US-BORN actor and singer David Soul, a 1970s icon for his role as Detective Kenneth “Hutch” Hutchinson in the classic TV crime series “Starsky & Hutch”, has died aged 80, his family announced Friday.

UK-based Soul, whose decades-spanning career included work as a director, producer and singer-songwriter, died on Thursday “after a valiant battle for life in the loving company of family”, his wife Helen Snell said.