Jan-Michael Vincent’s chronic alcoholism was a genuine American tragedy. Once the highest-paid actor on network television, at the beginning of his career Vincent looked like Adonis—but by the time of his death in 2019 he was an emaciated, soporose, incoherent booze-ghoul.

First arrested in 1977 (for possession of cocaine), Vincent's life from that point forward became a series of substance-related mishaps interspersed with periods of creativity.

He starred in the star-studded ratings-bonanza TV miniseries “The Winds of War” in 1983—but was replaced in its even more flashy blockbuster 1988 sequel “War and Remembrance” because his alcoholism had rendered him unemployable.

Likewise, Vincent became televisions highest-paid actor starring as hotshot helicopter pilot Stringfellow Hawke in the hit TV series “Airwolf” from 1984 until 1986—but was fired from the show's 1987 season because of his inability to control his alcoholism.

From that point forward, Jan-Michael Vincent’s life became a nightmarish downward spiral of arrests, fights, drunken brawls, automobile accidents—and incarceration.

Vincent died in 2019 at age 74--but at the time of his death hadn't been employed as an actor or appeared in front of a motion picture camera in nearly two decades.