Who remembers the TV opening sequence narration? “Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to make the world's first bionic man. Steve Austin will be that man. Better than he was before. Better... stronger... faster.”
Like many kids growing up in the 1970s, I was obsessed with both “The Six Million Dollar Man” and “The Bionic Woman” TV shows. I didn’t just watch every episode religiously; I also asked my mother to buy me the popular Kenner action figure toys, including ones of Steve Austin, Oscar Goldman (his boss), The Bionic Woman (Jaime Sommers), and of course, bionic Bigfoot!
In honor of my recent interview with Kenneth Johnson, who created the character Jaime Sommers and served as writer, director, and producer for both "The Six Million Dollar Man" and "The Bionic Woman," I have put together an informative list of trivia filled with interesting facts about both series for you to enjoy!
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Airing from 1973 to 1978, “The Six Million Dollar Man” followed former astronaut and USAF Colonel Steve Austin, portrayed by Lee Majors. After being seriously injured in a NASA test flight crash, Steve was rebuilt with bionic implants, giving him superhuman strength, speed, and vision. He worked as a secret agent for a fictional U.S. government office called OSI. A spin-off titled “The Bionic Woman,” featuring the lead female character Jaime Sommers (Lindsay Wagner), aired from 1976 to 1978, and several crossover episodes were produced during this time. Additionally, three television movies featuring both bionic characters were made between 1987 and 1994.
The “Six Million Dollar Man” was very popular during its run and introduced several pop culture elements of the 1970s, such as the show's opening catchphrase ("We can rebuild him; we have the technology", voiced over by Richard Anderson in his role of Oscar Goldman), the slow motion action sequences, and the accompanying "electronic" sound effects.
The slow motion action sequences were originally referred to as "Kung Fu slow motion" in popular culture (due to its use in that 1970s martial arts television series), although according to The Bionic Book by Herbie J. Pilato, the use of slow motion on the series was inspired by its use by NFL Films.
Former U.S. Air Force pilot and N.A.S.A. Public Relations man Martin Caidin's 1971 novel "Cyborg" was the source material for the show “The Six Million Dollar Man”.
Martin Caidin originally wanted Monte Markham for the role of Steve Austin.
The aircraft seen crashing in the show's opening sequence was an M2-F2, a "lifting body configuration" built by Northrop. The audio sound effects are from a crash that occurred on May 10, 1967, at Edwards Air Force base in California (although the dialogue heard was recorded by Lee Majors). The test pilot, Bruce Peterson, hit the ground at two hundred fifty miles per hour, tumbling six times. He lost use of his right eye following an infection, and had to stop flying, ending his career. Understandably, Peterson has said that he hated reliving his accident, week after week, courtesy of the show.
Lindsay Wagner's first appearance on “The Six Million Dollar Man” was supposed to be her last role honoring her contract with Universal. However, public reaction to her was so strong that she was offered her own series.
In 1975, a two-part episode titled "The Bionic Woman", written for television by Kenneth Johnson, introduced the lead character Jaime Sommers (played by Lindsay Wagner), a professional tennis player who rekindled an old romance with Austin, only to experience a parachuting accident that resulted in her being given bionic parts similar to Austin. Ultimately, her body "rejected" her bionic hardware and she died. The character was very popular, however, and the following season it was revealed that she had survived, having been saved by an experimental cryogenic procedure, and she was given her own spin-off series, “The Bionic Woman.” This spin-off ran until 1978 when both it and “The Six Million Dollar Man” were simultaneously cancelled, though the two series were on different networks when their final seasons aired.
According to Lee Majors, he did ninety percent of his own stunts.
The characters of Oscar Goldman (Richard Anderson) and Rudy Wells (Martin E. Brooks) appeared on “The Six Million Dollar Man” and its spin-off, “The Bionic Woman”. When the spin-off moved to another network, this practice continued. This was the first time the same continuing characters appeared on two different television series broadcast on two different networks at the same time.
Alan Oppenheimer was cast as Dr. Rudy Wells for the show's first and second seasons but then left. Martin E. Brooks replaced him and became a regular cast member throughout the remainder of the series. Oppenheimer returned for one final episode in Season 3 after Brooks had taken on the role, as it contained flashbacks to a previous episode and producers did not want to re-shoot the scenes.
Early episodes of the series had Austin killing villains on occasion. As it became clear that Austin was becoming a role model for kids, the level of violence in the series decreased, with Austin rarely (if ever) actually killing anyone.
The character of Jaime Sommers was named after a real person. Kenneth Johnson produced killer-whale shows at Sea World and worked with a water-skier named Jamie Somers. Johnson decided that was the ideal name for the character. He said that the real Jamie was very pleased.
The exterior shots of O.S.I. Headquarters were the Russell Senate Office Building as seen from the Senate side of the Capitol building, across Constitution Avenue in Washington, D.C.
The characters Steve Austin and Jamie Sommers were ranked number nineteen in TV Guide's list of the "25 Greatest Sci-Fi Legends" (August 1, 2004 issue).
Jaime's occupation was a schoolteacher.
The bionic jump action sequences, performed by Lindsay Wagner's stunt double Rita Egleston, was of her jumping backwards onto an inflated bag below, landing feet first. This was filmed in 60 frames per second and then reversed.
Jaime and Steve are high school sweethearts, but in reality Lee Majors is ten years older than Lindsay Wagner.
Although two "Wonder Woman" TV movies had already aired by this time (one in March 1974 and another in November 1975), “The Bionic Woman” was the first weekly TV series to feature a female superhero as the lead character, premiering three months before the "Wonder Woman" TV series.
Major's then wife Farrah Fawcett played three different parts on this show. Majors pushed for her to play Jaime Somers, but she lost out.
Lindsay Wagner won an Emmy for this role; the first time a woman had won an acting Emmy for a sci-fi series.
There were four "Six Million Dollar Man" episodes featuring Bigfoot, plus one crossover episode of "The Bionic Woman" with Steve and Jaime eventually becoming pals with the big fella.
André the Giant (real name André René Roussimoff; 1946-1993) was a French-born professional wrestler who stood 7'4" and occasionally appeared in film and TV productions that took advantage of his size. He is best known outside the wrestling world for being the first actor to play Bigfoot in two episodes of "The Six Million Dollar Man" - "The Secret of Bigfoot Part 1 & 2". It was one of his first acting parts - and for his later role in the film “The Princess Bride”. He continued to wrestle until the early 1990s. He died in 1993.
Actor Ted Cassidy was a 6'9" tall film and television actor who took over the role of Bigfoot from André the Giant, playing the part in a total of three episodes in both "The Six Million Dollar Man" and "The Bionic Woman".
Maximillion, the bionic dog that featured in the third season, was so-named, because he cost $1 million to make.
Max, the bionic dog, was played by several German Shepherds. For example, in Season 3, Episodes 1 and 2, "The Bionic Dog: Parts 1 and 2", they needed a dog that wasn't afraid of fire, one that would just lay and allow you to pet him or lay in front of food without being tempted to eat it. They also needed one to get on a treadmill.
To maintain the show's plausibility, creator/executive producer Kenneth Johnson set very specific limits on Jaime Sommers' abilities. He elaborated, "When you're dealing with the area of fantasy, if you say, 'Well, they're bionic so they can do whatever they want,' then it gets out of hand, so you've got to have really, really tight rules. [Steve and Jaime] can jump up two stories but not three. They can jump down three stories but not four. Jaime can't turn over a truck but she can turn over a car."
When the series changed from ABC to NBC, Lee Majors no longer guest-starred on this show because he was still under contract to ABC, and since he was the main character, ABC would not allow the crossover, and vice versa with Lindsay Wagner.
Kenner Toys signed on for the rights to produce toys for the series and began distributing in 1975 what would become one of the most popular action figure lines of all time. Kenner released three versions of Steve Austin as well as Oscar Goldman, his boss, Maskatron (his unstoppable enemy) and of course this line wouldn’t be complete without BigFoot. Related are the Bionic Woman action figures which included The Bionic Woman herself and her evil nemesis The Fembot. After seeing the initial success of the basic action figures, Kenner released numerous playsets and accessories to compliment this line.
Steve Austin and Jaime Sommers returned in three subsequent made-for-television movies: “The Return of the Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman” (1987), “Bionic Showdown: The Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman” (1989) which featured Sandra Bullock in an early role as a new bionic woman; and “Bionic Ever After?” (1994) in which Austin and Sommers finally marry. Majors reprised the role of Steve Austin in all three productions, which also featured Richard Anderson and Martin E. Brooks, and Lindsay Wagner reprising the role of Jaime Sommers.
Some facts are taken from IMDB & Wikipedia.
Don't miss the chance to listen to my fascinating podcast interview with writer, director, and producer Kenneth Johnson on my podcast HOLLYWOOD OBSESSED! Click the links below to listen now!
Episode 95 - HERE
Episode 96 - HERE
