Vincent Van Patten

Actor, director, and former Top 100-ranked tennis pro, Vincent Van Patten seemingly grew up on television, starting at the age of nine with a string of commercials that led to major TV guest-starring. Almost from the day Van Patten's actor father Dick (star of "Eight Is Enough") relocated the family to L.A., young Vinnie's career kicked into high gear. Blessed with all-American good looks and a showbiz family that also included Oscar-winning uncle-in-law Martin Balsam, Van Patten soon became a teen idol, with lead roles on the CBS family drama "Apple's Way," then "Three for the Road," a short-lived adventure series costarring fellow Tiger Beat coverboy Leif Garrett. Primed to carry his own show, Van Patten was featured in a two-hour episode of "The Six-Million Dollar Man" as the "Bionic Boy," in a spinoff attempt that's remembered fondly by fans of the superhero hit. The following year, he made another notable superhero series appearance, as a college student besieged by body-snatching aliens on "The New Adventures of Wonder Woman." Van Patten closed out the '70s with perhaps his best-known film role, as square jock Tom in producer Roger Corman's Ramones-starring punk-New Wave musical "Rock 'n' Roll High School." The actor rang in the '80s starring opposite Linda Blair in the cult-hit fright flick "Hell Night." Then, after devoting several years to the pro tennis tour, he returned to film and TV in character roles and as the writer and director of indie features "The Break" and "The Flunky."