Lee Majors

Lee Majors has been married four times. First, he married Kathy Robinson in 1961 and got divorced in 1964. Their child Lee Majors Jr. was born in April 1962.

He then married Farrah Fawcett in 1973 and got divorced in 1982.

In 1988, he married Playboy model, Karen Velez and later got divorced in 1994. The couple had a daughter, Nikki and twin sons, Dane and Trey.

Lee Majors was born on 23 April 1939 in Wyandotte, Michigan, U.S.A. His father, Carl Yeary, was a manual labourer who died on the job before he was born. His mother, Alice Yeary, was a homemaker; she passed away in an auto accident before his second birthday.

Orphaned by the age two, he was adopted by his paternal uncle and aunt, Harvey Yeary and Mildred Poore. They brought him to their home in Middelsboro, Kentucky.

He found out about his adoption much later in his teenage years, and became determined to make his stepparents proud of him.

Growing up, he wanted to become a football coach. He began playing the sport for his school team at Middlesboro High School. After graduating in 1957, he earned a scholarship to Indiana University where he continued to play football.

In 1959, he transferred to Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, where during a game he suffered a severe back injury that left him paralyzed waist down for a few weeks. This brought an end to his prospective football career.

In 1964, Lee Majors appeared in his first, although uncredited, role in the horror film ‘Strait-Jacket’

In 1965, his first credited role came in an episode of ‘Gunsmoke’. He also appeared in an instalment of ‘The Alfred Hitchcock Hour: The Monkey's Paw – A Retelling’.

His first big break happened in the hit ABC western series, ‘The Big Valley’ (1965-1969). He portrayed the role of Heath Barkley in the show. Meanwhile, he also appeared in the 1968 Charlton Heston film ‘Will Penny’.

In 1969, he starred in the lead role of a television film, ‘The Ballad of Andy Crocker’. The same year, he also got an offer to star in ‘Midnight Cowboy’ (1969), but had to refuse as ‘The Big Valley’ was renewed for another season.

In 1970, he appeared in William Wyler's last movie ‘The Liberation of L.B. Jones’; he also appeared in the last season of ‘The Virginian’.

Lee Majors’ breakthrough role was in the television Western series, ‘The Big Valley’ (1965-1969). It offered him the opportunity to learn from an experienced performer, the renowned Barbara Stanwyck.

The television movie, ‘The Six Million Dollar Man’ (1973) featured him in the role of Colonel Steve Austin, an ex-astronaut with bionic implants and superhuman powers. The success of the movie resulted in a weekly series which aired from 1974 to 1978 and launched him into global stardom.

In ‘The Fall Guy’ (1981-1986), he played a Hollywood stuntman, Colt Seavers who worked as a bounty hunter to enhance his income.