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).
[1] 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.
[7] His mother, Doris Jane (née Pace; August 2, 1925 – February 22, 1993), was born in Arkansas and moved to Hanford as a toddler.
Jan-Michael's grandfather, Herbert Vincent (September 26, 1876 – January 14, 1974), was a bank robber[7] and counterfeiter who had masterminded robberies in the 1920s and 1930s.
Jan-Michael's uncle, Lloyd's brother Hoy, was shot to death in Tulare by a deputy sheriff and was wanted for a robbery that occurred in Oregon.
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.
[10] He made an appearance 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).
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.
[23] Two more 1978 appearances were the surfing film Big Wednesday with William Katt and Gary Busey, and Hooper with Burt Reynolds, in which Vincent played a young stuntman.
In that film, he and Danny Aiello co-star as Manhattan residents who fight back against the gang members who terrorize their neighborhood.
After the completion of his role as Byron Henry ("Briny") in the 1983 television miniseries The Winds of War, Vincent was cast as Stringfellow Hawke for the action-espionage series Airwolf, in which he co-starred with Ernest Borgnine.
[24] He also co-starred with Clint Howard in the 1995 black comedy/horror film Ice Cream Man, which had a very limited theatrical release but eventually reached cult status via home video as an unintentional comedy.
[citation needed] In 1994, he played in a South African-produced movie called Ipi Tombi, produced and directed by Tommie Meyer and based on a musical by Bertha Egnos.
[28] He was charged with felony assault in 1986, but was acquitted after his attorney argued that the woman tripped and fell on a telephone cord in his home.
In an interview on the television program The Insider on September 18, 2007, when asked about his 1996 car accident, Vincent answered "Y'know, I have no idea what you're talking about.
"[4][31] In 2000, Vincent violated probation for his prior alcohol-related arrests by appearing drunk in public three times and assaulting his fiancée.