Jan-Michael Vincent has died at the age of 74, it has emerged.
The actor, who was best known for his role as pilot Stringfellow Hawke in the US series Airwolf, died on 10 February according to his death certificate.
The document states he was an inpatient at a hospital in North Carolina.
Airwolf ran from 1984 until 1986, turning Jan-Michael into a global star and reportedly one of TV’s highest-paid actors at the time, earning up to $200,000 (£154,000) per episode.
He also appeared in 1972′s The Mechanic, alongside Charles Bronson, and in 1978′s Hooper, with Burt Reynolds, as well as in the TV series Lassie, Bonanza and Gunsmoke.
The actor experienced a run of bad luck after ‘Airwolf’ was axed in 1986.
In 1996, he suffered multiple injuries in a serious car accident, which left him with broken vertebrae in his neck and damage to his vocal chords, leaving him with a permanent raspy voice.
Twelve years later he was in another car accident and then contracted a leg infection as a result of complications from peripheral artery disease.
The infection became so bad that doctors had no choice but to amputate the lower half of his right leg, an op that almost killed him. He was subsequently fitted with a prosthetic limb.
In 2014 he revealed he was an alcoholic, telling the National Enquirer: “I’m an alcoholic. I’m me. I got my personality. I don’t behave like an alcoholic.”
The actor filmed his final role in the 2002 movie White Boy before retiring from show business in 2009.
He is survived by his third wife, Patricia Ann Christ.
