"A true beautiful spirit"you know, I'm not surprised to hear that. I have felt that about him.
R.I.P Kiel

very touching

I knew him when he lived in Topanga Canyon and was struggling to make it as a successful actor - prior to Hill Street Blues. Kiel was a warm caring fun man. He did smoke three packs of cigarettes daily. His raspy voice was indicative of this. He loved his daughter very much and spoke of her often. I saw him years later at the Palm Desert mall, I was struggling with alcoholism and he reached out to me, I was not ready to hear his message. A true beautiful spirit, I will remember his warm smile and joy of life forever.

Unfortunately I don't think I've ever seen Kiel in anything besides Hill Street Blues (I'm only 20). But LaRue is probably my favourite character from the show, and eveb68n if you never saw anything else of his acting thats a fine legacy of work to have.

Well, he did appear in a Jack Webb production movie in '75 called 'The Log of the Black Pearl', which was great by the way. Kiel was the leading man and was really wonderful in it.

I was kinda sad that Jack Webb did not use him more on Dragnet. The guy could act.

That's funny - saw that episode yesterday. And yeah, he was really good-looking. I'd almost forgotten about that!
Loved him on HSB. So funny.