Paul Michael Glaser paid a touching tribute to his Starsky & Hutch costar David Soul, following his death at 80 on Thursday.

‘I find it difficult to comprehend David’s passing. Seems only yesterday that we were sharing loving insults on the phone,’ the actor, 80, shared in a statement provided to DailyMail.com.

‘It just takes time, I tell myself; saying good-bye to such a dear friend and important part of my life I suspect that I will let myself feel his loss, our loss, only gradually.’

‘David was a brother, a friend, a caring man. We shall never see his like again,’ he continued.

Paul then addressed David’s widow Helen Snell, writing: ‘I want to extend my condolences to dear Helen, whom he loved and cherished and who stood beside him through these difficult years. He could never tell me enough what she meant to him.’

‘To all his sons and his daughter China, my deepest sympathies. And to all of you, our supportive and caring public who recognized a very special relationship and never stopped telling us. Thank you.’

He wrapped up the touching statement writing: ‘We have all lost a dear friend who shall live on in our memories. David – rest in peace, brother. Love, Paul.’

The dynamic duo starred in the hit series together from 1975-1979.

The show followed two California detectives, Soul as Sergeant Kenneth Richard ‘Hutch’ Hutchinson, and Glaser as Hutch’s partner, detective David Starsky.

The original series ran for four seasons on ABC, following the title characters, detectives who fought crime on the streets of the fictional Bay City, California in a bright red Gran Torino, with Antonio Fargas playing their informant, Huggy Bear.

In November, Soul wrote on Twitter that David ‘is and will always be my best friend, my brother.’

In 2023 there were rumors of a Starsky & Hutch reboot with two female characters as leads. At the time Soul wondered why he and Paul couldn’t do the reboot.

‘Every article [about a reboot] mentions the “original” actors by name. So why not just reboot Paul and me—as a couple of old farts solving piddly-a** crimes at the assisted living facility where we would now live? Who can do Starsky and Hutch better than him and me?’ he asked on Twitter.

Glaser hilariously wrote back: ‘If you’re going to describe me as an “old fart,” Please leave “old” out of it.’