Actor Greg Evigan has revealed that he once turned down the opportunity to lead the hit television series Knight Rider because he feared Hollywood was already putting him in a box.
Evigan, now 72, recently recalled the surprising decision during an interview on Pop Culture Retro. At the time, he was coming off his popular role as truck driver B.J. McKay in B.J. and the Bear, where his character famously shared the screen with a talking chimpanzee.
When the opportunity to play Michael Knight in Knight Rider came along, Evigan immediately noticed one major similarity: his new character would once again spend plenty of time communicating with a non-human partner — this time, a super-powered talking car.
“I Didn’t Want to Do the Same Thing Again”
Evigan explained that he had already begun feeling typecast because of the enormous popularity of B.J. and the Bear. Although the show had made him widely recognizable, he said the success also made it difficult to convince casting executives to see him in different kinds of roles.
So when his agent called about a new series involving a man who talks to his car, Evigan was less than impressed.
The actor recalled essentially thinking that he had already spent enough time talking to a chimpanzee and did not want to repeat the formula with a car. He said he was looking for something different because he felt the earlier role had already limited the kinds of jobs coming his way.
David Hasselhoff Eventually Took the Wheel
Evigan ultimately passed on Knight Rider, leaving the door open for David Hasselhoff to become Michael Knight. The series premiered in 1982 and ran until 1986, becoming one of Hasselhoff’s signature television roles.
For Evigan, however, the decision eventually led him toward another major opportunity. In 1987, he joined Paul Reiser on My Two Dads, playing the free-spirited artist Joey Harris. The sitcom gave him an opportunity to showcase a different side of his acting and comedy.
Looking back, Evigan has acknowledged that turning down Knight Rider might sound like a Hollywood plot twist, but he has also said he did not regret the decision. The role became a defining chapter in Hasselhoff’s career, while Evigan continued building his own path across television, music and other creative work.
For now, his story has given fans another fascinating reminder that some of Hollywood’s biggest “what if?” moments can begin with an actor simply saying, “No.”
Buzz Legit will continue to follow more celebrity revelations and behind-the-scenes Hollywood stories as they emerge.
[…] […]