Fantastic adventure fans lost a favorite in February at the passing of Jan Michael-Vincent.
Star of such films as Damnation Alley and The Return, Vincent had come to prominence with youngsters as part of Danger Island, an adventure serial that was part of the Banana Splits, children’s TV series.
ALong with sci-fi films, Vincent had also racked quite a few actions or military-themed films as well. The USMC based films Tribes and Baby Blue Marine, also action films such as Defiance, The Undefeated, The Mechanic (with Charles Bronson), and Enemy Territory.
However, although already having a bookful of successful TV shows behind him, Vincent’s best known and most popular character came from his role as Stringfellow Hawke, the lead in the super helicopter series Airwolf.
This series cemented Vincent into the annals of sci-fi action fans by not only flying a hi-tech combat helicopter, that had an almost “Transformer” vibe about it, but VIncents character also worked for the mysterious Firm, a CIA like agency as both pilot and agent. In return the Firm had promised to help find Hawke’s brother who was MIA in Vietnam.
During the series filming, it was an open secret that Mr. Vincent had a recurring substance abuse problem that plagued him for years. After Airwolf ended Vincent was relegated to mostly guest appearances on TV shows as well as B and even C level movie projects.
The news was released that Jan Michael-Vincent had passed away on February 10, 2019. He had suffered illnesses due to years of alcohol and drug abuse. Issues such as liver cancer, an infection that took his leg, and losing the ability to speak were a few of the health problems he encountered. Mr. Vincent is survived by his third wife Patricia Ann Christ, they had married in 2009.
