(CNN) – David Soul, known for his role in the popular 1970s television series “Starsky & Hutch,” has died at the age of 80, his wife announced in a statement on the artist's website.
“David Soul, beloved husband, father, grandfather and brother, died yesterday (January 4) in the loving company of his family after a brave fight for life,” wrote his wife Helen Snell.
“He shared many extraordinary gifts in the world as an actor, singer, storyteller, creative artist and dear friend. His smile, laughter and passion for life will be remembered by the many people whose lives he touched.”
CNN has reached out to Soul's representatives for further comment.
According to his website, the actor was born David Solberg in Chicago, Illinois, and “spent the first twelve years of his life between the prairies of South Dakota and the divided city of Berlin after World War II.”
His father, Richard Solberg, was a professor of history and political science and an ordained minister who moved the family to Berlin, where he served as adviser on religious affairs to the United States High Commissioner and later as a senior representative of the Lutheran World Association, a refugee relief organization.
The man who would become a star had a passion for sports, including baseball, and after graduating from high school at the age of 18, he was offered a contract to play for the Chicago White Sox.
But in his second year of college, he decided to accompany his family to Mexico City, where his father had accepted a position as a professor at the American College.
David Soul (left) as the intellectual Kenneth “Hutch” Hutchinson and Paul Michael Glaser as the cunning David Starsky in “Starsky & Hutch.” (ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content/Getty Images)
There he learned Spanish and ended up in the entertainment industry almost by accident.
After he joined a movement to eliminate corruption in Mexico, a group of students gave him a guitar and taught him indigenous songs.
After returning to the United States, he looked for work and was hired to sing folk music at the Ten O'Clock Scholar, a cafeteria at the University of Minnesota where artists such as Bob Dylan had performed. According to information on his website, the fact that he was a “blonde, blue-eyed Norwegian” and knew how to sing popular Mexican songs got him the gig.
Married at 21 with a child to support, he had a falling out with a friend who was an actor and also had a romantic interest in Solberg's wife. After the actor was unable to appear in a play due to a confrontation, Solberg replaced him in the role.
Shortly thereafter, he separated from his wife, shortened his last name to “Soul” and began performing as “The Covered Man”. After sending a photo of themselves as “The Covered Man” and an audition tape to William Morris's talent agency, they hired him without even meeting him.
His television work in the 1960s on “I Dream of Jeannie,” “Star Trek” and “Flipper” led to a starring role as Joshua Bolt on the series “Here Come the Brides.”
While he is best known for Starsky & Hutch, Soul also starred in the Dirty Harry film Magnum Force, which he says led to his role in the hit series.
“Warner Bros. decided that Christmas would be the perfect time to release their version of keeping the world at peace: MAGNUM FORCE was released 50 years ago on this day. “Peace in the form of final justice,” Soul recently wrote in X (formerly known as Twitter). “I’m not sure much has changed since then. In fact, I'm embarrassed to say this (but it was a job and got me a small role in 'Starsky & Hutch', so I'm not complaining).
This story is evolving and will be updated.