Jan-Michael Vincent

Jan-Michael Vincent (July 15, 1944 – February 10, 2019) was an American actor. He emerged as a leading man in the 1970s, playing notable roles in films like Going Home (1971), which earned him a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture; The Mechanic (1972), Damnation Alley (1977), and Big Wednesday (1978). He earned his second Golden Globe nomination for his role on the television miniseries The Winds of War (1983), before starring as helicopter pilot Stringfellow Hawke on the television series Airwolf (1984–87).

At the height of his career, Vincent was the highest-paid actor on American television. His success was tempered by a troubled personal and professional life, exacerbated by substance abuse and legal problems. After leaving Airwolf, he appeared in low-budget and independent films until retiring in 2003. During the latter part of his life, he suffered health issues, before dying in 2019 from a cardiac arrest.

Jan-Michael Vincent was born in Denver, Colorado, where his father was stationed after enlisting in the United States Army in 1941. His father, Lloyd Whiteley Vincent (September 7, 1919 – August 30, 2000), was born in Tulare, California, and raised in nearby Hanford in the San Joaquin Valley. His mother, Doris Jane (née Pace; August 2, 1925 – February 22, 1993), was born in Arkansas and moved to Hanford as a child.

Vincent's grandfather, Herbert Vincent (September 26, 1876 – January 14, 1974), was a bank robber and counterfeiter who committed robberies in the 1920s and 1930s. Vincent's uncle, Lloyd's brother Hoy, was shot to death in Tulare by a deputy sheriff and was wanted for a robbery in Oregon. Two of Vincent's other uncles, Clifford and Harold, were convicted of bank robbery in Hardwick, California and Strathmore, California in 1931. In January 1932, Herbert and his son Gordon were arrested in Hanford for bank robbery and assault with a deadly weapon, which left Lloyd alone at age twelve.

Lloyd Vincent and Doris met in 1940 when she was 15 and Lloyd had finished high school. Lloyd was stationed in Denver in 1941 as a B-25 bomber pilot during World War II, and he married Doris there when she was sixteen. Vincent's mistrust of authority came from seeing his father in the Army being told what to do and when to do it. Vincent's sister, Jaqueline "Jacquie" Vincent, was born in 1947. His brother, Christopher, was born in 1952. After the war, Lloyd became a painter, like Vincent's grandfather, and later developed alcoholism. By the time Vincent was born in 1944, his parents owned a sign company in Hanford.

Vincent attended school in Hanford and graduated in 1963 from Hanford High School. He attended Ventura College in Ventura, California, for three years and recalled, "I would have completed college, but the registration clerk literally shut the window in my face for the lunch hour", and Vincent instead took his $200 and went to Mexico to party. Vincent later served in the California Army National Guard and remained in the National Guard Reserve until 1971.

Vincent his first acting job was in 1967 in The Bandits, starring and co-directed by Robert Conrad. Also in 1967, Vincent appeared in the TV movie The Hardy Boys: The Mystery of the Chinese Junk.

In the late 1960s, Vincent was signed to Universal Studios and appeared in several television series. He appeared in the Dragnet 1968 episode "The Grenade", as a muscular high school student who suffered an acid attack by a mentally unstable classmate (played by Mickey Sholdar). Vincent also appeared in the Danger Island segments of Hanna-Barbera's The Banana Splits series as Link (1968–1969). His first starring role was in the fall of 1969 in the prime-time soap opera The Survivors, alongside Lana Turner and George Hamilton; the series was canceled mid-season.