birthname | Harvey Lee Yeary |
---|---|
birth date | April 23, 1939 |
birth place | Wyandotte, Michigan, U.S. |
occupation | Actor |
yearsactive | 1964–present |
spouse | Kathy Robinson (1961-1964)Farrah Fawcett (1973-1982)Karen Velez (1988-1994)Faith Noelle Cross (2002-present) |
children | 3 sons, 1 daughter }} |
Since his adoptive older brother had been a football star in school, Majors tirelessly committed himself to the sport. While a student at Middlesboro High School, he participated in many sports from track to football. He graduated in 1957, and earned a scholarship to Indiana University, where he again competed in sports. Majors transferred to Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, Kentucky, in 1959. He played in his first game the following year, but suffered a severe back injury which left him paralyzed for two weeks, and ended his college football career. Following his injury, he turned his attention to acting and performed in plays at the Pioneer Playhouse in Danville, Kentucky. Majors graduated from Eastern in 1962 with a degree in History and Physical Education.
After college, he received an offer to try out for the St. Louis Cardinals football team. Instead, he moved to Los Angeles and found work at the Los Angeles Park and Recreation Department as the Recreation Director for North Hollywood Park. This was after a brief stint playing for the new football franchise Boston Patriots as a safety. In LA, Majors met many actors and industry professionals, including Dick Clayton, who had been James Dean's agent, and Clayton suggested he attend his acting school. After one year of acting school, Clayton felt that Majors was ready to start his career. At this time, he picked up the stage name Lee Majors as a tribute to childhood Johnny Majors who was a player and future coach for the University of Tennessee. Majors also studied at Estelle Harmon's acting school at MGM.
In 1974, the network decided to turn it into a weekly series. The series became a huge international success, being screened in over 70 countries, and made Majors a leading pop icon of the 1970s. Co-starring on the show was Richard Anderson as Austin's boss, Oscar Goldman, and Martin E. Brooks as the doctor incharge of the bionics lab, Rudy Wells (also played by at various times during the show by Alan Oppenheimer). Lee also invited his then wife, Farrah Fawcett, to guest-star in four episodes. By this time, Majors and Fawcett were a high-profile Hollywood couple and were on the cover of magazines everywhere. Majors also made his directorial debut in 1975, on an episode called "One of Our Running Backs Is Missing," which co-starred pro football players such as Larry Csonka and Dick Butkus.
During the show's second season, the producers gave Austin a love interest on the show, Jaime Sommers (played by actress Lindsay Wagner). Steve and Jaime rekindle their school-age relationship and get engaged before she is injured in a skydiving accident and is given similar bionic implants to Austin, but with a bionic right ear instead of a bionic left eye. At the end of the two-part episode, Jaime dies. However, ABC received a flood of letters from upset fans who wanted Wagner's character brought back from the dead. This was done and the character was eventually given her own spin-off show, The Bionic Woman.
In 1977, with The Six Million Dollar Man still a hit series, Majors tried to renegotiate his contract with Universal Television. The studio in turn filed a lawsuit to force him to report to work due to stipulations within his existing contract that had not yet expired. When he did not report to work that June, studio executives relented and offered Majors a raise. However, ratings began to decline and The Six Million Dollar Man was canceled in March 1978 (as was The Bionic Woman). In November 2010, Time Life released a 40 DVD set featuring every episode and bonus features from the show.
After The Fall Guy, Majors' career became more low-key, and he made a series of made-for-TV movies and several pilots for unsuccessful TV shows. Between 1987 and 1994, he and Lindsay Wagner reunited in three The Six Million Dollar Man/The Bionic Woman TV movies. In 1990, he had a recurring role in Tour of Duty, and a recurring role in the short-lived 1992 series, Raven.
In the middle of 2003, Majors had heart bypass surgery.
Category:1939 births Category:Living people Category:20th-century actors Category:21st-century actors Category:Actors from Michigan Category:Adoptees adopted by relations Category:American adoptees Category:American film actors Category:American television actors Category:Eastern Kentucky University alumni Category:People from Middlesboro, Kentucky Category:People from Wyandotte, Michigan
de:Lee Majors es:Lee Majors fr:Lee Majors it:Lee Majors nl:Lee Majors ja:リー・メジャース no:Lee Majors pl:Lee Majors pt:Lee Majors simple:Lee Majors fi:Lee Majors sv:Lee MajorsThis text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
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