Alex Cord

Alex Cord (born May 3, 1933) is an American actor who is best known for his portrayal of Michael Coldsmith Briggs III, better known as Archangel, in fifty-five episodes of the CBS adventure television series Airwolf (1984–1986).

Biography

Born Alexander Viespi of Italian descent in Floral Park on Long Island, New York, Cord was stricken with polio at the age of twelve. His family then moved to Wyoming, where doctors advised him to take up horseback riding as a therapeutic exercise. This helped him recover from the debilitating disease by the time he was sixteen. Cord attended New York University in New York City and the American Shakespeare Theatre at Stratford, Connecticut.

Cord's first acting role was in the 1961 episode "The Mountain Men" of NBC's western television series, Laramie, starring John Smith and Robert Fuller. In the story line, Cord plays John Sanford, the younger, compassionate son of Ben Sanford, portrayed by Dan Duryea. Ben Sanford is one of the original settlers of the Laramie area and is called a "Mountain Man." The older son is the vindictive Carl Sanford, played by Jason Evers. Ben and Carl seek vengeance for the killing of a third son, but John's hesitation holds the key to law and justice. Cord's second role came a month later as Nino Sanchez in the episode "Winter Quarters" of a CBS western, Frontier Circus, starring Chill Wills. In 1962, he appeared as Larry Rome in the episode "Take a Number" of the NBC crime drama Cain's Hundred, starring Peter Mark Richman.

Ernest Borgnine

Ermes Effron Borgnino, known as Ernest Borgnine (/ˈbɔːrɡnaɪn/; January 24, 1917 – July 8, 2012) was an American film and television actor whose career spanned more than six decades. He was an unconventional lead in many films of the 1950s, winning the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1955 for Marty. On television, he played Quinton McHale in the 1962–1966 series McHale's Navy and co-starred in the mid-1980s action series Airwolf, in addition to a wide variety of other roles. Borgnine earned an Emmy Award nomination at age 92 for his work on the series ER. He was also known for being the original voice of Mermaid Man on SpongeBob SquarePants from 1999 to 2012.

Early life

Ernest Borgnine was born Ermes Effron Borgnino (Italian pronunciation: [borˈɲiːno]) on January 24, 1917, in Hamden, Connecticut. He was the son of Anna (née Boselli; 1894–1949), who emigrated from Carpi (Modena, Italy) to the United States, and Camillo Borgnino (1891–1975), who emigrated from Ottiglio (Alessandria, Italy).

Jean Bruce Scott

Jean Bruce Scott (born February 25, 1956) is a retired American actress, best known for her role as former Texas Highway Patrol helicopter pilot Caitlin O'Shannessy in the 1984-1986 CBS action thriller television series Airwolf. She had a recurring role as Maggie Poole in seasons 3-8 of Magnum, P.I..

In 2007, she worked as the executive director and producer of Native Voices at the Autry, a program devoted to developing and producing new works for the stage by Native American playwrights, and is affiliated with the Autry National Center.

Education

The Monterey, California-born Scott attended La Quinta High School (Westminster, California; 1970–74) and California State University, Fullerton (1975-79). She later attended UCLA in the late 1980s, and graduated from California State University, Northridge in 1992.

Filmography

Airwolf

Airwolf is an American television series that ran from 1984 until 1987. The program centers on a high-tech military helicopter, code named Airwolf, and its crew as they undertake various missions, many involving espionage, with a Cold War theme.

The show was created by Donald P. Bellisario and lasted four seasons. The first three seasons star Jan-Michael Vincent, Ernest Borgnine, Alex Cord, and (from the second season onwards) Jean Bruce Scott. After the original series was cancelled, a fourth season, with an entirely new cast and on a much smaller budget, was filmed in Canada for the USA Network.

The show's distinctive musical score, which was originally orchestral but shifted to more synthesizer-based arrangements early in the second season, was composed and mainly conducted by Sylvester Levay. Udi Harpaz conducted the scores for many later second and third season episodes.

Series synopsis

Airwolf, an advanced supersonic helicopter with stealth capabilities and a formidable arsenal, was designed by Dr. Charles Henry Moffet (David Hemmings) - a genius with a psychopathic taste for torturing and killing women - and built by the Firm, a division of the CIA (a play on the term "the Company", a nickname for the CIA). As the series begins, Moffet and his crew steal Airwolf during a live-fire weapons test. During the theft, Moffet opens fire on the Firm's bunker, killing a United States Senator and seriously injuring Firm deputy director Michael Coldsmith-Briggs III (codename "Archangel"). Moffet takes the gunship to Libya, where he begins performing acts of aggression - such as sinking an American destroyer - as a service for Muammar Gaddafi, who allows Moffet to keep Airwolf on Libyan soil.

Airwolf (video game)

Airwolf is a multiplatform shooter video game based on the TV series of the same name. The game places the player in the cockpit of a helicopter (codenamed Airwolf), where the player must attempt to shoot down enemy aircraft and rescue prisoners.

Gameplay

The game contains thirty missions, each with the objective being to rescue prisoners being held captive in enemy bases. The layout of each level changes as the player progresses. There are three types of bases:

Airwolf is equipped with missiles and a machine gun in order to fend off enemy craft and their weapons. In order to successfully complete a mission, the player must rescue all prisoners and reach the border of the level without losing all of their lives; while the musical score was praised the gameplay was described as "dull".

Airwolf (helicopter)

Airwolf is the helicopter from the 1980s American eponymous television series. Its fictional features included stratospheric ceiling, stealth noise signature, a wide range of weapons and even supersonic speed. Airwolf was in fact a conventional Bell 222 helicopter modified by attaching some film props.

Bell 222 example

The flying Airwolf was derived from a Bell 222, a twin-turboshaft helicopter produced for the civilian market and typically employed for corporate, emergency medical or utility transport missions, with seating for up to 10, including the pilot.

The airframe used for Airwolf was serial number 47085 (registration number N3176S), of the initial production version, sometimes unofficially called a Bell 222A. During filming of the series the helicopter was owned by JetCopters Inc. in Van Nuys, California.

After the show was canceled the modifications were removed (now owned by a private collector) from the actual helicopter. It was repainted and eventually sold to the German helicopter charter company, Hubschrauber-Sonder-Dienst (aka HSD Luftrettung and Blue Helicopter Alliance), and given the registration number D-HHSD. While operating as an air ambulance the helicopter crashed in fog on June 6, 1992, killing all three of its occupants.

Jan-Michael Vincent

Jan-Michael Vincent (born July 15, 1944) is a retired American actor best known for his role as helicopter pilot Stringfellow Hawke on the 1980s U.S. television series Airwolf (1984–86) and as the protagonist of John Milius’s 1978 surfing epic Big Wednesday.

Early life

Vincent was born July 15, 1944, in Denver, Colorado, to Doris and Lloyd Vincent. His family moved to Hanford, California, when Jan-Michael was young. Vincent attended Ventura College in Ventura, California.

Career

1960s

Vincent was finishing a stint in the California Army National Guard when a talent scout was struck by his looks. His first acting job was in the movie The Bandits (aka Los Banditos), co-directed by and starring Robert Conrad, in 1967.

Vincent’s career took off in the late 1960s when casting agent Dick Clayton signed him to Universal Studios. He made a shirtless appearance on 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). He also appeared in the Danger Island segments of Hanna-Barbera’s The Banana Splits series as Link (1968–69). Finally, in the fall of 1969 Vincent had a starring role in the prime-time soap opera The Survivors, alongside Lana Turner and George Hamilton; however, the series was canceled at mid-season.