Inside the fascinating case of TV’s most iconic crime-fighting duo: How David Soul and Paul Michael Glaser faced VERY awkward start on Starsky & Hutch set
- David Soul played Detective Ken ‘Hutch’ Hutchinson on 1970s television series ‘Starsky & Hutch’ before his death at age 80
- Paul Michael Glaser, his partner on the hit show, admitted the pair struggled to connect on set for a few years until bonding over failed marriages and death
By Joe Hutchison For Dailymail.Com[1]
Published: 22:01, 5 January 2024 | Updated: 22:06, 5 January 2024
They forged an everlasting friendship portraying two Southern California[2] police detectives, becoming one of the most famous crime[3] fighting double acts of all time.
David Soul, who has died at the age of 80[4], and his close friend Paul Michael Glaser dominated screens in the 1970s television series ‘Starsky & Hutch’.
Soul played Detective Ken ‘Hutch’ Hutchinson alongside Glaser’s Detective Dave Starsky, in the cult tv show and remained friends well into later life.
The two went on to become international stars thank to the success of the TV show, which ran from 1975 and 1979 and later inspired a movie spin-off.
The pair remained friends, and in 2017 Glaser was seen pushing his old co-star on a wheelchair into the Comic Con in Liverpool.
David Soul, who has died at the age of 80 , and his close friend Paul Michael Glaser dominated screens in the 1970s television series ‘Starsky & Hutch’
David Soul as Hutch alongside Paul Michael Glaser as Starsky in season three of Starsky and Hutch
The pair remained friends, and in 2017 Glaser was seen pushing his old co-star on a wheelchair into the Comic Con in Liverpool
The two fought crime on the streets of the fictional Bay City, California, in a bright red Gran Torino, with Antonio Fargas playing their informant, Huggy Bear.
In a previous interview in 2014 with the Television Academy Foundation[5], Glaser admitted that the duo initially struggled to hit it off until years of working today.
‘My chemistry with David was very much about what happened in front of the camera, off camera when didn’t have a whole lot to talk about.
‘Then the years went by and the last few years when you have a relationship that has existed that long you can’t help but to really care and love that person.
‘David and I have become much more comfortable with understanding and acknowledging our feelings. At the time it was more difficult.’
Glaser also discussed the chemistry between the two on screen, and how despite initially not hitting off the pairing worked immediately
‘When we got on camera, it was all there. It was really interesting.
We played off one another, and to the extent that David and I both taking on the world of television, the world of comfortably defined roles that everyone fell into,’ he continued.
‘We were joined at the hip, so as uncomfortable we might have been as man with our feelings, we weren’t uncomfortable in front of the camera.
‘We were joined in this destiny to do the best we could possibly do with the show. Through it all we definitely understood something about what were doing there.
[embedded content] 
Soul’s wife Helen Snell said he had passed away surrounded by his family following a ‘valiant battle for life’
Outside of their time on the screen, Soul married five times and first wed the actress Mirriam ‘Mim’ Solberg in 1964, but this lasted only a year.
Further unions followed with Karen Carlson, who he met on the set of TV series Here Comes the Brides; Patti Carnel Sherman, the ex-wife of 1960s pop idol Bobby Sherman; and the actress Julia Nickson.
Glaser, who is now 80 and an abstract artists, is the honorary chairman of the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.
The charity is named in honor of his first wife, who died after contracting HIV through a blood transfusion while giving birth to their first child, Ariel, who also died aged seven.
Glaser and Elizabeth welcomed their first child together in August 1981 – their daughter Ariel.
Elizabeth had hemorrhaged during her labor and was given a transfusion of seven pints of blood, which at that time was not being screened for AIDS.
About four years later, worried about their daughter’s persistent and severe stomach aches, the couple took Ariel to the doctor. She tested positive for HIV.
It transpired Elizabeth had contracted HIV from the blood transfusion and, unaware she was carrying the virus, began breastfeeding Ariel, and in doing so passed on the virus to her daughter.
Three years later, still unaware that Elizabeth was HIV positive, the Glasers had a son, Jake, who was also infected with HIV in the womb.
Paul was the only one to test negative.
Glaser and Elzabeth’s son, Jake, was infected with HIV in the womb.
Paul Michael Glaser and Jake Glaser are pictured together
Soul as Detective Ken ‘Hutch’ Hutchinson alongside Paul Michael Glaser’s Detective Dave Starsky
The series turned Paul and David (pictured in 1977) into global stars and they are now both arguably best known for their work as the legendary characters
In 1988, aged seven years and one week, Ariel died. Elizabeth also passed away from HIV in 1994, aged 47 – though not before campaigning vigorously for more research into the virus.
Jake survived and previously reported to be on medication to combat the effects of the virus.
He has continued his mother’s advocacy work through the Pediatric Aids Foundation and in 2021 revealed that he had experienced survivor’s guilt growing up.
‘I resented my mom and sister for what I thought was abandonment,’ he told People Magazine. ‘And I beat myself up thinking, ‘Why couldn’t I have saved them?”
Glaser also experienced guilt, bitterness and grief over the deaths of Elizabeth and Ariel.
He told The Daily Mail[6] 11 years ago: ‘I began with a tremendous amount of rage and anger, mainly directed at myself for not being able to do anything about all of this. And guilt, too.
‘But going though the experience of losing my wife and daughter meant I was probably more open to learning about helplessness, fear and where we are in this life.
‘I’m a very different person now than I would have been had none of this happened, so I consider myself very fortunate that I was able to learn those things and end up in a place I’d never have imagined.’
He married his second wife, film producer Tracy Barone, in 1996.
The pair shared one daughter together, Zoe.
The couple divorced in 2007 with Glaser citing ‘irreconcilable differences’ as the reason for ending his marriage in court documents filed in Los Angeles.
Paul Glaser lost his seven-year-old daughter Ariel and his beloved wife Elizabeth to HIV , which she had contracted during a blood transfusion following Ariel’s birth.
He is pictured with Elizabeth and their toddler daughter
Glaser eventually remarried but split with his second wife Tracy Barone in 2007, ending their 10-year union over ‘irreconcilable differences’.
He and Tracy are pictured together in 1997
Glaser had also previously admitted to DailyMail.com[7] that he had initially been ‘uncomfortable’ with the level of fame that the TV series brought him.
Since his Starsky days, he had a guest-starring spot on Netflix’s Grace and Frankie in 2019 and he last appeared in an episode of Ray Donovan that same year.
He also served as an associate producer on the hit ABC reality series Shark Tank from 2010 to 2014.
The actor then transitioned to a life as a painter and a digital artist, opening his first solo show at Cosmo Lofts in Hollywood in April 2018.
Meanwhile, David went on to dabble in both acting and music after becoming an international star on Starsky and Hutch.
David acted in Star Trek, Here Come The Brides, Perry Mason and Johnny Got His Gun, throughout the 1960s and 1970s.
At the height of his fame, he released the UK chart-toppers Don’t Give Up On Us and Silver Lady, and the hits Going In With My Eyes Open and Let’s Have A Quiet Night In.
He also went on to appear in TV series Salem’s Lot, an adaption of Stephen King’s novel ‘Salem’s Lot, as Ben Mears, who returns to his hometown, which has been taken over by vampires.
David was also in Miami Vice, Harry’s Hong Kong, Homeward Bound and a TV series remake of Casablanca
Soul in October 1970 with his second wife, the American actress Karen Carlson
Soul in a photo taken in 1982 with his third wife, Patti Carnel Sherman
The actor in Los Angeles with actress Julia Nickson, his fourth wife, and their children
Other memorable film roles included that of a vigilante cop in Dirty Harry sequel The Enforcer and the lead as nostalgic writer Ben Mears in 1979 Stephen King adaptation Salem’s Lot.
David later briefly returned to the iconic role of Hutch for a cameo in the 2004 feature film remake of the hit show.
The actor lived in London with his PR wife Helen Snell, his fifth marriage, after they met while touring the UK with a stage production of Ira Levin play Deathtrap in 2002.
Referring to his love of the UK in 2015, he told MailOnline: ‘Britain is beautiful. I like south Devon a lot, the bleakness of Dartmoor.
‘And I like being in a country steeped in history. I return to the States about three times a year as my five sons all live there, though my daughter lives here.’
He added: ‘When Paul Michael Glaser and I were filming Starsky & Hutch in the 70s, Princess Margaret once came to meet us on the set because she liked the show.
‘We took her to lunch and, suffice to say, we didn’t go back to work in the afternoon.
Also we were told the Queen Mother once said, ‘I like those boys so much!’ But I don’t think I’ll ever be Sir David, even though I act like it sometimes!
‘The only person I’d care to call me Sir David is my wife, as I call her Lady Helen!’
Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson are seen here alongside Glaser and Soul in the 2004 remake of the film
Soul met Helen Snell, a PR executive, in 2002 on the stage production of Deathtrap and they married in 2010.
They’re seen together in London in 2015
In February last year, David shared his desire to return to the role of Hutch[8] once again, after it was announced Fox was developing a female-led reboot.
He tweeted: ‘Every article mentions the ‘original’ actors by name.
‘So why not just reboot Paul and me–as a couple of old farts solving piddly-ass crimes at the assisted living facility where we would now live?
Who can do Starsky and Hutch better than him and me?’
In announcing his death, his heartbroken wife Helen Snell said Soul had passed away surrounded by his family following a ‘valiant battle for life’.
She said in a statement: ‘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 passion for life will be remembered by the many whose lives he has touched.’
Soul married five times and leaves behind five sons and a daughter.
References
- ^ Joe Hutchison For Dailymail.Com (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ California (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ crime (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ who has died at the age of 80 (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ Television Academy Foundation (interviews.televisionacademy.com)
- ^ told The Daily Mail (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ previously admitted to DailyMail.com (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ David shared his desire to return to the role of Hutch (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ California (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ Crime (www.dailymail.co.uk)