My parents wouldn’t let me stay up to watch Starsky & Hutch, but I still get a thrill when I see an old Gran Torino.
David Soul—beloved husband, father, grandfather and brother—died yesterday after a valiant battle for life in the loving company of family. He shared many extraordinary gifts in the world as actor, singer, storyteller, creative artist and dear friend. His smile, laughter and…
— David Soul (@DavidRSoul) January 5, 2024
He was great in Magnum Force and Salem’s Lot, too.
I watched quite a few episodes back in the day, but was never a young gearhead. They seemed pretty cool. It’s entirely possible I was more into Love Boat and Fantasy Island. Don’t tell anyone.
The research department tells me that the origin of the buddy cop genre was (!) Kurosawa’s Stray Dog (1949), then In the Heat of the Night and possibly Freebie and the Bean.
Shit, indeed.
In Steve Katz’s (Blues Project/Blood Sweat & Tears guy) autobiography, he talks about meeting David Soul in his Blues Project days, and that DS was doing this masked singer schtick–Covered Man. I forgot about that until now. Do a YouTube search for “David Soul as the Covered Man”, there’s a clip from Merv Griffin, I believe. I can’t believe I never checked into that before.
I watched Starsky and Hutch, but I was also more into Love Boat & Fantasy Island. And the Donny and Marie Show.