Possessing a face that, in the words of his former lover and celebrity groupie Pamela Des Barres, "could have prevented World War II," Don Johnson brought his small-town naivete to Hollywood, and amid the anything-goes L.A. party scene of the early 1970s, prospered socially, if not professionally. The fair-haired Midwesterner had toiled largely unrecognized for 15 years on stage, TV and film, and was what NBC executives referred to as a "six-time loser", meaning he'd made six failed pilots, when he landed the role of Sonny Crockett in Michael Mann's post-modern, trendy cop drama "Miami Vice"
