David Soul^†

Before anyone knew his face, he spent 1966-67 as the 'Covered Man' on The Merv Griffin Show, singing folk songs behind a ski mask because he wanted to be known for his voice before his look. Acting got in the way anyway. A role as a corrupt motorcycle cop in Magnum Force (1973) caught the attention of TV executives, and two years later he was playing Detective Hutchinson in Starsky & Hutch. The show ran four seasons and made both leads into 70s fixtures. While it was still airing, 'Don't Give Up on Us' hit #1 on both sides of the Atlantic, giving him one of the more unlikely double careers in that decade.

After Starsky & Hutch ended in 1979, the assumption was that he'd fade into 70s nostalgia. He didn't. Financial difficulties brought him to London in 1993 for what was supposed to be a six-week theater stint. He got British citizenship in 2004 at a Haringey council office alongside 25 other new citizens. British audiences knew him less as a TV cop and more as a stage actor, with West End credits that American audiences mostly missed. A hip replacement in 2017 sent him to intensive care for 10 weeks, including time in palliative care. He attributed his survival to his wife Helen and the NHS. The second chapter quietly outran the first.

Born David Richard Solberg, son of a Lutheran minister who moved the family constantly for refugee outreach work. He learned guitar at the University of the Americas in Mexico City before dropping out. 'Don't Give Up on Us' sold 1.16 million copies in the UK in 1977, making it the top-selling single there for the entire year. When he heard Owen Wilson cover it in the 2004 Starsky & Hutch film, he was reportedly embarrassed enough to record a new version himself. He also directed three episodes of the show during its run, which almost nobody remembers.

Co-star Paul Michael Glaser called him 'a brother, a friend, a caring man,' and told reporters he had spoken with Soul about a week and a half before his death without realizing how quickly he was declining. Ben Stiller, who had co-starred alongside Soul and Glaser in the 2004 Starsky & Hutch film, paid tribute on social media. His wife Helen Snell confirmed the cause was COPD, and that he died at a London hospital surrounded by family.