David Soul Instantly recognizable as one half of the 1970’s crime fighting duo based in California, ‘Starsky and Hutch’ this blonde haired, blue eyed charmer could sing, act and solve crimes, and played the character of Hutch in the 1970’s cult television series. David Soul was born in Chicago Illinois on August 28th 1943 to a mother who was a singer and to a Lutheran minister father who worked as a Religious Affairs Advisor to the U.S. High Commission in Berlin and was involved in the reconstruction of Germany after World War II. As such Soul’s father moved his family frequently while David and his brother were growing up. After returning to America David enrolled in the University of Minnesota and while at university he supplemented his income with a part time job in a night club where he sang rock and folk songs while accompanying himself on the guitar. As an enthusiastic baseball player he was spotted by the Chicago White Sox and offered a contract with the team but turned it down in favour of pursuing his musical career which he did when he joined a North Dakota musical revue in 1967 at which point he was once again spotted by a talent executive and this time signed a studio contract. He went on to study acting in New York and in Hollywood. Souls’ acting career began with a small role in the 1967 children’s series “Flipper’ and was followed by a part in the comedy series “I Dream of Jeannie’ in 1967 which starred Larry Hagman. Also in 1967 he had a small role in ‘Star Trek’ starring along side William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy.
From 1967 through 1968 Soul had a regular slot on the Merv Griffin Show and was known as The Covered Man, a mystery singer. Continuing with television Soul had guest roles in episodes of ‘The Young Rebels’, ‘Love, American Style’, ‘Dan August’, and ‘All In The Family’. Soul managed to put in an appearance on the big screen in Dalton Trumbo's ‘Johnny Got His Gun’ which also starred a young Donald Sutherland. The early seventies brought more television roles in the detective show ‘Ironside’ starring Raymond Burr and in ‘Marcus Welby MD’ starring James Brolin and Sharon Glees, and then in ‘The Streets of San Francisco’ starring Michael Douglas. In 1973 Soul made it to the big screen in ‘Magnum Force’ when he appeared with Clint Eastwood and Robert Uruch. His role in the movie was that of a motorcycle cop which brought him to the attention of director Joseph T Naar who immediately cast him as one of his detectives in ‘Starsky and Hutch’ in which he starred until 1979 with his sidekick, Paul Michael Glaser. Despite his busy schedule while filming ‘Starsky and Hutch’, Soul still found time to appear on the big screen in ‘The Disappearance of Flight 412’ when he played opposite veteran actor Glenn Ford in 1974.
Following his success on the big screen and in the television series, ‘Starsky and Hutch’ Soul went on to pursue his first love, music. With his musical skills and his songwriting expertise he was constantly topping the UK and USA music charts in the late 70’s with songs such as, ‘Lets have a Quiet Night In’, ‘Don’t Give up on US Baby’ and ‘Silver Lady’. He toured extensively and successfully with his band in the USA, Britain, Japan and South America. When ‘Starsky and Hutch’ finished its fourth season, Soul went back to the big screen and starred in Stephen King’s “Salem’s Lot’ and in ‘Homeward Bound’ in 1980. The 1980’s and 1990’s saw David Soul starring in many movies and television programs among which were, ‘The Hanoi Hilton’, ‘In the Cold of the Night’, ‘ Murder She Wrote’ with Angela Lansbury and ‘The Hitchhicker’. During his career as an actor and singer David has managed to fit in four marriages and four divorces. His first wife was Miriam Russeth whom he married in 1964, then came Karen Carlson in 1968, followed by Patty Sherman in 1980 and finally Julia Nickson whom her divorced in 1993. David has also been known to have fought with alcoholism over the years and was imprisoned and ordered to attend therapy classes for physical violence and alcoholism after attacking his third wife while she was seven months pregnant. After moving to north London’s Highgate area with his partner, Alex Hamilton, who is twenty years his junior, Soul has been involved in the filming for a program devoted to domestic violence and has stated, ‘Anger is an incredible power, but it can be completely negative and mindless. I sit with guys who are grieving over what they did; they paid the consequence and now they want to understand." Throughout his acting career Soul has always appeared in stage and theater productions and in 2000, at The Edinburgh Festival, he directed and starred in ‘Fool for Love.’ Being both an American and a British citizen, since 2004, has made it easy for Soul to establish himself in the UK and has most recently been starring in the West End of London in the musical ‘Mack and Mabel.’ ABB | 
