‘The Six Million Dollar Man’ & ‘Bionic Woman’ — Secrets Of The Hit ’70s Shows

Lee Majors and Lindsay Wagner played cybernetic wonders in “The Six Million Dollar Man” and “The Bionic Woman” — but what's really amazing is how many secrets these iconic '70s-TV series kept under wraps!

Lee Majors and Lindsay Wagner played cybernetic wonders in “The Six Million Dollar Man” and “The Bionic Woman” — but what's really amazing is how many secrets these iconic '70s-TV series kept under wraps! The sound effects accompanying the crash of Col. Steve Austin’s NASA aircraft in the series’ opening sequence are from an actual crash. The accident ended the career of real-life test pilot Bruce Peterson — who hit the ground at 250 mph and tumbled six times — and Peterson said that he hated reliving the crash on TV every week.

The show’s slow-motion action sequences were originally called “Kung Fu slow motion,” due to its usage in the martial-arts TV series, featuring David Carradine.

When the show was broadcast in Israel, it was titled “The Man Who Is Worth Millions” — because in Israel the number 6 million is associated with the Holocaust. In Spanish-speaking countries, the series is known as “El Hombre Nuclear” or “The Nuclear Man.”

“Man” was almost canceled in its third season when it moved from Friday to Sunday night — opposite “The Wonderful World of Disney” on NBC! It failed to crack the Top 30, but ABC renewed it, and the show’s ratings surged — soaring to No. 9 at the end of its fourth season in 1977.

In early episodes, Austin sometimes killed villains. But as the character became a role model for kids, Austin rarely — if ever — killed anyone! Majors, now 78, claims he did 90 percent of his own stunts.

“The Secret of Bigfoot” is one of the show’s best-known storylines — and starred two actors famous for their extraordinary height. The late wrestling icon André the Giant originated the role of Bigfoot in the initial two-part episode. Ted Cassidy — Lurch in TV’s “The Addams Family” — stepped into his shoes in later episodes.

“Man” spawned a number of toys, two board games and other licensed merchandise, including lunch boxes, running shoes, children’s eyeglasses, bedsheets and even a pinball game with Austin’s image. When Majors grew a mustache near the end of the series’ five-season run in 1978, fans didn’t like it, and he shaved it off. But not before a comic book and a lunch box had been produced with the new look!

Sally Field and Stefanie Powers (at left, with Lindsay in 2015) were also considered for “The Bionic Woman” role of Jaime Sommers. Sommers — a tennis pro and old flame of Steve's whose abilities were similarly enhanced after an accident — took on spy missions of her own in the spin-off.

When “The Bionic Woman” jumped to NBC for its third and final season in 1978, actors Martin E. Brooks and Richard Anderson — who played Jaime’s and Steve’s physician and boss — became the first actors in history to play the same characters on two different TV series on two different networks, since they continued to appear in “The Six Million Dollar Man” on ABC.

In May 1979, almost exactly a year after the last episode of “The Bionic Woman” aired, Wagner was scheduled to fly on the ill-fated American Airlines flight from Chicago to Los Angeles that crashed after takeoff. She changed her plans at the last-minute —a shift that saved her own life!