Morning Man Classic: Lee Majors!

There was a lot of excitement at The Hollywood Museum four years ago when Lee Majors was present for the unveiling of the “Bionic” exhibit.

The handsome actor, who turns 85 today, still has such star quality.

Majors managed to remain one of television’s biggest stars through the 60s (The Big Valley), the 70s (Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law and The Six Million Dollar Man) and the 80s (The Fall Guy).

He also, of course was the man married to Farrah Fawcett during her meteoric rise from a model-actress doing television commercials and TV guest spots to a television superstar in Charlie’s Angels whose fame soon eclipsed his.

Their nine-year marriage ended when Farrah, who died in 2009, left him for Ryan O’Neal with whom she embarked on an on-again, off-again three-decade love affair.

Lee made his film debut at the age of 25 in the Joan Crawford film Straightjacket. He then beat out 400 other hopefuls for the coveted role of Heath Barkley in a new ABC western series The Big Valley. Barbara Stanwyck played his mother and Linda Evans his sister in the show which ran for five seasons.

His star rose even higher in 1973 when Lee was cast as Colonel Steve Austin, an ex-astronaut with bionic limbs in The Six Million Dollar Man.

He made several little-seen feature films after the show was canceled in 1978 but returned in 1981 with another hit series: The Fall Guy.

Majors played Colt Seavers, a Hollywood stuntman and part-time bounty hunter. The Fall Guy ran five seasons and allowed Majors an opportunity to show off his comedic abilities, something audiences hadn’t yet seen. He was also a producer and a director on the show, and even sang its theme song, the self-effacing The Unknown Stuntman.

Lee stepped back into the role of Steve Austin for a series of Six Million Dollar Man-Bionic Woman movies with Lindsay Wagner in the late 80s and early 90s and more recently had recurring roles on The Game and Weeds and guest starred on Human Target, Community and According to Jim.