Name: David Hasselhoff, aka The Hoff, The Hoffenator, The Hoffster.
Characters: Michael Knight.
Show: Knight Rider and later the stick-on chest wig in Baywatch.
Set-up: From 1982 to 1986, The Hoff played a kind of modern-day knight (geddit?) driving around in a souped-up Pontiac Trans Am car that had artificial intelligence – the computer was called KITT - helping the powerless and saving lives.
Standout moments: All the stunts. It should come as no surprise that the stunt co-ordinator who got KITT jumping canyons etc to get out of trouble had previously worked with equally famous car General Lee on the Dukes Of Hazzard.
Memorable catchphrase: “KITT, get us out of here!”
Lowest ebb: Recovering alcoholic Hoff being filmed in 2007 by his young daughter trying to eat a burger after he had fallen off the wagon in spectacular fashion.
Big screen potential: Hmm, not sure. Since hitting fame with Knight Rider, the first time he played anyone other than himself in a movie was in Adam Sandler’s 2006 movie Click, in which he played the stars baddie boss. The Hoff is also due to star as character Hammett in TV movie Anaconda 3: The Offspring. However, he’s had major success on stage, with leads in Vegas, Broadway and London’s West End in the likes of Chicago and The Producers.
Why is he a hero? He’s the Hoff! Isn’t that enough? Okay, without Knight Rider, there would have been no Airwolf, Street Hawk or Blue Thunder. Or Busta Rhymes’ 1997 hit Fire It Up. Knight Rider was also the first telly show to use current pop music to soundtrack its scenes.
Factoids: The Hoff has been a successful pop star in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. He claims to have pre-empted the Berlin wall coming down with Looking for Freedom, his 1989 Number One hit in the German pop charts and is currently working on an album of Oasis covers for the German market, we kid you not.
