‘The Hoff’ is back in a bathing suit
Baywatch star, 59, says yes to all work, including Piranha 3DD
David Hasselhoff doesn’t have an off switch, at least when he’s in the company of others. He bounds into a delicatessen near his home in Los Angeles’s San Fernando Valley as if it were a Broadway stage.
The six-foot-four actor even carries props, a red “Hoff” bag filled with “Hoff” merchandise, including a T-shirt with his picture on it, his autobiography, Making Waves (2006), and his latest CD, This Time Around.
“The Hoff,” as he likes to refer to himself, wants people to know what he has been up to since the end of Baywatch, the 1989-2001 series in which he starred as the hunky, frequently shirtless lifeguard Mitch Buchannon, following up his success on Knight Rider (1982-1986). European concerts, British pantomimes and Celebrity Apprentice Australia are but a few of his activities. He also has been a judge on America’s Got Talent (200609) and Britain’s Got Talent (2011), and in 2010 appeared briefly on Dancing With the Stars.
Now he’s focusing on his film career. In the new monster movie Piranha 3DD he slips back into a bathing suit to play a lifeguard. The horror comedy, which also features Gary Busey, Danielle Panabaker and Ving Rhames, opened Friday. It’s about a school of prehistoric, flesh-eating fish who lay siege to a summer resort called The Big Wet Water Park.
“It’s over the top and full of blood, bad taste, fish and scantily-clad women,” the 59-year-old Hasselhoff says. “In a perfect world I’d rather be doing Knight Rider: The Movie, but I’m not apologizing. It’s 3-D, and fish are jumping out at you and girls’ anatomy is jumping at you. Christopher Lloyd steals the movie.”
As usual, Hasselhoff has an angle. He was an executive producer of Baywatch, and has always been involved in the offscreen end of his projects.
“The Weinstein Company owns Knight Rider,” Hasselhoff explains, tucking into a plate of pastrami and eggs. “I said, ‘If I do Piranha 3DD for you guys, maybe we could sort out the right version of Knight Rider.’ ”
The idea of a Knight Rider film has been at the back of Hasselhoff’s mind for years – and not as a starring vehicle for himself.
“I have a real take on how to do it,” he says. “You can’t remake it. You’ve got to go back and appeal to all the people who grew up with it, those whose childhood dream was to drive a car like that. Obviously I don’t want to be the Knight Rider. It should be about Michael Knight and his son.”
It wouldn’t be wise to bet against Hasselhoff, who throughout his career has proven to be savvy about what works for him. When NBC cancelled Baywatch after its first season, Hasselhoff relaunched it in syndication, where it ran for another decade. The series, which is still aired in more than 140 countries, made him rich and gave him an international fan base.
Hasselhoff can’t go anywhere without being recognized. In the middle of his meal, a young patron at the deli comes over and asks if he can use his cell telephone to take a picture of the two of them. Hasselhoff readily obliges, turning on his 1,000-watt smile.
After he leaves, Hasselhoff says he’s pleased to be approached by someone who is probably too young to have watched Baywatch in its original run, let alone Knight Rider.
“The most important thing is to stay current with the kids,” he says, “so I try to do stuff that’s hip. That’s why I played myself in The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (2004) and Hop (2011).”
During a recent tour of England, Hasselhoff found that British college students had no trouble recognizing him. “They had discovered Baywatch on DVD and were holding Hoff parties,” he says. “They were dressing up as Mitch Buchannon and then taking off their shirts.”
All of which is gratifying for Hasselhoff, but it isn’t what he’d most like to be doing.
“I prefer to be onstage,” he says. “I did The Producers (2006) in Las Vegas, Chicago (2004) in London and Jekyll and Hyde (2000) on Broadway.”
Hasselhoff tries not to take himself too seriously, however, which is why he agreed to participate in The Comedy Central Roast of David Hasselhoff (2010). He grinned and bore it as his friends made fun of his career, his 2006 divorce from Baywatch co-star Pamela Bach and even his past struggles with alcohol.
“My daughters loved it,” he says.
Said daughters, 22-year-old Taylor-Ann Hasselhoff and 19-year-old Hayley Hasselhoff, have their own careers as singers and actresses.
“I managed them for a while,” Hasselhoff says, “but that was difficult. They went on tour with me, but they didn’t want to open for their dad. They’re trying to make it on their own, and they just signed a record deal in Australia.”
Hasselhoff had no family connections to rely on when he decided on a show-business career. The only son of a salesman for Brinks, he grew up with four sisters in Florida, Georgia and then Illinois. He made his stage debut as a Lost Boy in Peter Pan at the age of seven, and has hardly stopped acting since.
“My mother’s biggest challenge in life was finding things to keep me busy. After school I’d drive an hour and 35 minutes to a theatre, do a play and drive back home. I’d go to acting classes, dance classes and singing classes.”
His big break came when he was cast as Dr. William “Snapper” Foster Jr. on The Young and the Restless (19751982). Knight Rider quickly followed, and Hasselhoff was a star … until the show ended, and he suddenly found himself unemployable.
“I couldn’t get a job,” he admits. “So I went over to Austria with a Knight Rider car. My dad and I drove a couple of Trans Ams down the 405 Freeway illegally and shipped them over.”
He discovered by accident that he was a star in Austria. Although his first album, Knight Rocker (1985), had done little business in his native country, it had become a hit in Austria.
“I had the No. 1 record ( Looking for Freedom) in 1989 in Europe,” he says, “and I was a pop idol. I was 38, and I had teenagers throwing flowers on the stage.”
Hasselhoff’s musical success did not translate back across the Atlantic, but his pop-idol physique helped him land a starring role on Baywatch. Since that series ended, however, he has struggled to find his next big thing. “I kept thinking that things would get better, but they didn’t.”
Finally admitting that he had a problem with alcohol, Hasselhoff sought treatment at the Betty Ford Center in 2002. He subsequently got divorced and changed agents and managers.
“I had to take control of my life and become responsible for my own actions,” the actor says. “Then I could look my daughters in the eye and say, ‘I’m OK with me.’
“Right now, things are turning around in a positive way,” Hasselhoff says. “I feel energetic and a lot calmer than I used to.”
He recently completed The Christmas Consultant, a Lifetime movie that will debut during the holiday season.
“I say yes to everything,” Hasselhoff says cheerfully. “I did the Wiggle at the American Music Awards. I’m 59 years old and I’m partying with the kids. How cool is that?”