Jan Michael Vincent

In one of Jan-Michael Vincent’s most recent photos, taken in 2016 by photographer Joe Arce of HollywoodChicago.com, the ex-heart throb actor is revealed as a man who lived his life hard to the end. Vincent died last month in Asheville, North Carolina, on February 10th, 2019. He was 73.

Jan-Michael Vincent was born in Denver, and after high school in Washington state he bounced around with three years of college and a stint in the California National Guard. In 1966, he began to audition, and his rugged good looks landed him in a Robert Conrad film “The Bandits” (1967). After doing several TV and movie bit parts, he scored in the early 1970s with high profile roles in “Going Home” (1970), “The Mechanic” (1972) and in Walt Disney’s “The World’s Greatest Athlete” (1973) as the title character.

The hits continued with the films “Buster and Billie” (1974), “White Line Fever” (1975) and “Baby Blue Marine” (1976). He wound up his biggest movie decade with 1978 appearances in “Big Wednesday” and “Hooper” (opposite Burt Reynolds). In 1983, he starred with Ernest Borgnine in TV’s “Airwolf,” which gained him his most high profile role, but his problems with drugs and alcohol accelerated at this point, and would prove to be the undoing in his career. Between arrests, rehab and auto accidents, he was never the same actor again, and made his last indie film appearance in “White Boy” (2003).

Vincent was married and divorced twice, and is survived by his third wife and one daughter from his first marriage. Although he died on February 10th, the death wasn’t announced until March 8th, 2019, through the TV show “TMZ.” Joe Arce took this Exclusive Photo in 2016 at Chicagoland’s annual ‘The Hollywood Show.’