40 Fun Facts About The Greatest American Hero

The chest emblem in The Greatest American Hero was modelled on which object from its creator's desk?

A pair of scissors sat on the producer's desk, and the costume designer picked them up, held them upside down and declared them the emblem. He was fine with that.

Which 1981 news event made The Greatest American Hero hastily rename Ralph Hinkley as Hanley?

The shooting of Ronald Reagan by John Hinckley Jr. on 30 March 1981 made the hero's surname awkward. It was dubbed over within days and only restored in season two.

The makers of The Greatest American Hero were sued for copyright infringement over its likeness to which superhero?

Superman owner Warner Bros. lost the case. The court held that Ralph Hinkley, who cringes and cowers under gunfire, was not sufficiently similar to its hero.

The hit theme from The Greatest American Hero, a number two single in 1981, is best known by which title?

Believe It or Not is the subtitle of a single officially called Theme from The Greatest American Hero. For broadcast, the full-length recording was edited down to about a minute.

Which 1990s sitcom has a character sing a parody of The Greatest American Hero theme on his answering machine?

Seinfeld gave the parody to George Costanza in the 1997 episode The Susie. Jason Alexander was told to sing badly after his first take was judged too good to be funny.

The leading man of The Greatest American Hero auditioned in December 1975 for which Star Wars role?

Luke Skywalker went to Mark Hamill, though the Greatest American Hero star was seriously considered, and footage of his audition has featured in many Star Wars documentaries.

What does Ralph Hinkley lose soon after aliens hand him the super suit in The Greatest American Hero?

The instruction book goes missing at once, so every power is found by trial and error. The aliens later hand over their last copy, and Ralph loses that too.

Which chart-topping 1981 duet kept the theme from The Greatest American Hero stuck at number two?

Endless Love, by Diana Ross and Lionel Richie, held number one for nine weeks from 15 August 1981, just as the TV theme peaked behind it.

In which animated sitcom does a father wear The Greatest American Hero costume and sing its theme on a ramp stunt?

Family Guy sends Peter Griffin off the ramp in a season seven episode, after he and his friends watch Jackass and start filming dangerous stunts of their own.

Which circus job does Ralph Hinkley take while helping bust a crime ring in The Greatest American Hero?

Human cannonball is his cover in Just Another Three-Ring Circus, while Bill chases a crime ring that works through a phony dating service.

Which US network, later home to a shelved 2018 reboot, first aired The Greatest American Hero?

ABC bought the series under two executives who soon left. Their successors pushed it towards the save-the-day stories its creator had wanted to avoid.

Which agency employs Bill Maxwell, the veteran crime-fighter aliens assign to Ralph in The Greatest American Hero?

The FBI agent is named by the aliens as Ralph's partner at their first desert meeting, and Bill's supervisor Les Carlisle is a regular character.

In which city, whose skyline opens the 1986 revival pilot, does Ralph Hinkley teach in The Greatest American Hero?

Los Angeles is where Ralph teaches remedial high school students, four of whom, including Rhonda and Tony, appear regularly.

Which actor, Carrie's prom date in the 1976 horror film, plays Ralph Hinkley in The Greatest American Hero?

William Katt found the red suit so uncomfortable that producers modified it and scheduled filming so he would not have to wear it all day.

Which star of the 1960s spy series I Spy plays agent Bill Maxwell in The Greatest American Hero?

Robert Culp also wrote and directed two episodes, including the season two finale about a spy sent to learn how Bill catches so many villains.

Which actress, later a regular on the drama Hotel, plays lawyer Pam Davidson in The Greatest American Hero?

Connie Sellecca was released from her contract when the superhero series ended, just in time to audition for Hotel, where she stayed until 1988.

Which singer took the theme from The Greatest American Hero to number two on the Billboard Hot 100?

Joey Scarbury had been signed at 14 and spent a decade chasing a hit, singing backup for artists such as Loretta Lynn, before the TV theme made his name.

Which composer of the Law & Order and Hill Street Blues themes wrote the music for The Greatest American Hero theme?

Mike Post called the premise nuts when he first heard it, then asked his lyricist for words that compared romance to flying in a suit.

Which producer, also behind The Rockford Files and 21 Jump Street, created The Greatest American Hero?

Stephen J. Cannell wanted a superhero show about real-life problems, with the powers in the suit rather than the man, and resisted save-the-day plots.

Lawyer Pam Davidson first enters Ralph Hinkley's life in The Greatest American Hero by handling what for him?

His divorce brings them together. She later meets the aliens herself and, after some coercion, agrees to join Ralph and Bill on missions.

In which stretch of ocean do Ralph and Bill hunt a sea monster in The Greatest American Hero?

The Bermuda Triangle hunt in The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea turns up a stolen-boat ring instead of the creature blamed for vanishing vessels.

After colliding head-on with a train in The Greatest American Hero, Ralph Hinkley suffers which condition?

Amnesia wipes exactly the wrong memories in Train of Thought: Ralph recalls everything except Bill, the suit and a terrorist plot involving atomic waste.

In the season two opener of The Greatest American Hero, Ralph joins an underdog team in which sport to foil gamblers?

Baseball gives the episode its title, The Two-Hundred-Mile-an-Hour Fast Ball. Crooks had bet heavily on a game and beaten up the star of the team they bet against.

Which power of The Greatest American Hero suit does Ralph find by accident just before meeting Pam's parents?

Invisibility proves hard to control in an early episode, just as Bill wants the suit's help recovering a stolen top-secret weapons targeting system.

In Operation Spoilsport, aliens warn the heroes of The Greatest American Hero that which catastrophe is imminent?

World War III looms because a fail-safe launch system has been activated, and the culprit turns out to be someone on the heroes' own side.

In the season two finale of The Greatest American Hero, an assassin from which spy agency targets Bill Maxwell?

The KGB sends her after Ralph raids the archives and helps Bill close a string of cold cases, which makes Bill a hero and a target.

In The Greatest American Hero, what is the stage profession of Carlini, who seems to return from the grave?

A magician killed performing his greatest trick, Carlini apparently comes back to murder three rivals, so Ralph must use the suit to out-trick the would-be killer.

Which Elton John hit is covered by the theme's singer in the pilot of The Greatest American Hero?

Rocket Man suits a hero who can fly but never learns to land, and who never gets an official superhero name.

In Hong Kong, the red chest emblem of The Greatest American Hero was likened to a piece from which game?

Mahjong has a red centre tile so like the emblem that broadcaster TVB titled its Cantonese dub Flying Red Center Hero.

After The Greatest American Hero, its leading man joined his real mother in nine TV movies about which lawyer?

Perry Mason returned in TV movies from 1985, with the former superhero cast as private investigator Paul Drake Jr., son of the original series' detective.

Which 2021 Ryan Reynolds comedy plays the theme from The Greatest American Hero as its lead distracts his double?

Free Guy cues the song when the title character hands his stronger doppelganger, Dude, glasses that show a player's view of the game.

On which series does the band Hep Alien play a grunge version of The Greatest American Hero theme at a rally?

Gilmore Girls stages it in Stars Hollow, where the fictional band backs Jackson Belleville's campaign for Town Selectman.

Which professional wrestler guest-stars in The Greatest American Hero episode about a scientist who kidnaps Bill?

André the Giant appears in Heaven Is in Your Genes, in which a crazed scientist wants to experiment on Bill to find out what makes him such a successful agent.

Which actress, real-life mother of the show's leading man, plays Ralph's mother in The Greatest American Hero?

Barbara Hale arrives in Who's Woo in America as a mother with news: she is engaged to a much younger man, whose shady past soon puts her son in danger.

Which Lost in Space star guest-stars as the mother of Pam Davidson in The Greatest American Hero?

June Lockhart, also the mother in Lassie, plays the role in the episode where Ralph meets Pam's parents for the first time.

Which actor went from student Tony Villicana in The Greatest American Hero to the lead in Eddie and the Cruisers?

Michael Paré was working as a chef in New York when an agent talked him into acting, and the student role was his first starring part.

Which actress played student Rhonda Blake in The Greatest American Hero before starring in the alien saga V?

Faye Grant made her television debut as Rhonda, then led the human resistance as Julie Parrish in V.

Which New Girl actress was cast to lead a 2018 reboot of The Greatest American Hero that was never picked up?

Hannah Simone was to play Meera, an Indian-American woman who dons the suit, but the network declined to pick up the series.

The singer of The Greatest American Hero theme later co-wrote a number-one country hit for which vocal group?

The Oak Ridge Boys took No Matter How High to the top of the country chart, their seventeenth and final number one.

On which fantasy series does the angel Castiel sing The Greatest American Hero theme to calm a crying baby?

Supernatural gives him the song in the season nine episode Heaven Can't Wait, when he is left babysitting.