You left an ineffaceable impression on a generation with your portrayal of Ken Hutchinson on Starsky & Hutch. Your team-up with Paul Michael Glaser, in itself, was enough to seal your stature in iconic melodrama, but as your fans know, you gave even more.
Television, for one, was most generous to you, as your quality appearances yet prove: Here Come the Brides (as Joshua Bolt); Casablanca (as Rick Blaine); The Yellow Rose (as Roy Champion); Unsub (as Rusty Grayson); All in the Family; The Young Riders; I Dream of Jeannie; Cannon; The Streets of San Francisco; The F.B.I.; Circle of Fear; Flipper 1967; Holby City; Poirot; Little Britain; Murder, She Wrote; and in one of my utmost, favorite Star Trek parables, "The Apple."
And on the feature-length and mini-series platform, you displayed comparable gusto: Magnum Force (which inspired producers to recruit you for Starsky & Hutch); World War III; The Key to Rebecca; The Stick Up; Little Ladies of the Night; Johnny Got His Gun; Farewell; The Disappearance of Flight 412; Grave Secrets: The Legacy of Hilltop Drive; Through Naked Eyes; In the Line of Duty: The F.B.I. Murders; Rage!; The Fifth Missile; The Secret of the Sahara; Appointment with Death; The Hanoi Hilton; Filth; Prime Target; Pentathalon; Cry of the Wild: The Taking of Peggy Ann; Dogpound Shuffle; Starsky & Hutch 2004; and as devoted Ben Mears in Tobe Hooper's excellent adaptation of Stephen King's Salem's Lot.
Of course, you were also an outstanding singer, as the single "Don't Give Up On Us" demonstrated through heavy, radio play and impressive, cha-ching sales. In addition, many will recall that you commenced your career as the clever, allegorical crooner, "The Covered Man," on the popular, daily-viewed, The Merv Griffin Show.
You became part of our world, part of our lives, Mr. Soul, and will always remain so. May your inventive spirit now entertain the ethereal with the same forthright flair as upon our beholden earth.
