David “The Hoff” Hasselhoff turns 72 today
Despite all controversies throughout his life and career, the actor who played Michael Knight remains one of the dearest and most memorable screen stars of all time
David “The Hoff” Hasselhoff turns 72 today
He’s one of the world’s most famous persons and one of the biggest celebrities, David Hasselhoff, aka “The Hoff”, was born in Baltimore, Maryland on July 17, 1952. His acting career started back in the 1970’s, and in 1975 he had his first big role, portraying Dr. “Snapper Foster” on “The Young and the Restless”, until 1982. It was during the 1980’s that he Hasselhoff became a worldwide phenomenon when he played the role of Michael Knight on the iconic TV Series “Knight Rider”. The role earned him an unexpected following at a planetary level and by the end of the decade, he was also launching a musical career as a singer which started with guest appearances on the first season of children’s program “Kids Incorporated”, performing “Do You Love Me”. His biggest musical hit was the 1989 song “Looking for Freedom”, the album of the same name went triple platinum, but only in Europe, failing to conquer the American music market. By then, he was no longer being regarded as the Knight Rider action hero, with the music career, Hasselhoff fell into a different league, which was not the best for his career, but he had the last laugh when the single “Looking For Freedom” hit one #1 in the German pop charts in spring of 1989 and was overall a popular hit across Europe. His performance of the song at the Berlin Wall on New Year’s Eve 1989, two months after the East German government had opened the wall, but nine months before unification took place, had a lasting impact on German pop-culture with Hasselhoff commenting that the song became an “anthem” and “song of hope” for the people of East Germany. David Hasselhoff next big role (and possibly his last) was as L.A. County Lifeguard Mitch Buchannon in the 1990’s TV series “Baywatch”. Everything that came after it was unfortunately either not well received or laughed at which damaged his career and his public image, specially when in 2007, a viral video surfaced online of Hasselhoff appearing to be severely drunk inside his home filmed by his daughter Taylor Ann interrogating him and asking him to stop abusing alcohol. Despite all that, David Hasselhoff will always be regarded as one of the dearest and most memorable screen stars of all time, in a league of his own. The Hoff turns 72 today.
Watch the 1989 music video “Looking for Freedom” by David Hasselhoff
Look back at David Hasselhoff playing Michael Knight
Watch more 1980’s related videos
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