What Happened to Jan-Michael Vincent After ‘Airwolf’?
What To Know
- Jan-Michael Vincent, best known for his role in Airwolf, was once one of the highest-paid actors on television.
- Despite his early success, Vincent’s career declined in the 1990s due to struggles with drug and alcohol addiction.
On March 8, 2019, the world learned that actor Jan-Michael Vincent had passed away at the age of 74 from cardiac arrest. His actual date of death was February 10th, almost one full month earlier. What happened? Why was the announcement of his passing delayed? Well, if you’re reading this article to find out, you should probably stop now because that’s not the kind of article this is. Instead, the following few paragraphs are going to be all about remembering the man and his contributions to the arts.
Not everything that Vincent was in can or will be mentioned, just the highlights. So, let’s start with the biggie: Airwolf, a mid-’80s classic. On that show, Vincent played Stringfellow Hawke, a rogue pilot who had been involved in testing Airwolf, a super-advanced, experimental helicopter with amazing weaponry and ridiculously cool technology.
Airwolf was a really great show, and while he was starring in it, Vincent was riding high. At that point, he was one of the most highly paid actors on television. Along with his co-star Ernest Borgnine, Vincent elevated Airwolf to the point where the episodes felt very cinematic, which makes a lot of sense because Vincent was a genuine movie star.
Vincent’s filmography is vast. More than a decade prior, moviegoers had fallen in love with him in a Disney film called The World’s Greatest Athlete, which told the story of a young man named Nanu, played by Vincent, who was kind of like Tarzan, who was recruited by a college so that they could be more competitive in track and field. Tim Conway and John Amos were along for the fun.
Everett Collection
Three other really enjoyable movies with him as one of the lead actors were Big Wednesday, which also co-starred the future Greatest American Hero, William Katt, along with Gary Busey; Hard Country had Kim Basinger in it; and Damnation Alley was an adaptation of the Roger Zelazny science fiction classic.
Fast forward a decade or so to the ’90s, and while Vincent was still a presence, especially on TV, the work he was getting was not what he was used to. His lack of opportunities had nothing to do with talent, but rather personal demons, including drug and alcohol addiction, that he had been battling for years. Sadly, after a while, the offers dried up completely. Vincent’s last acting role was in 2003 in a movie called White Boy.
Vincent’s biographer, David Grove, writing for Cinema Retro, said this about him and other actors like him, “There is a sad poignancy in contemplating the careers, and the eventual fate, of those performers who were touched with greatness but were denied this status, denied the recognition and stardom they deserved, largely due to forces that were out of their control.”
Whether it was within his scope of control or not, by 2014, the effects of hard living really seemed to have taken their toll on Vincent. An infection led to the amputation of his right leg below the knee. Even though he had a prosthetic device to help him get around, he was frequently seen in a wheelchair. Adding insult to injury, Vincent was also in trouble with the government, owing the IRS a substantial sum in back taxes. Without a doubt, Vincent was hoping for better times around the corner. Sadly, those times never came.
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Writing for The Guardian at the time of his passing, journalist Ryan Gilbey praised Vincent’s “sun-bleached good looks” but also said that during his life, the actor exercised “precious little of the wisdom” needed for long-term success.
So, that’s it. Kind of a bummer of an ending, right? It’s always tough to see a star who had so much going for them face so many hardships later in life. But despite those struggles, Jan-Michael Vincent really does deserve to be remembered for what he brought to the screen. Whether he was running track for a down-on-its-luck college or flying the coolest helicopter on television, he gave audiences some truly wonderful entertainment. He was a genuine star, and for fans of classic film and TV, his body of work will always be his true legacy.
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