Since the 1960s, Lee Majors has been one of the most influential people in the cinema and television industries. His roles in films such as “The Big Valley,” “The Fall Guy,” and especially “The Six Million Dollar Man” brought him the lion’s share of his fame as an actor. On the other hand, Majors has starred in a plethora of other works that are classified as belonging to the genre of action-adventure, and he has also shown more of his variety in other projects.
Majors has never given up on his dreams and objectives, despite the fact that he has been through a lot in his life, including having his heart broken and having to face a lot of difficulties. The celebrity has persevered over the years, even as he has gotten older, and has continued to find employment for himself in the industry that he has always wanted to be a part of. He had initially planned on competing in athletics or working as a coach in the field of athletics, but destiny had other things in store for Majors, and he ultimately decided to pursue a career in acting instead.
Before Majors got his big break and turned acting into a full-time profession and a career that would endure for a long time, he started out as a stuntman and picked up tiny parts in various television series along the way. As he proceeded to get work, the guy rose to prominence quite rapidly and became known as an action star. Later on, Majors was able to display a greater portion of his personality as well as other abilities, such as singing and voice work, thanks to the parts he played in other projects.
Majors has never given up on the pursuit of his objectives, despite the fact that he has been confronted with a great number of obstacles along the road. Since well over 50 years ago, he has been a significant figure in the entertainment world, and he continues to appear as wonderfully gorgeous as he did when he starred in “The Six Million Dollar Man.”
Harvey Lee Yeary was the name given to Majors when he was born on April 23, 1939, in Wyandotte, Michigan, which is a suburb of Detroit. When both of his parents passed away in separate accidents before he was even two years old, he was forced to deal with adversity at an early age and had to learn a great deal about the mourning process as swiftly as possible. Both of his parents passed away before he was born; his father passed away in an accident at work before he was born, and his mother passed away in an automobile accident when he was around 16 months old. At the age of 2, Majors was adopted by his aunt and uncle, Mildred and Harvey Yeary, and moved live with them at their house in Middlesboro, Kentucky. Mildred and Harvey Yeary are Majors’ aunt and uncle.
Early on, it was clear that Majors was going to be successful due to the fact that he was involved in a wide variety of extracurricular activities and had excellent grades. After graduating from Middlesboro High School in 1957 and earning a football and track scholarship to Indiana University, he went on to play both sports there. In spite of this, Majors made the decision to change institutions and moved to Richmond, Kentucky, to attend Eastern Kentucky University in the year 1959.
The promising young athlete was dealt another blow by misfortune when he sustained a back injury while playing football. The accident rendered him entirely paraplegic for a period of two weeks and put an end to any dreams he had of pursuing a career in athletics. This accident provided the impetus for Majors to seek out other interests, and it was then that he became interested in acting. While he was still attending school, he started his acting career at the Pioneer Playhouse in Danville, Kentucky. He has performed in a number of plays there. In 1962, he received a bachelor’s degree from college with a double major in history and physical education. He did so with the intention of working in the field of football coaching someday.
After fully healing from the horrific injuries he sustained, Majors was finally able to regain his athleticism, and it seemed that everything was going according to plan for him. He was sent an invitation to test out for the football club of the St. Louis Cardinals, but he declined the invitation in order to go to Los Angeles, California. There, Majors was able to work as the Recreation Director for the North Hollywood Park and met many significant individuals in the entertainment business, such as actors and other industry professionals. Majors also had the opportunity to network with other people in the entertainment sector. Around this time, Majors started using his now-famous stage name as a way to pay homage to Johnny Majors, who had played for the University of Tennessee and would go on to become the head coach there.
Soon after that, Majors started his career as an actor and in 1964, he had his first performance in the film “Strait-Jacket.” Despite the fact that Majors wasn’t given credit for the position, she continued working there. He continued to attend auditions and work hard in order to make acting his full-time occupation. In 1965, he landed a small part in the television show “Gunsmoke” as well as a part in “The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.”
Majors didn’t have to wait long before he hit his stride and received his big break in the ABC western series “The Big Valley.” The program was an immediate success, which contributed to Majors receiving further acclaim and a reputation for his acting. “I did an audition for ‘The Big Valley’ with about 500 other guys, and they narrowed it down so I did a screen test, as did Burt Reynolds, Roy Thinnes, and Dennis Hopper, and then they married it down more,” Majors disclosed in an interview with Den of Geek in 2015. “They narrowed it down so I did a screen test, as did Burt Reynolds, Roy Thinnes, and Dennis Hopper,” Majors added. “Then I had to do one more, but this time it was with a young woman who was an actor, and we were testing her to see if she could portray my sister. After this, I was quite sure I had nailed down the role.”
The struggles that Majors had to endure when he was younger inspired him to have a close connection to the character since it brought back memories of those times. “My biological father was killed in the steel mills of Michigan when my mother was eight months pregnant with me; then my mother was killed when I was 16 months old, run over by a drunk driver on her way to work as a cleaning lady in a hospital,” he explained. “My mother was killed when I was 16 months old, run over by a drunk driver on her way to work as a cleaning lady in a hospital.” “During this time, I was sent to Kentucky to live with some distant cousins who took over the role of my parents while they reared me. This instilled in me the determination to create something of myself, the persistence to attack things and remain at it, and the desire to make something of myself.”
The celebrity proceeded to secure more and more assignments, which helped propel Majors’ career to new heights. In 1968, he appeared as a co-star in the film “Will Penny,” and in 1969, he took the main part in the film “The Ballad of Andy Crocker.” He had been working on “The Big Valley” up to the year 1969 when the show was finally canceled. For Majors, the closing of one door led to the opening of another, and he was able to get a deal with Universal Studios not long after the conclusion of his most successful performance.
Majors was given with yet another program that would propel his career to new heights as time went on, and these possibilities continued to present themselves as time went on. In 1973, the actor was selected to play the lead part in the television series “The Six Million Dollar Man.” His character, a former astronaut with bionic implants, was named USAF Colonel Steve Austin. ABC showed it first as a television movie; but, the following year, the network decided to extend it and convert it into a series that aired every week.
The film “The Six Million Dollar Man” was a huge commercial success, and it was hailed with praise and admiration all around the world since it was shown in over 70 different nations. Even though Majors had been working in the business for a few years before this time, the series represented a watershed moment in his career and catapulted him to the status of a pop superstar. When Majors attempted to renegotiate his contract with Universal Television in response to the overwhelming success that “The Six Million Dollar Man” had brought, he ran into a few problems with the network. However, everything was eventually resolved once the show’s ratings began to decline, which ultimately led to the show being canceled in 1978.
The actor had maintained his career leading up to the decade of the 1980s when he was offered the chance to feature in a television series that would last for a significant amount of time. In the 1981 film “The Fall Guy,” Majors was cast as the main part and given the opportunity to portray the character of Colt Seavers, a Hollywood stuntman who also worked as a bounty hunter in his spare time. Due to the fact that he also worked as a producer and director for the program, the celebrity made his presence felt on the series more than at any other time. Even more impressively, he performed the theme song, demonstrating another of his many talents. The television show was a huge hit, and it lasted for a total of five seasons.
In the 1980s, Majors and Lindsay Wagner, who was one of the stars of “The Bionic Woman,” shot three crossover movies together that featured both of their characters. During this time, Majors made a speedy return to his role as the character he played in “The Six Million Dollar Man.” During the 1980s, Majors also acted in the films “The Last Chase” and “Starflight: The Plane That Couldn’t Land,” and he had a cameo appearance in the film “Scrooged.”
There was no obstacle that could prevent Majors from reaching the pinnacle of success, and he was able to continue his career without much difficulty throughout the 1990s and the 2000s. During this period, he challenged himself with new projects and was able to reveal more facets of his personality via his art. Both the animated children’s show “Wapos Bay: The Series” and the video game “Grand Theft Auto: Vice City” both included Majors’ voice work. “Grand Theft Auto: Vice City” was released in 2002. In addition to this, Majors appeared in the movie “Ben 10: Race Against Time” and even appeared in a music video for the band Bowling For Soup’s song “When We Die” in the year 2007. One of his most enduring roles was that of Coach Ross on “The Game,” a show that aired on the CW from 2006 through 2009 and lasted for a total of five seasons.
Surprisingly, despite having such a rigorous schedule and way of life, Majors managed to make time for love. In 1961, he tied the knot with Kathy Robinson, and the couple went on to have one son together, whom they called Lee Majors Jr. His son went on to have a successful career in the entertainment industry and even shared the screen with Majors in three episodes of the television series “Six Million Dollar/Bionic Woman.” After just a few years of marriage, Majors and Robinson got a divorce in 1964 and went their separate ways.
After suffering a broken heart, Majors did not allow it to deter him from finding his one true love. On July 28, 1973, he married Farrah Fawcett after continuing his search for the perfect partner. Inconveniently, fate had other plans for the couple, and a few years later, in February 1982, they separated and went their separate ways. Despite the fact that they were unable to keep their marriage together, the song “Midnight Train to Georgia” was written on their love for one another. Even though the song’s creator, Jim Weatherly, was familiar with Fawcett and Majors, he drew inspiration from them more than anything else when creating the characters in the timeless music. Gladys Knight & The Pips made a cover version of the song in the 1970s.
Majors wed his third Playboy Playmate, Karen Velez, in 1988, in the hopes that the third time would prove to be the charm. Before they split up in 1994, the couple was blessed with three children: a girl named Nikki and two boys named Dane and Trey.
In an interview that took place in November 2015 with Den of Geek, Majors reminisced on his early days, his lengthy career, and some of the most important parts that he portrayed throughout the course of his acting career. “There are moments when I look back on it with fondness, but most of the time I just think, “Boy, that was a lot of effort.” They scared the snot out of me,’ “Majors claimed. “I performed approximately 85 percent of my own stunt work, and as a result, I fear I’m coming near to a knee replacement today because it’s causing me a little problem,” he said. “I did probably 85 percent of my own stunt work.”
Despite the fact that his physical abilities were not what they once were, Majors was in a happy mood as he reflected on the fact that he starred in a number of memorable parts one after the other. He said that he had starred in many memorable roles one after the other. “Back in those days, there were at least 18 or 19 western shows on the air, and of course, we only had three networks,” Majors noted. “Of course, we were limited to just having three networks.” “However, the competition was fierce.”
Even though Majors was a well-known action star and stuntman, he always made it a point to cast himself in roles that were appropriate for families on programs that were geared toward children. “The vast majority of my programs and the series I worked on were geared toward families,” he said. “Everyone would congregate around ‘Six Mill,’ and anybody could see the performance there. Both “Fall Guy” and “Big Valley” have this characteristic in common. There was never a significant amount of carnage, and there were none of the explosions, blood, and guts that are often shown in modern movies.”
The productions that Majors worked on mirrored his personal life in some way or another. “In Kentucky, where I was up, we always went to church… that was simply the way we were brought up,” he said. “I was required to attend church on Sunday.” Majors overcame several challenges on their path to prominence, starting with their modest origins. The actor had several difficult times during his incredibly successful life, but he never allowed anything to hold him back from achieving his goals. Actors-to-be may take a cue from Majors’ dogged mentality and unyielding refusal to give up by heeding his words of wisdom and never giving up. Once you’ve gained access to the building, he said, “Don’t let the door slam in your face.”
Majors continued to work throughout the latter part of the 2000s and the whole of the 2010s, despite the fact that the jobs she took were mostly little parts or guest appearances. In an episode of “Robot Chicken” from 2009, he appeared as Steve Austin once again, although this time just in the capacity of a voice actor for the part. Over the course of three years, Majors appeared in a total of three episodes of the television show “Raising Hope,” in which he had a modest recurring part. One of his most recent roles was providing the voice of Jeff Tracy for the 2019 animated film “Thunderbirds Are Go.”
Majors was admired by many people owing to his dashing good looks, indisputable abilities, and selfless nature. He was considered an action hero by many. Even at the age of 82, the actor maintains his stunning good looks and maintains his status as a well-known figure. Since they wed on November 1, 2002, he is presently married to actress and model Faith Cross, and they have been living together as husband and wife in wedded bliss ever since their wedding day. Majors has accomplished all there is to do and has maintained his integrity along the way. Despite the fact that his career has slowed down, he has still managed to win the hearts of many fans.
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