David Soul
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Biography
A tall, blond actor who has played heroes who are masculine yet soft and whose eyes express a pain yet uncovered, David Soul used ingenuity to break into show business, sending out glossy photos of himself with his head covered as the "mystery singer." Merv Griffin took the bite and put Soul on his syndicated talk show, thus breaking the ice. Soul then made his acting debut on an episode of "Star Trek" in 1967, and from 1968-70 played Joshua Bolt, the middle brother of three who bring 100 women to Seattle in "Here Come the Brides" on ABC. In 1974, he replaced Lee Majors as the associate attorney on "Owen Marshall, Counsellor at Law" (ABC). Finally, came TV stardom, when Soul played Ken 'Hutch' Hutchinson on the cop drama "Starsky & Hutch" (ABC, 1975-79). He was well cast as the soft-spoken, educated cop, but was miscast as Rick (the Humphrey Bogart character) in his 1983 return to series TV, the short-lived "Casablanca" (NBC). Later that year, Soul was in the cast of another short-lived NBC series, the primetime serial "The Yellow Rose."
Soul first worked in TV-movies in "The Disappearance of Flight 412" (NBC, 1974). He had his first miniseries lead with "Salem's Lot" (CBS, 1979), in which he returns to his home town and finds it infected by vampires and must become a vampire killer to save the community. In 1980, Soul played a convicted rapist who undergoes intense therapy in prison to find the root cause of his impulses in "Rage" (NBC). He also starred in Agnes Nixon's "Manions of America" miniseries for ABC in 1981, based on her Irish immigrant heritage, and has continued working in TV-movies into the 90s.
Soul first appeared in feature films in a supporting role in "Johnny Got His Gun" (1971), and lent support to Clint Eastwood in "Magnum Force" (1973). After his TV series work waned, he returned to feature film work in the 80s in "The Hanoi Hilton" (1987), playing a gung-ho military prisoner in North Vietnam who decides he has had enough degradation and turns over in his bunk, practically willing himself to die. Soul co-wrote the 1994 feature "Tides of War," in which he played a Nazi trying to build a missile sight on a remote British outpost in order to attack America. He was a vengeful East German Olympics coach in "Pentathlon" (1995). Dedicated to the causes of workers, Soul made the documentary "Fighting Ministers" in 1986, which detailed the efforts by clergy in Pittsburgh to aid workers during a strike, leading to many arrests. He has also been a director, commencing with episodes of "Starsky & Hutch" and including episodes of other series, such as "Miami Vice" and "Hunter."
Soul has also never abandoned the singing career which first brought him TV attention. He has performed at Radio City Music Hall in New York City as well as the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles.
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Writer (Feature Film)
Producer (Feature Film)
Music (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Cast (TV Mini-Series)
Life Events
1949
With family, divided time between Sioux Falls, South Dakota and Berlin, Germany
1962
Offered a contract as a pro baseball player with Chicago Red Sox; declined because family was moving to Mexico where his father had accepted a teaching position
1965
Acted on stage at the Firehouse Theater in Minneapolis
1965
Moved to NYC (date approximate)
1966
After enticing Merv Griffin with a photo in which his face was covered by a hood, made his TV debut singing on Griffin's talk show
1967
Made TV acting debut in episode of "Star Trek"
1971
Made feature film debut in "Johnny Got His Gun"
1974
Appeared for one season on "Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law" (ABC), also made TV-movie debut in "The Disappearance of Flight 412" (NBC)
1975
Acted on stage at Actor's Alley, appearing in such plays as "The Glass Menagerie" and "Waiting for Godot"
1979
Starred as vampire hunter in CBS miniseries "Salem's Lot"
1983
Played Rick in TV series version of "Casablanca" (NBC)
1986
Produced and narrated documentary "Fighting Ministers"
1987
Appeared as a POW in "Hanoi Hilton"
1988
Acted in the Hercule Poirot mystery "Appointment With Death"
1994
Toured Australia and New Zealand as the Narrator in a stage production of the musical "Blood Brothers"
1994
Co-wrote screenplay for and starred in the feature "Tides of War"
1996
Toured Great Britain in the stage play "The Aspern Papers"
1997
Assumed role of the Narrator in the London production of "Blood Brothers"
1999
Toured Great Britain playing a series of musical concerts
2000
Joined the cast of the BBC drama series "Holby City", playing a cardiologist
Family
Companions
