60 Fun Facts About The Six Million Dollar Man

What was Steve Austin's job before the crash that led to his bionic rebuild?

He was a NASA astronaut and USAF colonel, played throughout by Lee Majors.

The series was based on a 1972 novel by Martin Caidin with what title?

It was also the show's working title during pre-production; Caidin wrote three sequels that were never adapted.

Steve Austin was injured in the crash of what kind of aircraft?

The crash footage in the credits is real: the M2-F2 accident of 10 May 1967, which pilot Bruce Peterson survived.

Which of Steve Austin's body parts were replaced with bionics?

His limbs had the power of a bulldozer and the eye a 20:1 zoom lens with infrared.

What did the initials OSI, Steve Austin's employer, stand for?

In the first TV movie the agency was the OSO, run by Darren McGavin's Oliver Spencer instead of Oscar Goldman.

Which network aired The Six Million Dollar Man throughout its run?

It began with three TV movies in 1973 before becoming a weekly hour-long series in January 1974.

Who was the producers' first choice to play Steve Austin before Lee Majors got the part?

Markham later appeared on the show as Barney, the 'Seven Million Dollar Man'.

Which actor played Oscar Goldman, director of the OSI?

He also voiced the 'We can rebuild him' opening narration in character.

Who voiced the famous opening line 'We can rebuild him; we have the technology'?

Bennett did narrate the opening's first words: 'Steve Austin, astronaut. A man barely alive.'

Which actor played Dr Rudy Wells in the first pilot movie only?

Alan Oppenheimer took over for the next pilots and early seasons before Martin E. Brooks became the regular.

Which two 1973 TV movies followed the original pilot as ABC Movie of the Week specials?

Both were produced by Glen A. Larson and gave the character a James Bond flavour the series later dropped.

Which singer performed the 1973 telefilms' theme song before an instrumental replaced it?

Glen A. Larson wrote the song; Oliver Nelson's instrumental theme took over when the weekly series began.

Who composed the instrumental theme used for the weekly series?

The first-season arrangement was shorter than the one used from season two onwards.

The Six Million Dollar Man's slow-motion sequences were inspired by their use by which organisation?

Viewers nicknamed the effect 'Kung Fu slow motion' after the 1970s martial arts series.

According to the speed gauge in the opening credits, how fast could Steve Austin run?

The highest speed actually shown on a gauge in the series was 67 mph in 'The Pal-Mir Escort'.

Besides bulldozer strength, what instrument did Steve Austin's bionic arm contain in 'Doomsday and Counting'?

The poison dart gun existed only in Caidin's novels, hidden in one finger.

What environmental condition could interfere with and disable Austin's bionics?

They recovered as soon as he warmed up; cosmic radiation and ultrasonic attack were other weaknesses.

The electronic 'dit dit dit' sound effect debuted in 'Day of the Robot' accompanying what?

John Saxon played the robot's human original; the sound only later became Austin's own.

Under Kenneth Johnson's rules, bionic Steve and Jaime could jump down three storeys but jump up how many?

Johnson said that without tight rules a fantasy show 'gets out of hand'.

Which writer adapted Caidin's novel for the first TV movie under the pseudonym Henri Simoun?

His adaptation was nominated for a Hugo Award and made Austin a civilian astronaut rather than a colonel.

What was Jaime Sommers' profession when she was introduced in a 1975 two-part episode?

She was one of America's top five and Steve's high-school sweetheart from Ojai.

How did Jaime Sommers suffer the injuries that led to her bionic implants?

Her parachute malfunctioned on a skydiving date and she fell through tree branches.

Instead of a bionic eye, Jaime Sommers received which bionic sense organ?

It let her hear at low volumes and over long distances; her right arm and both legs were also bionic.

Jaime Sommers 'died' at the end of her first storyline; how was she later revealed to have survived?

The character had been so popular that ABC asked the writers to bring her back.

Which California town was the home town of Steve Austin, the Six Million Dollar Man?

The real Ojai has a billboard informing visitors of its famous astronaut native.

Which future wrestling legend made his US acting debut as Bigfoot in a 1976 two-part episode?

In 'The Secret of Bigfoot' Austin's eye let him see the creature moving too fast for a normal eye.

How many episodes of The Six Million Dollar Man were made, according to the complete-series DVD set?

Time Life's 40-disc set added the three pilot films, the three reunion movies and the crossover Bionic Woman episodes.

Lee Majors was born with what name?

He was born in Wyandotte, Michigan, and orphaned young; his early career resemblance earned him the tag 'blond Elvis'.

What ended Lee Majors' college football career at Eastern Kentucky University?

He was paralysed for two weeks and had planned to become a football coach.

Before bionics, Lee Majors played Heath Barkley in which 1960s Western series starring Barbara Stanwyck?

He was picked from over 400 young actors, including Burt Reynolds; Linda Evans played his sister.

Lee Majors starred as stuntman Colt Seavers in which 1980s series?

The song was 'The Unknown Stuntman'; Ryan Gosling played Seavers in the 2024 film, with Majors in a cameo.

Which future Charlie's Angels star, then married to Lee Majors, appeared in four episodes of the show?

She was billed as Farrah Fawcett-Majors, and the couple were regular tennis partners of producer Aaron Spelling.

Which producer of the weekly series went on to produce Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan?

Bennett had started in show business as a child on the radio programme Quiz Kids.

Jaime Sommers creator Kenneth Johnson later made which 1983 alien-invasion miniseries?

He also produced The Incredible Hulk series and the 1989 Alien Nation TV adaptation.

Lindsay Wagner's 1977 Emmy for playing Jaime Sommers was a first for what?

She won for the episode 'Deadly Ringer'.

The Bionic Woman moved to which network for its third and final season in 1977?

Both bionic shows were cancelled simultaneously in spring 1978 despite being on different networks.

Oscar Goldman and Rudy Wells set what television first in the 1977-78 season?

Richard Anderson and Martin E. Brooks played them on ABC's Six Million Dollar Man and NBC's Bionic Woman simultaneously.

What was the name of the bionic German Shepherd introduced in The Bionic Woman's third season?

Short for 'Maximillion', because his bionics cost a million dollars; a spin-off was rejected.

Which word for a female robot was popularised by the Bionic Woman episode 'Kill Oscar'?

The Austin Powers films later parodied them in baby-doll nightgowns.

Who played Fortress leader Lyle Stenning in the 1987 Six Million Dollar Man and Bionic Woman reunion film?

The film also introduced Steve's estranged son Michael and Lee Majors II as OSI agent Jim Castillian.

Which future star debuted on TV as new bionic woman Kate Mason in 1989's Bionic Showdown?

The film was a backdoor pilot for a Kate Mason series that never materialised.

What finally happens in the 1994 TV movie Bionic Ever After?

Jaime's bionics start failing and Steve is caught in a hostage crisis in the Bahamas before the wedding.

OSI agent Jim Castillian in all three reunion films was played by which relative of the show's star?

Lee Majors Jr, born in 1962, also appeared alongside his father in an episode of The Fall Guy.

Which director's unshot Six Million Dollar Man screenplay became the 2011 comic The Bionic Man?

Dynamite Comics published it, later adding a Bionic Man vs Bionic Woman crossover.

Which star was cast as Austin in 2014 for the long-delayed film The Six Billion Dollar Man?

Jim Carrey had earlier pitched a comedic version; the film has still not been made.

In Israel the show was retitled 'The Man Worth Millions' because 'six million' evoked what?

In France it was L'Homme qui valait trois milliards, The Three Billion Dollar Man.

In which country were appointed, un-elected senators and governors nicknamed 'bionic' after the show?

The 1988 constitution abolished all 'bionic' appointments made under the military dictatorship.

Which toy company made the popular Six Million Dollar Man action figures of the 1970s?

The same company later made the Alien toys and, of course, Star Wars figures.

Which publisher put out both a colour comic book and a darker black-and-white magazine based on the show?

Howard Chaykin and Neal Adams were frequent contributors; the magazine leaned on Caidin's more violent version.

What award did Lee Majors win from TV Land in 2003?

Fittingly, since Austin was named a pop-culture icon of the 1970s.

Novelist Martin Caidin restored and flew which vintage German aircraft, nicknamed Iron Annie?

He set a world record when 19 people walked on its wing in flight in 1981.

Caidin's 1964 novel about stranded astronauts, later filmed, was called what?

It was based on Project Mercury; the film version won an Oscar for visual effects.

In Caidin's original novels, which weapon was built into one of Austin's bionic fingers?

The TV Austin never had it, so novelisations sometimes ended differently from the episodes.

In which year did Michelle Ryan star in NBC's short-lived remake of The Bionic Woman?

Katee Sackhoff played her nemesis Sarah Corvus.

Which actor played Oliver Spencer, director of the OSO, in the original 1973 pilot film?

Oscar Goldman did not exist yet; the pilot's agency was the OSO, run by Spencer.

What two-part title did the re-edited 1973 pilot film receive when folded into the weekly series?

The film also dropped the electronic sound effects, slow-motion running and Oscar Goldman that later defined the show.

In France the show's title translated as 'The Man Who Was Worth' how much?

L'Homme qui valait trois milliards priced Steve Austin in old francs, and French magazine Télé-Junior ran its own comic strip.

What was the highest speed ever shown on a gauge for Steve Austin during the series?

The reading came in 'The Pal-Mir Escort'; the later revival films implied he could reach roughly 90 mph.

Besides extreme cold, what exposure in space made Austin's bionics malfunction in season one?

The fix was another layer of shielding in his artificial skin; his bionic eye was also vulnerable to ultrasonic attack.

What gimmick was built into the packaging of Time Life's 2010 complete-series DVD box set?

The 40-disc set gathered all 99 episodes, the three pilot films and the three reunion movies.