Knight Rider
Season 1 SABC3 (*193) 12:00 Action
Not even the sight of David Hasselhoff drunk and eating a hamburger off the floor while his daughter Taylor scolded him about his drinking problem (which went viral in 2007) has quite managed to take the glow of TV immortality away from the former Knight Rider (1982-1986) star. It helps that 65-yearold David has always seemed to have a sense of humour about himself, saying that “if you can’t laugh at yourself, then you can’t laugh at life and the silliness of it all”. And he’s not modest either: “When you see David Hasselhoff, you see the truth – that’s one of the reasons I’m still around. People relate to me not as a star, but more as a brother.”
1 Speaking of brothers, David’s favourite Knight Rider episodes come from season 1 (episodes 1 and 17) when he played his character Michael’s evil twin Garthe. “He was corny – a moustache and an earring and dialogue like, ‘Michael Knight is a living, breathing insult to my existence!’ My father told me that Garthe was a far better actor than Michael. It was the funniest thing Dad ever said,” recalls David.
2 Sometimes we see David as Knight Rider, sometimes we don’t. The hands pushing supercar KITT’s buttons weren’t David’s. “If I am in the master shot of a scene, they weren’t going to take the time to shoot a quick close-up of me hitting KITT’s turbo boost button. I had ‘stunt hands’ for that,” he says.
3 There’s something fishy about the most interesting Hoff fact: in 2010, marine biologists nicknamed crustacean species Kiwa tyleri “the Hoff Crab” for its “hairy” chest. David added, “It’s an honour to be named for a crab. As you know, one crab dies and 10 000 crabs come to their funeral. I’m in very loyal company, that much I know!”