Lee Majors

LEE MAJORS

Birth Name: Harvy Lee Yeary

Date of Birth: April 23, 1941

Known best for his role as the Six Million Dollar Man Colonel Steve Austin, Majors was born in Wyandotte, Michigan. His parents were both dead by the time he was two years old and he and his older brother were adopted by relatives. Majors worked hard and excelled in sports at high school, leading him to a scholarship to Indiana University.

Majors spent two years at IU before getting himself transferred to Eastern Kentucky University, where he completed his studies in History and Physical Education. During this time, he injured his back through a football accident. It was also during this time that he met his first wife, with whom he had a son they named Lee Majors II.

In 1962, Majors decided to give acting a try and landed a part in a play with his wife at the Pioneer Playhouse in Dansville, KY. Although professional football tryouts were open to him, he decided instead to move to L.A. and pick up a job from the Los Angeles Park & Recreation Department to support his family. The job introduced him to a number of Hollywood actors who recommended Majors give acting a try. He enrolled at drama school, and a year later, he landed his first role in Strait-Jacket.

The small job led to other roles such as parts in Alfred Hitchcock Hour and Gunsmoke. His big break came when he landed a starring role in the western TV series, The Big Valley. The series ended in 1969, and after a number of other series, he received the thumbs up in 1973 to play the part that made him famous, Steve Austin. After airing the television film, The Six Million Dollar Man, the movie was a ratings success and soon became a weekly series in which Majors continued to play the star role. Around this same time, Majors entered his second marriage with actress/model Farrah Fawcett.

The Six Million Dollar Man series ended in 1978, but the occasional telefilm called for Majors to return to the popular role. In the '80s and '90s, Majors focused his career on his starring role as Colt Seavers in the series The Fall Guy (which lasted five years), other telefilms and series and worked on a number of feature films, but has yet to find his niche on the silver screen.

The early '80s also ended his nine-year marriage to Fawcett, and Majors didn't re-marry again until 1988 to Playboy Playmate, Karen Valez, with whom he had a daughter and twin sons.

Filmography:

Big Fat Liar (2002)
Out Cold (2001)
The Best of So Graham Norton (2000) (V)
Here (2000)
Primary Suspect (2000)
The Protector (1999)
Chapter Zero (1999)
Musketeers Forever (1998)
Trojan War (1997)
Scarlett (1990)
Scrooged (1988)
The Last Chase (1981)
Agency (1980)
Steel (1980)
Killer Fish (1978)
The Norseman (1978)
Sharks (1978)
The Liberation of L.B. Jones (1970)
Will Penny (1968)
Strait-Jacket (1964) (uncredited)