Lee Majors

Actor Lee Majors achieved stardom through a variety of popular TV series, including "The Big Valley," "The Fall Guy" and "The Six Million Dollar Man."

Lee Majors was born April 23, 1939, in Wyandotte, Michigan. He worked as a park recreation director for the City of Los Angeles before entering show business in 1963. He achieved stardom through a variety of popular TV series, but it was his role as Steve Austin in "The Six Million Dollar Man" that catapulted the handsome actor into cult status.

Lee Majors was born Harvey Lee Yeary III on April 23, 1939, in Wyandotte, Michigan. Shortly before Majors was born, though, his father died in a steel mill accident. To compound the tragedy, when Majors was around 18 months old, his mother was also killed, hit by a drunk driver as she waited to cross a street on her way to work. Majors didn't find out he had been adopted by relatives until his teenage years, when he found a bundle of newspaper clippings related to his parents' deaths.

After attending Indiana University on a football scholarship, Majors transferred to Eastern Kentucky State College where he graduated with a degree in education. The young football star turned down an offer to play with the St. Louis Cardinals to pursue an acting career. After graduation, he moved to Los Angeles, where he studied under Estelle Harmon at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios.

Promoted as the "new James Dean," the actor, now known by his stage name, achieved stardom through a variety of popular television series. In addition to appearing in a number of made-for-TV movies throughout the 1980s and '90s, Majors starred in 1992's short-lived television series "Raven."