Jan-Michael Vincent (1945-2019)
Sunday, March 10, 2019 at 12:43PM by Nathaniel R
Some stars burn bright and endure, others flame out. The latter was the case with Jan-Michael Vincent, a rising star of movies and television in the 1970s. He's best remembered today from his leading role in the TV series "Airwolf" but afterwards it was low profile movies (the kind we used to call "straight to video" - there doesn't seem to be a unified term for those movies anymore) and an increasingly diminished profile, his last screen performance coming in 2002. He died in February at 73 years old and the news was only just released a full month later...
White Line Fever (1975) was one of his very first top-billed rolesHis career started with small appearances in movies and on TV in the late '60s. He was in demand by the '70s sometimes paired with bigger stars like Charles Bronson (The Mechanic) and Burt Reynolds (Hopper). Though he would subsequently not age well (due in no small part to addiction issues) he was a boyish thirtysomething by the time he started getting leading roles playing rebellious young men.
For all his promise, drugs, alcohol, bad choices and subsequent multiple health problems (including a crushed voice box and a leg amputation) derailed his career. Just as soon as he'd risen he was replaced in Hollywood's imagination by the likes of Dennis Quaid (who came to fame in the late 70s) and then Brad Pitt a decade later and so on. The point being that golden boys with impish grins and swagger are not uncommon in Hollywood. It takes more than talent to maintain a healthy high profile acting career.
Some key projects:
THE MECHANIC (1972)
Paired with Charles Bronson. Hollywood has always loved to pair rising male stars with established older male stars, as if they're passing the torch. Remember when Tom Cruise was doing this early on working with Hoffman, Newman, Duvall and more.
BABY BLUE MARINE (1976)
He got the full star treatment for this drama which was shot by László Kovács of Five Easy Pieces/Easy Rider fame.
BIG WEDNESDAY (1978)
This well-liked surfer film paired him with William Katt (fresh off of Carrie, and later the star of the TV series "Great American Hero") and the not-yet infamous Gary Busey.
HARD COUNTRY (1981)
Paired with Kim Basinger in her feature film debut.
AIRWOLF (1984-1987)
The three season series with Ernest Borgnine. In the 80s, TV series were not something in-demand film stars did. It essentially meant "stepping down" (times have considerably changed). Vincent was said to be the top paid star on television at the time with somewhere around $200,000 an episode.
While Airwolf proved the peak of his career fame-wise, he never recovered after the cancellation, moving almost immediately into the then popular straight-to-video erotic thriller or lowbudget violent action subgenres of movies.
He made only one "reputable" movie after that...
BUFFALO '66 (1998)
Director/star Vincent Gallo corralled a lot of interesting actors into his strange indie with Christina Ricci, including Ben Gazzarra, Anjelica Huston, Rosanna Arquette, and Jan-Michael Vincent. If you ever get a chance to see this one, do. Christina Ricci is fabulous in it.
Do you have any memories of this career? If you're younger do you even know who he is? Showbiz careers can be cruel.
Reader Comments (15)
I’m 39, and I remember Airwolf and thinking he was dreamy, but of course not realizing that at the time. Thanks for this lovely post. It has respect and heart. Two of the reasons I love this site.
Is it inappropriate to mention he was also one of the first American actors to appear in a full frontal nude scene in a "mainstream" movie (1974's Buster and Billie)?
I first saw him in Disney's " The Worlds Greatest Athlete" (1974). It was very sad how his All American beauty had been destroyed by alcohol at least it will be preserved for ever in celluloid. He also made an impression in the tv movie "The Tribe" (1970)
I turn 30 this year, born just after the peak of his career, and this is the first I have read about Jan-Michael. Thank you for honoring him, and for looking back at parts of showbiz history that we now overlook.
Yes, thanks for this tribute. I watched some Airwolf in the '80s.
It is sad his career had the trajectory it had. I guess people will remember him at his peak boyishness.
An aside: that tagline for Baby Blue Marine is odd. Nobody gets a second chance to be a virgin! Or am I misinterpreting it?
Anyway, nice post (and hope you're feeling better).
I was born in 1992, and no, I had never heard of him before the news of his death. Hopefully he's finally at peace.
Jan-Michael Vincent was a fixture on TV from the late '60s through mid-80s, including one of the most popular mini-series, The Winds of War. While most of his movies were what we called "drive-in movies," some were very popular. I always thought J-M Vincent was a great looking guy and more than decent actor. If he had aimed his sights a little higher career-wise and not fallen into drugs and alcohol, Vincent might have had a happier life and career.
He was an early crush of mine, mainly due to The Mechanic. He exuded sex appeal. I didn’t realize he had such a sad life. Be at peace.
I first saw him in All-American Athlete as well as the guy had the look of a star but also had some substance. I also saw him in his decline through some straight-to-video films that he was doing like Sins of Desire and Indecent Behavior as I liked those films as I have a fondness for 1990s softcore porn films. It's a shame he was ruined by alcohol as I think the last thing I saw him in was Buffalo '66. I forgot that he retired but I'm sure he spent those last years just finding peace in his life as he will be missed.
I was a kid when he was on the rise in the early 70's and his vibe was a very flower child surfer dude type of guy, gentle and laid back. He was dreamy and an adequate actor but he didn't possess that movie star punch and individuality that Brad Pitt has that leads to enduring fame.
I do remember him breaking out in Tribes then slowly working his way forward for a few years until Buster and Billie became notorious for that nude scene (then as now it was highly unusual for a name actor to let it all hang out on screen). The picture is middling but it made a mint and for a handful of years he was a biggish name in stuff-White Line Fever, Bite the Bullet, Damnation Alley-that could best be considered prime drive-in fare.
Then Winds of War and Airwolf. By the end of that he was looking rough and it was a shockingly fast descent from that point on. I recall his picture flashing on the news when he had that bad accident that lead into his multiple health issues and he was so dissipated that he was unrecognizable even then. A very sad case.
He was a familiar working TV actor when I was a kid, but he really got my attention in a 1970 made-for-TV movie called "Tribes". He played a drafted hippie pacifist who battles his hardcase Marine drill sergeant (Darren McGavin) with meditation and 1970-hip enlightened attitudes.
I recall it as being great, but I was only 15... I have a feeling it would play today as an especially embarrassing example of its era!
How could you leave out Buster and Billie? It was THE make-out movie for high schoolers in the mid 70s and really made him a star for teenagers. And his frontal nude scene had a lot to do with it.
Ken -- i guess I'm too young for that one. I've never heard of it!
I guess Christopher Atkins and Maxwell Caufield fit quite well into the from Dennis to Brad timeline you describe.
THOSE OF US GROWING UP WITH GREAT CHILDHOODS LIKE I HAD CAN NEVER FORGET THE BANANA SPLITS SHOW OR ONE OF THE SHOWS IN IT THAT THEY WOULD FEATURE NAMED DANGER ISLAND OF WHICH ONE OF THE ACTORS IN IT WAS JAN MICHAEL VINCENT THE FIRST TIME HE WOULD GAIN NATIONAL EXPOSURE. EVEN THEN JAN STOOD OUT AS AN ACTOR YOU WOULD WANT TO BE FRIENDS WITH.