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Did David Hasselhoff help bring down the Berlin Wall?
 e is best known today for his “Baywatch” and “Knight Rider” roles, but David Hasselhoff's television career began in 1975 with the role of Dr. William “Snapper” Foster on the CBS soap opera “The Young and The Restless.”
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David Hasselhoff as "Knight Rider" Michael Knight in his crime-fighting car KITT.
PHOTO: Hasselhoff Posters from Art.com |
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Strange as it may sound, Herr Hasselhoff is even better known in Austria and Germany than in his American homeland. In July 2004 he was chosen to be the spokesman for Bluetooth in Germany. His records sell well in Europe despite falling flat in the US. He has even claimed he helped open the Berlin Wall. How did all this happen?
Despite a singing voice that an American critic once termed “clunky, off-key and charmless,” it was in Austria and later in Germany that Hasselhoff's recording career got off to a big start. His first album, “Knight Rocker” (1987), flopped in the US but was a hit in Austria! Later when he recorded “Looking for Freedom” (working with German producer/composer Jack White) in 1989 Hasselhoff became a big star in Germany. After the American actor and singer was invited to sing the song at a Berlin Wall concert in front of 500,000 spectators, the song practically became a German anthem and soared to the number one spot on the German charts, where it remained for two full months. The same song became the source of some controversy in 2003 when Hasselhoff claimed in an interview that he was disappointed that he was not featured in a museum exhibit on the fall of the Berlin Wall, since (according to Hasselhoff) he and his “Looking for Freedom” song had helped bring down the Wall. Said Hasselhoff, “I find it a bit sad that there is no photo of me hanging on the walls in the Berlin Museum at Checkpoint Charlie.”
1989 was a notable year for Hasselhoff for yet another reason: his role as Mitch Buchannon in a new TV series called “Baywatch.” That series has since been seen by over a billion viewers all around the world. Hasselhoff also later turned the series into several made-for-TV films, including Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding (2003, DVD).
POSTERS > David Hasselhoff Posters from Art.com.
David Michael Hasselhoff was born in Baltimore, Maryland on July 17, 1952 to Brinks Security executive Joseph Hasselhoff and his wife Dolores. David has four sisters, Diane, Jean, Joyce, and Lisa. He grew up in several cities, including Jacksonville, Florida. When he was 17 his parents moved to Chicago, and David graduated from La Grange High School (just barely). Hasselhoff then attended the Academy of Dramatic Arts. Later he moved to the West Coast and studied acting at the California Institute of Dramatic Arts in Valencia. To support his studies, Hasselhoff worked as a waiter and a gas station attendent.
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Hasselhoff bought the rights to "Baywatch" and turned the series into a worldwide TV hit.
PHOTO: Hasselhoff Posters from Art.com. |
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Finally, with the help of agent Joyce Selznick, he was able to get some work in TV commercials and some minor parts in the “Police Story” television series. Soon he was able to land a steady job as Dr. Foster in “The Young and the Restless,” replacing a popular actor who had asked for too much money. It took two years before the nasty fan mail stopped and Hasselhoff was accepted in the role he eventually held for a total of six years (1975-1982).
In 1981 Brandon Tartikoff at NBC Television offered Hasselhoff the lead in the action series “Knight Rider.” Hasselhoff managed to get the role of the crime-fighting Michael Knight, beating out actors such as Don Johnson (“Miami Vice”). The series began filming in 1981 and its first episode ran in September 1982. (First time on German TV: 28 August 1985.) The “Knight Rider” series with the super-auto KITT ran for four seasons (1982 to 1986) before going into worldwide syndication.
After “Knight Rider,” Hasselhoff made a few films, including guest appearances in two German comedies, Starke Zeiten (1988) and Zärtliche Chaoten (1988, as Michael Trutz von Rhein).
Hasselhoff had the good business sense to get a contract that gave him royalties from the syndication of “Knight Rider.” That allowed him in turn to buy up the rights to “Baywatch” when it was taken off the air by NBC after one season in 1989. With Hasselhoff as executive director, the revived “Baywatch” became a tremendous success, running in first-run syndication from 1991 to 2000, and setting a record as the highest-grossing TV show worldwide.
In 1989 Hasselhoff married actress Pamela Bach (born Pamela Weissenbach in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1963). They have two daughters. He was married to first wife Catherine Hickland from 1984 to 1989. Hasselhoff was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1996.
Next, a Hasselhoff filmography...
N E X T > Hasselhoff - TV and Films
Copyright © 2004-2005 Hyde Flippo
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