Do call me Hasselhoff

He's been a celebrity for 20 years, but David Hasselhoff is still amazed people can pronounce his name.

by Lisa Wilton, Calgary Sun

MAKING THE SCENE ... David Hasselhoff, former star of Baywatch and Knight Rider, stars in the Calgary-filmed slap-stick comedy Don't Call Me Tonto. - Kevin Udahl, Calgary Sun

"I took a lot of crap about that name in high school," says the gregarious actor, who's in town filming the Canadian-funded comedy, Don't Call Me Tonto.

He also finds it rather weird that people "flip out" when they see him.

"At my hotel, I walked past the Detroit Red Wings the other day," he recalls.

"I turned around and thought, 'Oh, those must be the hockey players.' As I looked back, they all looked back at me and went, 'Knight Ridah!' ... Even up in Banff, people would just stop. They wouldn't say anything ... But I think the time to worry is when nobody recognizes you."

KNIGHT RIDING

Hasselhoff won't have to worry about that for some time as he has plenty of film and TV projects on the way, including another Baywatch reunion movie and an HBO special presentation of Jekyll & Hyde.

Hasselhoff starred in the Broadway musical for three months in 2000. Jekyll & Hyde will air on the HBO Signature channel Dec. 7 and HBO Dec. 28.

Hasselhoff is also preparing to reprise his role as Michael Knight in the feature-length version of his hit TV show, Knight Rider, which ran from 1982 to 1986.

The film - still in the scriptwriting stage - will be produced by Revolution, the studio behind action hits Blackhawk Down and XXX.