Alex Cord, best known for his role on the military drama series Airwolf, has passed away. According to his publicist and friend of 20 years, Linda McAlister, the actor died on Monday at his home in Valley View, Texas. No additional details have been given such as a specific cause of death. He was 88 years old.
Alex Cord was born Alexander Viespi Jr. on May 3, 1933, in Floral Park, New York. He pursued his acting career in the early 1960s and made his small screen debut in an episode of Laramie in 1961. He’d follow this up with roles in the shows Frontier Circus and Cain’s Hundred along with movies like The Chapman Report and Synanon. He would also appear in lead roles in various movies and shows during the 1960s and 1970s.
Often appearing in actions and westerns, Cord’s other credits no the small screen include Route 66, Police Story, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Murder, She Wrote, and Walker, Texas Ranger. He also has the distinction of being one of few actors to appear on both the original and revival versions of Mission: Impossible. He has appeared in a variety of movies over the decades, including Stiletto, The Tell-Tale Heart, Jungle Warriors, and The Naked Truth.
Cord is perhaps best known for his role as Michael Coldsmith Briggs III, aka Archangel, on the military drama series Airwolf. Running for four seasons in the mid 1980s, Airwolf also starred Jan-Michael Vincent, Ernest Borgnine, and Jean Bruce Scott. The series focused on a high-tech military helicopter, code-named Airwolf, along with its crew as they undertake dangerous missions. Cord’s character was distinguishable by his trademark white suit, cane, and eyepatch.
“You know, the greatest thing about Airwolf was working with great people, Jan-Michael Vincent and Ernie Borgnine. Ernie Borgnine, I can’t tell you how close he and I were,” Cord said in an 2013 interview with RetroMash. “We not only did series but we did several films together. When he passed away, which was very recently, I lost a member of my family because we were much more than co-workers, we were like brothers. Yeh. He was a huge loss, I miss him every day because we used to talk, oh every month, two months probably over the years, even though he was in Hollywood and I was in Texas.”
Of working with Vincent, who died in 2019, Cord added: “Well, Jan and I first met on a, there was a very successful show called Police Story. And that was the first I met Jan, and we became friends instantly, right there on that show. In many ways, especially when we were working on Airwolf, where we spent so much time together, he reminded me a lot of my young son, the one who passed away. They were very similar, both charming, intelligent, good looking guys.”
At this time, our thoughts go out to the family and friends of Cord along with everyone else feeling the pain of his passing. May he rest in peace as his legacy lives on forever. This news comes to us from Variety.