(updated January 5 2024)
On April 16 ,1977 David Soul scored a massive NO 1 hit with “Don’t give up on us baby”, take away the “on us baby” and you would have the perfect title for his life.
Mostly known as the iconic Hutch from the buddy cop TV show “Starsky and Hutch”, David Soul has had a turbulent life to use an understatement.
Born in Chicago, Illinois, as David Richard Solberg,David Soul is the son of a minister who was at one time serving as the religious affairs advisor to the U.S. High Commission in Berlin.
Soul attended Augustana College, University of the Americas in Mexico City and the University of Minnesota. At 19, he turned down a professional baseball contract with the Chicago White Sox in order to study political science. While in Mexico, inspired by students who taught him to play the guitar, Soul changed his direction and decided to follow his passion for music. His first appearance upon returning from Mexico to the States was in a club in Minneapolis, The 10 O’Clock Scholar.
He first appeared on TV in small roles in shows including I Dream of Jeannie (1965), Flipper (1964) and All in the Family (1971). Regular TV work kept coming in for Soul including making masked appearances on The Merv Griffin Show (1962), as the popular singer known only as “The Covered Man.”
He explained: “My name is David Soul, and I want to be known for my music.”
In 1967, he signed a contract with Columbia Pictures and following a number of guest appearances, including the episode “The Apple” from the second season of Star Trek.
He landed the role of Joshua Bolt on the television program Here Come the Brides with co-stars Robert Brown, Bobby Sherman and Bridget Hanley. The series was telecast on the ABC network from September 25, 1968, to September 18, 1970.[6] In 1972 he co-starred as Arthur Hill’s law partner on Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law. Following numerous guest-starring roles on TV, including Streets of San Francisco, he was cast by Clint Eastwood in the film Magnum Force.
His talents came to the attention of several TV execs who were looking for someone to play one of the lead roles in the upcoming Starsky and Hutch (1975) TV series. After four seasons, the show came to an end, yet Soul’s talents were still in demand. He quickly went on to appear as the meek writer turned terrified vampire hunter Ben Mears in the chilling television mini-series Salem’s Lot (1979), and then as Jake in the interesting television movie Homeward Bound (1980).
Soul has been married five times and has five sons (two of whom are stepsons) and a daughter. He first married the actress Mirriam “Mim” Solberg (née Russeth), in 1964. The couple had one child together, but the marriage only lasted a year.
Soul then married actress Karen Carlson in 1968, after they had met on the set of the television series Here Come The Brides. The couple also had a child together, but they divorced in 1977.
During the years he was filming Starsky & Hutch, Soul had an open relationship with actress Lynne Marta.
Soul’s third wife was Patti Carnel Sherman (the ex-wife of fellow Here Come the Brides co-star and teen pop idol Bobby Sherman), whom he married in 1980. They had a child together, but the marriage disintegrated due to Soul’s alcohol abuse and violent temper. During his marriage to Sherman, Soul was court-ordered to undergo anger management therapy after assaulting her while she was seven months pregnant. The couple divorced in 1986.
Those weren’t his only problems, despite the huge success in Starsky and Hutch and hit songs like “Don’t give up on us baby” he was left virtually broke. In a British TV documentary he admitted that at one he had been so desperate he had tried male prostitution, however he did not say when, or if he had gone the whole way.
Soul married again in 1987, to actress Julia Nickson. The couple had one child, China Soul, who is a singer/songwriter.Soul and Nickson divorced in 1993.[citation needed]
Soul immigrated to the United Kingdom in the mid-1990s and settled in London with his girlfriend, American actress Alexa Hamilton, though the couple later broke upIn September 2004, Soul became a British citizen, while retaining his U.S. citizenship. He is an avid fan of English football and is an Arsenal F.C. supporter.
Soul married his fifth wife, Helen Snell, in June 2010. They had been in a relationship since 2002, after meeting when Soul was working in the British stage production of Deathtrap.
In 2005 appeared as Jerry Springer in “Jerry Springer-the Opera”
His wife announced the US-born actor died aged 80 on Thursday, January 4,2024 surrounded by his family. Rest in Peace David.
Leaving you with the song mentioned in the title.
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