We celebrate a lot of Hollywood birthdays around here, but today is a really special one. Happy 66th to Jan-Michael Vincent, one of the sexiest heartthrobs to ever come out of Tinsel Town. Looks-wise, Jan-Michael was just about perfect; he combined the strong, masculine eyes and chiseled jaw of a Tom Cruise with the blonde, pretty-boy creaminess of a Brad Pitt. His looks were so jarring that when he appeared on the screen, it was hard to watch anything else. But most importantly, Jan-Michael was one of those handful of actors who can be claimed as a "That's When'er" to the gay community. That's a term we just invented, and it refers to the fact that for every generation of gay men, there's always a moment when that generation of men are all little boys, and they see an actor on t.v. or in a movie, and when they see that actor, THAT'S WHEN those boys know they are gay. And for many... many... MANY gay men who grew up in the 1960's, Jan-Michael Vincent is our "That's When'er". There's no need to go over his career, i.e. movies "Billie and Buster", "Baby Blue Marine, t.v. series "Air Wolf", because it doesn't really matter what he did, all that mattered was that he looked the way he did. Our "That's When" moment came when we saw Vincent in the Disney movie, "The World's Greatest Athlete", and when he ran around the jungle in the Tarzan-like loincloth showing off that lean, ripped body with the long blonde locks, that's when we knew..
Sadly, years of struggle with alchohol have destroyed Jan-Michael Vincent's career, and his looks, but we'll always have the memories of when he was young and beautiful.
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