Although he’s played many other roles, Lee Majors can be called the Six Million Dollar Man. He starred in the series of the same name from 1974 to 1978 after first appearing in T.V. movies about his character, Steve Austin, an astronaut who is changed into a powerful, bionic man following an accident. The series proved popular and eventually launched a spinoff show and movie sequels.
Through the years, Majors has reflected on his time on The Six Million Dollar Man and his being an actor in general. He’s also exposed about his four marriages, including his high-profile relationship with late ex-wife Farrah Fawcett. Read on to learn more about his life after the hit T.V. series.
Majors could be 82 years of age, but he’s not retired yet. He was already a successful actor before The Six Million Dollar Man due to his starring role in the western series The Big Valley. After The Six Million Dollar Man, he starred in the 1980s series The Fall Guy and reprised his role as Steve Austin in the Six Million Dollar Man sequel movies. A few of his more recent T.V. roles include Fuller House, Ash vs Evil Dead, the Dallas revival, and the Magnum P.I. reboot.
“After The Fall Guy, I took 10 years off and visited Florida,” Lee told Closer Weekly in 2020. “I just had to take a break, and while I was there, I only did some small independent films. When I returned, I started doing plenty of independent comedies, like Weeds and Community. It was good, and I was starting over again.”
In an interview with the Daily Mail in 2019, Majors talked about how his roles now differ from his action hero days. “The hours are less; the shows are less. But it’s still fun,” he said. “What else would I do? I was once the hero. Now I play the hero’s father; next, I’ll be playing his grandfather. I’m satisfied with that.”
Majors has been married four times. First, he was married to Kathy Robinson, with whom he shares a son, Lee Majors Jr. Then, he marred Fawcett. Next, he was married to Karen Velez, and they welcomed three children: Nikki, Dane, and Luke Majors. And since 2002, Majors has been married to Faith Majors. “It is a record in Hollywood,” he told People in 2019 of this lengthy marriage.
Majors, in addition, had exposed his marriage to Fawcett, which took place when they were both at the height of this fame. “People tell me we were the Brad [Pitt] and Angelina [Jolie] of our time. And sadly, that didn’t work out too good either,” he told the Daily Mail. “12 months I saw her a maximum of two weeks. I remember she was carrying out a movie in London over Christmas, and I was shooting in Los Angeles, so I flew to England, spent Christmas Day with her, and then flew back to start shooting again. It’s no way to help keep a relationship together.”
Majors has said in interviews he hadn’t processed just how large of a show The Six Million Dollar Man was until years after the show went off the air.
“[F]or many years I took notice of anything other than my work,” he told Uproxx in 2016. “Then I started travelling the country, around the world and stuff, and you then go for some unique little village somewhere, and they’d say, ‘Oh, on Saturday night, all individuals would originate from all over the village, the city, and they had one T.V. to view this bionic man.'”
He now attends fan conventions, where folks have told him that they joined the armed forces or became an astronaut or engineer due to the show. And he’s amazed by the medical and technological advancements which have taken devote real life. “You’ve some come up with new parts,” he continued. “Bionic parts, guess what happens, I’m saying? The legs and the arms and even some eye transplants now. They call it ‘the bionic eye.’ It’s just been amazing that that technology, that I was happy to truly have a part to push that along a little bit.”
