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voice in a ten minute loop. Some crew members approached Jack Gill and commented, “Wow, I didn’t know the car really talked.” Gill was forced to explain that K.I.T.T.’s voice was a recording. This hero car still exists today and tours across the country.
The end of the season saw an ongoing conflict between Patricia McPherson and Executive Producer Robert Foster. Foster fired McPherson after her persistent lobbying for a romance between Knight and her character, and because they did not find her glamorous enough. McPherson was replaced by another former model, Rebecca Holden, who One Man Can Make a Difference •
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played April Curtis. Patricia comments that, “I think we were all surprised at the world-wide reaction we received,” she says, “although it was quite flattering to realize that I was that popular. I suppose a lot of it is due to the fact that when people start watching a show they get used to the people in it and don’t like change.”
David Hasselhoff did not like change either. He was angry about McPherson’s firing and upset with his own reaction to it. “They let Patti go and I didn’t have enough guts to fight for her because I was still fighting for myself. In the second year I really wanted her back. Both of us had survived against Dallas. I said, ‘Why are you breaking up this team?’“ The producers did not feel that creating a romance between Michael and Bonnie was a good idea. “That’s silly,” McPherson counters. “David is in a romance on every single show. The best stories are those in which our emotions show. My fan mail says, ‘As angry as you get, we know you love Michael’.” Our sentiments exactly.
CHAPTER FIVE
WHITE BIRD MUST FLY
One of the best story arcs in Knight Rider involved Stephanie Mason, Michael Long’s fiancée before he was shot in the face and left for dead by Tanya Walker. In real life, David Hasselhoff and Catherine Hickland (who played Stevie Mason) were very much in love and wanted to bring that to the show.
Hasselhoff met Hickland at the 1981 Daytime Emmy Awards in New York, but they did not become seriously involved until Catherine moved to Los Angeles three months later. “He begged me for a date and I said no. I am generally not attracted to 6 foot, 4 inch men who look like Ken dolls. They’re too much trouble with their egos. He went back to Los Angeles and called me every other night screaming, ‘I’m in love with you,’ but I kept saying, ‘No, No, No.’” Catherine thought that David “was just another young actor trying to chat me up for a quick affair. Then later he phoned me up and told me he loved me. And he phoned seven times the same evening to say that. “
Hasselhoff brought Catherine in to help write a story involving Michael Knight’s lost love Stevie Mason. What they came up with was
“White Bird,” a story that centered around the return of Michael Long’s former fiancée. Michael was told by Devon to not reveal his true identity to Stevie for fear of negative repercussions on future cases. Stevie was being framed for a crime she did not commit, so it was Michael’s job to protect her. With Michael’s eyes always on her, it did not take long for Stevie to realize that he was her supposedly dead fiancée. Michael had 40
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cleared Stevie of all charges, and she was sent into the Witness Relocation Program. This episode was David Hasselhoff’s favorite because it was about people, and human emotions.
Executive Producer Robert Foster recalls, “‘White Bird’ was more of an adult themed show. David came to me and was upset that Catherine Hickland’s character, Stevie, was charged with solicitation, which essentially means prostitution. I decided to leave it in because it was important to the storyline and had more emotional impact.” Utilizing the episode’s main song was quite a challenge as Don Peake recalls. We recorded ‘White Bird’, but couldn’t find the songwriters or the publisher. Finally, they found a guy living in a trailer park in Northern California who was one of the writers and we got permission.”
“White Bird” was the last episode produced for the first season, and David had a very special plan for the end-of-season wrap party. “It was Valentine’s Day and Catherine’s birthday and the end of the season, and we’d both worked on the script for that segment and I wanted to do something really special. I got a replica of K.I.T.T., and put it on top a birthday cake, with these words written in icing: ‘Look under the hood!’ When she did, there was her engagement ring! Then I said, ‘Catherine Hickland, will you marry me?’ And she started crying. I just about joined her!” Catherine and David then took an early summer vacation to the Caribbean for ten days on an uncrowded beach. “Peter Island was idyllic,” says Hasselhoff.
“There were only 80 people in a condominium complex with a huge, wide beach all to ourselves. We were served three gourmet meals a day, and every night there was entertainment for us in the form of steel drum bands and dancers.”
It took a woman like Catherine to make Hasselhoff realize that he had to change his lifestyle. In a 1984 article, Hasselhoff stated, “I was a wild, crazy man before I met Catherine. I was drinking too much and staying out all night because I couldn’t face my lonely home life. But our love has turned my whole life around. Before I met her I’d go out on the town and sometimes I’d wake up in the night and not have a clue where I was. God 42
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knows what would have happened if I hadn’t met Cathy…I’d probably be in the ground by now.”
David and Catherine wed in 1984 and left for their honeymoon near the end of the second season of Knight Rider. The final episode produced for that season was the two-hour movie “Mouth of the Snake.” This episode was written mostly without Michael and K.I.T.T. in it because Hasselhoff was on his honeymoon with Catherine. To celebrate their new marriage, David brought Catherine’s character, Stevie Mason, back to the show for a second time.
In “Let It Be Me,” Michael was sent to investigate the murder of a rock band’s lead singer. Michael arrived at the studio and, much to his surprise, ran into Stevie. She explained to Michael that she was looking for a fresh start after the Witness Relocation Program ended and ran into an old high school friend, Greg Noble. He was putting together a rock band and Stevie joined him. Greg and Stevie became close and decided to start building a relationship. She later told Michael that although she loved Greg very much, she dreamt about him every night when she went to bed. After Greg’s murder, Michael joined the rock band as his replacement, and was able to flush out the people responsible for his death. Stevie again decided that it was time to leave. It was then that Michael offered to leave the Foundation to be with her. Stevie said no, that it was too high a price to pay, for now. They parted ways for what would end up being almost two years.
David Hasselhoff and Catherine Hickland had recently completed an album together called Night Rocker. David, wanting to expose the album to as many people as possible, decided to incorporate a few songs from the new album into the episode “Let It Be Me.” The final version of the episode featured the songs “Our First Night Together,” “No Way to Be In Love,” and “Let It Be Me.” Unfortunately, the album bombed in the United States. Little did David know that Knight Rider was becoming big in Europe and his single was beginning its climb up the German charts. White Bird Must Fly •
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Many Knight Rider fans were hoping to see the character of Stevie Mason return for the third season. The producers were for the idea, however Catherine Hickland’s schedule would not permit her to make an appearance.
In November of 1985, the cast of Knight Rider was informed that the series would not return for the 1986-87 television season. With time running out before the final episode was completed, Hasselhoff approached the writers with an episode idea to bring back the character of Stevie Mason one final time. “Catherine and I approached NBC and told them that we had to have this episode for the series and we managed to get the episode written and made within a four week span,” says Hasselhoff. NBC eventually agreed, but ended up airing the episode in early January of 1
986, a decision that upset Hasselhoff. “The Scent of Roses” had many series-ending qualities and Hasselhoff wanted it to be the last one aired. However, NBC decided to air it midseason and then went on to air the other ten episodes they paid for.
In “The Scent of Roses,” Michael was seriously injured from a gunshot wound and found himself reviewing his dangerous occupation. After careful thought, Michael made the toughest choice of his life and decided to leave the Foundation for Law and Government. Devon, sensing that Michael had lost all reason to care and the will to live, contacted Stevie Mason. Devon explained that Michael needed her and the two arrange a meeting. Michael, shocked to see his former fiancée again, embraced her as they left to take some well deserved time off together. Michael realized that his job at the Foundation was no longer holding him back from being with Stevie forever. He asked for her hand in marriage, and she accepted. A small outdoor ceremony was held for the couple and everything looked to be perfect. They exchanged vows, and were pronounced man and wife when the gunman that attempted to kill Michael just weeks earlier returned to finish the job. Stevie, seeing that Michael was directly in his line of fire, made the ultimate sacrifice and shielded Michael from the bullet. Stevie was hit in the back, and died moments later in Michael’s arms. 44
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After much soul searching, Michael realized where he belonged. Hasselhoff later stated, “I wanted fans to see what took a toll on Michael over these last few years and that in the end he could always count on his family.”
CHAPTER SIX
THE KNIGHT BEHIND
THE WHEEL
One of the most incredible aspects of Knight Rider was Michael Knight’s futuristic, state-of-the-art car nicknamed K.I.T.T. (Knight Industries Two-Thousand). Decked out with countless functions and visual displays, K.I.T.T. could be prepared for almost any situation at a moment’s notice. The car itself was designed by Michael Scheffe using Pontiac’s all-new 1982 Trans Am. Millions of fans fell in love with K.I.T.T. because it embodied the perfect automobile. Jack Gill, the man responsible for K.I.T.T.’s incredible stunts, revealed, “The car was dropped about an inch and a half from the stock GM height so it would appear a bit more ominous.” David Hasselhoff then said,
“There’s about $200,000 worth of computerized gadgets built into it. The car has been modified to do stunts, jumps, and fast driving. We also go through a lot of tires.
What we do to a Trans Am in one day, most people wouldn’t do to a car in five years!” With the cars being wrecked fairly often, new shipments of Trans Ams were always on hand, with the modifications now done by Universal Studios.
With so much riding on the souped up Trans Am, the producers actually had multiple cars on hand at any one time. David stated, “In every episode, there has to be more than one, for several reasons. The one I’m driving in the episode may break down. Then, when we do jumps, we use 45
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a separate, heavily braced car; sometimes we have to scrap that car and get another. And besides the car I drive, we have a picture car that’s kept all shined up and perfect in every way.”
Construction of the Knight 2000 [Photos Courtesy George Barris] The picture car (more commonly known as the hero car) was the only one that contained the intricate dashboard and controls that K.I.T.T. was famous for. Every time that Hasselhoff was shown getting in and out of K.I.T.T., they used the hero car. Producers also created a duplicate dashboard that sat on a sound stage at Universal Studios. When a close-up of the dash or the voice box was shown, it was from that mock-up. One version of the car was equipped with an ejector seat. In the beginning, the seat didn’t work correctly and sent many stuntmen flying into the air much further than expected. Many of the men wouldn’t try it again because it was too dangerous. For that reason, many of the ejections on the show used life-like dummies.
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Another car used in the series was heavily braced for the incredible stunts that were performed. When the stuntmen performed those 80-foot leaps through the air, a car would sometimes break in half. Each of the cars also had a protective outer shell on it. “The shell is a hard and heavy polyurethane form that looks exactly like a car body with no windows or windshield,” says Jack Gill. “It took four guys to lift it onto the K.I.T.T. car and it stayed in place because it was molded to fit perfectly. After an action scene, when the polyurethane body came off, K.I.T.T. was always dented and had to be repaired.” The engine used in the Trans Am was heavily modified. “It’s really souped up,” David said. “We have a mechanic named Willie Stabile who is personally responsible for the engine. And also, the performance level of our Trans Am is much higher than the regular Trans Am.”
After the series premiered, Stunt Coordinator Bob Bralver was looking for someone to come in for a few episodes to drive the car. Jack Gill, an ace stunt driver who helped the General Lee soar in The Dukes of Hazzard, stepped up. “Bob Bralver called me up and asked if I would be interested in doing a few episodes. Once I started, I found out that Hasselhoff and I lived about five miles away from each other in Georgia, although we went to different high schools. We had a lot in common so we started hanging out. One thing led to another and I ended up becoming the stunt coordinator after the first year, followed by the second unit director. Besides those jobs, I was driving the car as well!”
When Jack joined the Knight Rider team in “Deadly Maneuvers,”
they only had three K.I.T.T. cars to work with—two stunt cars and one hero car. “We couldn’t do much at that time because we couldn’t jeopardize the cars. Once we acquired more Trans Ams, we began to develop each car for a certain stunt.; we had about eighteen in all. We got the cars from Pontiac for $1 a piece. The only car that Universal Studios had to pay for was the original hero car. After that, Pontiac would call us up and say that they had some water damaged cars or cars that 48
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needed to be crushed for one reason or another and asked if we were interested.”
The most famous (and the most dangerous) stunt involved actually having the Trans Am leap into the air, a stunt called “turbo boosting.” To achieve this incredible visual feat, special heavy-duty ramps were constructed that could withstand the force of the jumps. The ramps were frequently hidden behind a parked car, a fence, or a few bushes. A careful eye can spot a ramp in certain scenes where the car is required to fly.
“The construction of the ramp is something I started on The Dukes of Hazzard and worked on over the years,” says Gill. “It’s thirty-two to thirty-eight inches high and between fourteen and sixteen feet long. The ramp could be adjusted to provide the height needed to complete the jump successfully—fourteen feet would provide a higher jump; sixteen a lower one.” As Jack hit the ramp at speed, the air pushed the car upwards and provided much more lift than he would normally achieve. The studio paid upwards of $10,000 for the specially constructed ramps. Following the series’ cancellation, the ramps were left on Universal Studios’ back lot to rust away.
Robert Ewing, the show’s associate producer, commented, “We have two jump cars. These cars look identical to K.I.T.T., but are made of lightweight fiberglass and contain high-powered engines. A stunt driver races this fiberglass car at high speed toward a hidden ramp. The car leaps over real trains and trucks. The stunts are timed to the split-second to make certain no one is in danger. We’ve never had an accident. If a stunt is too dangerous, we don’t do it.” The car itself weighed only 1500 pounds. It was stripped of its factory interior and equipped with a roll cage, reinforced chassis, heavy-duty stock car shock absorbers, rack and pinion steering, and special brakes. It was also raised slightly from the stock GM height.
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Jack Gill crashes through a billboard sign in “White Bird.”
[Courtesy of Jack Gill]
“I did a jump that was 140 fee
t through a billboard sign,” recalls Gill.
“Most jumps were 110-120 feet. At that time though, no one was jumping cars further than 90 feet. I had to design the shocks a little stiffer so the car would fly a bit further. I put two shocks on each front wheel so it was incredibly stiff. You’d get a lot of height and a lot of distance. The producers always wanted K.I.T.T. to have a flat landing, so I also put a steel weight box in the back of each car. We would put the car up on jack stands so it would act like a teeter-totter. I would sit in the car and we would add weight until it was exactly level. The center of gravity would be in the middle of the car. Without the rear weights, the car would nose dive.” Because of the incredible stress that turbo boosting put on the Trans Am’s frame, the stunt crew had to junk anywhere from five to nine cars per season. Jack, however, would try to get a few more jumps out of the cars he really liked. 50
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One of the things that Jack designed was the jump harness. “A lot of people were (figuratively) breaking their backs on these jumps, so I designed a harness that fit around your rib cage and over the top of your shoulders. You put a five-point harness on loosely, and then connect yourself to the top bar with 3/4” thick bungee cords. When I hit, the bungee cord prevented my rear end from digging too far into the seat and therefore took the pressure off my back.”
The show’s first season producer tells how K.I.T.T. appeared to crash through a semi truck in the pilot episode. “There are a couple of ways that this is done. It’s possible to use a real truck and build a kind of balsa wood framework onto it. K.I.T.T. would then drive up a ramp out of camera view and through the lightwood. But, to highlight the effect, we might build a replica of just the side of the truck top. K.I.T.T. would be seen traveling towards the real truck and then we would shoot another sequence with him crashing through the frame we had built. Cameras positioned on either side of the frame would film the stunt and after editing the whole thing put together would create the impression that Michael Knight had driven straight through the truck!”
