With the Baywatch film hitting the big screen this week, we take a walk on the crowded beach that is the life and times of the original TV show's big star, David Hasselhoff.
Starting Hoff
Born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1952, David Hasselhoff got a regular gig on legendary US soap The Young and The Restless in 1973, but nine years later he became a global star after landing the lead role in Knight Rider.
He played Michael Knight, who fought all types of crimes and misdeeds with the help of a super car called KITT. It would be fair to say that KITT was the real star of the show.
Knight Rider also gave rise to the Hoff's musical career, and he remains a big star in Germany. His song Looking for Freedom became a number one hit there as it became a symbol of German reunification. He sang it at the Berlin Wall on New Year's Eve 1989, just days after the collapse of the wall.
Inexplicably, he wore a piano keyboard scarf and had flashing Christmas lights on his jacket.
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Hoff the charts
Knight Rider had ended in 1986, but Hasselhoff returned to television three years later to produce and star in Baywatch, which swiftly became the most popular show on the planet.
He played Mitch Bucannon, the leader of a group of outrageously attractive lifeguards in California. In addition to Hasselhoff, Baywatch also featured Yasmine Bleeth, Carmen Electra and Pamela Anderson, all of whom spent most of the show dressed in red swimsuits.
The show ran until 2000 and spawned two spin-offs, Baywatch Nights and Baywatch Hawaii.
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Hoffter Baywatch
It's fair that the Hoffmeister has dabbled in a variety of endeavours since the dawn of the new millennium.
In 2000 he made his Broadway debut as the lead in Jekyll and Hyde, and has been involved in several stage productions, including a Las Vegas run of The Producers.
He became a judge on America's Got Talent in 2006, working for four seasons alongside Piers Morgan and Sharon Osbourne for four seasons before leaving in 2010.
Along with daughters Taylor and Hayley, he starred in the short-lived reality TV show The Hasselhoffs. Hasselhoff also featured on Dancing With the Stars, competing against the likes of Bristol Palin, Florence Henderson, and Michael Bolton.
More recently, he made a cameo appearance in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2.
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The Other Hoff
Hasselhoff's first marriage, in 1984 to actress Catherine Hickland, lasted five years. Their wedding was recreated in the Knight Rider Season 4 episode The Scent of Roses.
He married actress Pamela Bach in 1989 and they had two daughters before a bitter divorce in 2006. He currently lives in Southern California with his daughters, and has been dating Welsh former shop assistant Hayley Roberts since they first met in 2013.
Hoff the gargle
A viral video surfaced in 2007 that showed Hasselhoff appearing to be severely drunk inside his home. He released a statement saying it was recorded by his daughter Taylor Ann so that he could see how he behaved when drunk.
Subsequently, Hasselhoff's attorney has described him as "a recovering alcoholic".
We can only wish him well.
Whatever happened to . . . ?
The Hoffster wasn't the only star on Baywatch. Here's how three of the other big names fared after the tide went out.
Pamela Anderson played CJ Parker for five seasons before getting lead roles in movies such as Raw Justice and Barb Wire, returning to TV in 1998 for VIP, which lasted four seasons.
In 2004 she posed naked for Playboy magazine, and in more recent times featured on TV, including various versions of Big Brother, as well as Dancing with the Stars and the UK's Dancing on Ice.
More recently, she was a guest on The Ray D'Arcy Show and plays an older version of CJ Parker in the new Baywatch movie.
Yasmine Bleeth was regularly voted one of the planet's hottest sex symbols during her time on Baywatch, and remained working as a model during her time on the show.
Later she starred in Nash Bridges before landing a starring role in the short-lived series Titans in 2000.
After rehab for cocaine addiction, she married strip club owner Paul Cerrito in 2002, and they live between homes in Los Angeles and Scottsdale, Arizona.
Carmen Electra played Lani McKenzie on Baywatch for just a season but left quite an impression on its audience.
She featured in Playboy magazine four times between June 1997 and January 2009, three times featuring on the cover.
She's enjoyed a varied career on TV and in film, including the Scary Movie franchise, the Starsky and Hutch remake, and Meet the Spartans. In 2012 she was a guest judge on Britain's Got Talent, briefly dating Simon Cowell.
