From beauty queens to PR girls: Exploring the five marriages of 'The Starsky and Hutch' star David Soul as he dies aged 80
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: 'Starsky & Hutch' star David Soul died on January 4, 2023, aged 80. His wife Helen Snell recently confirmed the news of his death.
The actor who was known for his portrayal of Detective Kenneth 'Hutch' Hutchinson in the famous TV show 'Starsky & Hutch', led a dramatic life as he married five times, per Daily Mail. While his first marriage lasted for just a year, he found his soulmate in Helen Snell who was 30 years his junior.
Miriam Russeth (Mim Solberg)
David Soul married Miriam Russeth, professionally known as Mim Solberg in 1964. Solberg was Soul’s first wife whom he married when he was just 21 and was yet to find fame.
The marriage was a short-lived one as they divorced just a year after their marriage.
Solberg later went on to appear in various TV shows including 1988's ‘Gemini: The Twin Stars’; 1984's ‘Partners In Crime’; and 1982's TV movie ‘A Christmas Carol’.
Per the Twin Cities Theater Stories’ Facebook page, Solberg devoted her life to theater after starting her theatrical career in the Twin Cities
After meeting Peter Scangarello, she founded the Olympia Arts Ensemble where they produced Genet, Artaud, Pirandello, Lorca and Beckett. She also founded Equity Showcase Theater in New York City.
Karen Carlson
Three years after his divorce from Solberg, David Soul married his second wife, his ‘Here Come the Brides’ co-star Karen Carlson in 1968.
They went on to welcome one child together, Jon Kristjian Solberg, born on April 3, 1971.
The former beauty queen co-starred along with her husband in his famous show ‘Starsky and Hutch’.
She has several acting credits by her name including in TV shows and movies like ‘Dallas’, ‘The Octagon’ (1980), ‘Teen Vamp’ (1988), ‘Fleshburn’ (1984) among others.
The couple divorced in 1977. Carlson later married musician Devin Peyne.
Patti Carnel Sherman
David Soul tried his luck at marriage for the third time with the former wife of 1970s pop idol Bobby Sherman, Patti Carnel Sherman.
Three years after his divorce from Carlson, he married Sherman but the marriage in disaster.
Soul attacked Sherman when she was seven months pregnant for which Soul was jailed and ordered to attend classes for alcoholism.
He later regretted the attack during in an interview with BBC in 2003. While shedding light on domestic violence, he said, “There is no excuse. The hardest part is to look at oneself and to those you love and that you have hurt. We live with the guilt and shame.”
Saying, “Anger is an incredible power,” he added, “But it can be completely negative and mindless. I sit with guys who are grieving over what they did; they paid the consequence and now they want to understand.”
Julia Nickson
Soul married the Singaporean-American actress Julia Nickson in 1987 after meeting on the set of TV movie ‘Harry’s Hong Kong’.
The couple went on to welcome a child named China Soul who is a successful musician now.
Soul’s struggle with alcohol continued, at the onset of their divorce in 1993, Soul said, “The relationship was strained because I was drinking. Julia and I would fight over that.”
He added, “In 1989 she persuaded me to enter a rehabilitation clinic. Julia told me "you're destroying yourself with your drinking - you've got to do something."'
Nickson has appeared in films including ‘Rambo: First Blood Part II’, ‘Magnum PI’ and ‘Days Of Our Lives’.
Helen Snell
PR expert Helen Snell finally helped David Snell in settling down after they met in 2002 when she was doing marketing for the play ‘Deathtrap’ for which he was touring the UK.
Soul gushed in 2015 to Daily Mail and described Snell as the “most beautiful, wonderful woman I could possibly imagine.”
He narrated their love story saying, “She was doing the PR for Deathtrap, a play I toured with in Britain, and we didn't hit it off initially because I don't like PR bull***t so I wasn't one of her favourite clients! She'd never seen Starsky & Hutch and didn't really know who I was.”
Talking about her bride, he said, “But as we evolved I began to see who she really was, and we eventually married on 26 June 2010 in Devon, where her uncle and aunt live. But it was that life-changing moment when we met that led me to another: becoming a British citizen.”
