David Soul, Detective Hutch of 1970s hit TV series 'Starsky & Hutch', dies at 80

Pic courtesy/ Variety

David Soul, who starred as Detective Kenneth 'Hutch' Hutchinson in the popular American TV series 'Starsky & Hutch', which ran from 1975 to 1979, died on Thursday, his wife Helen Snell informed BBC. He was 80, reports 'Variety'. In addition to 'Starsky & Hutch', Soul starred in the Western series 'Here Come the Brides' and movies such as 'Magnum Force', 'Salem's Lot' and more. Soul moved to the UK in the 1990s and obtained British citizenship in 2004.

In 1971, 'Variety' notes, Soul made his film debut in 'Johnny Got His Gun' and he appeared opposite Clint Eastwood in 'Magnum Force' (1972), one of the seasoned actor's Dirty Harry movies. Soul was also a singer and released several albums in the 1970s and '80s, including the No. 1 single 'Don't Give Up on Us'.

And then, Soul landed the biggest role of his career on 'Starsky & Hutch', alongside Paul Michael Glaser as Sergeant David Michael Starsky, according to 'Variety'. The two played Southern California police detectives originally in a 1975 pilot movie and thereafter, a weekly TV series that ran on the American network ABC until 1979.

Starsky and Hutch drove around in their iconic red-and-white-striped Ford Gran Torino and had a brotherly us-against-the-world attitude that was different from typical cop shows. The overly affectionate buddy cops, notes 'Variety', became a staple of the 1970s and oftentimes the punchline to erotic jokes. Even Glaser later admitted that Starsky and Hutch had some "homoerotic elements".

Born in Chicago on August 28, 1943, Soul started acting on stage in the 1960s and began pursuing his passion for music, according to 'Variety'. In 1967, he sang on 'The Merv Griffin Show', receiving major attention, and landed his first TV role on 'Flipper'.

That led to signing a contract with Columbia Pictures and playing Joshua Bolt, a lumberjack and brother of lead character Jason Bolt (Roger Brown), on the comedy series 'Here Come the Brides'. The show ran from 1968 to 1970 and made Soul a major star.

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