, and after cancer, David Soul, who asked for his girl in his famous song Don’t give up on us, will always remain the eternal Hutch.
