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.
Profession(s):
Actor, producer, director, singer, grocery boy
Sometimes Credited As:
David Richard Solberg
Family
brother:Daniel Solberg
daughter:China Alexandra Soul (born c. 1988; mother, Julia Nickson)
father:Richard Solberg (born c. 1914; from 1949 to 1957, served as Religious Affairs Advisor to the U.S. High Commission in Berlin as well as held a teaching position at Augustana College in South Dakota)
wife:Lynn (first wife; were high school sweethearts; married in 1962; divorced after she ran off with his best friend c. 1965)
wife:Julia Nickson (marrried c. 1987; divorced in 1993; mother of Soul's daughter)
wife:Karen Carlson (married c. 1968; divorced c. 1977; appeared in "The Candidate" in 1972)
wife:Patti Sherman (third wife; married c. 1980; divorced c. 1986; mother of two of Soul's sons)
Companion(s)
Alexa Hamilton
, Companion
, ```..born c. 1968 in the USA; lives with Soul in England; together since c. 1994; he considers them to be in a common-law marriage; co-produced and co-starred in the play "The Dead Monkey"; toured with Soul in 1999
2000 Joined the cast of the BBC drama series "Holby City", playing a cardiologist
1999 Toured Great Britain playing a series of musical concerts
1997 Assumed role of the Narrator in the London production of "Blood Brothers"
1996 Toured Great Britain in the stage play "The Aspern Papers"
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"
1988 Acted in the Hercule Poirot mystery "Appointment With Death"
1987 Appeared as a POW in "Hanoi Hilton"
1986 Produced and narrated documentary "Fighting Ministers"
1983 Played Rick in TV series version of "Casablanca" (NBC)
1979 Starred as vampire hunter in CBS miniseries "Salem's Lot"
1975 Acted on stage at Actor's Alley, appearing in such plays as "The Glass Menagerie" and "Waiting for Godot"
1974 Appeared for one season on "Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law" (ABC); also made TV-movie debut in "The Disappearance of Flight 412" (NBC)
1971 Made feature film debut in "Johnny Got His Gun"
1967 Made TV acting debut in episode of "Star Trek"
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
1965 Acted on stage at the Firehouse Theater in Minneapolis
1965 Moved to NYC (date approximate)
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
1949 - 1957 With family, divided time between Sioux Falls, South Dakota and Berlin, Germany
Acted on London stage in Alan Ayckbourn's "Comic Potential"
Performed as a folksinger in Minneapolis, Minnesota; later toured as an opening act for bands like The Byrds, Jay and the Americans and The Lovin' Spoonful
Appeared in stage productions with Cafe La Mama and in various Off-Off- and Off-Broadway theaters
Played middle brother on "Here Come the Brides" (ABC)
Played Hutch on "Starsky & Hutch"; made TV directorial debut with episodes of series (ABC)
Was member of ensemble cast of "The Yellow Rose" (NBC)
Starred in the London stage production "The Dead Monkey"; also co-produced
