Lee Majors wasn’t actually the first choice for Steve Austin. Imagine that for a second. The guy basically defined the 1970s action hero—blue tracksuit, slow-motion running, that weird mechanical "ch-ch-ch" sound effect—and he almost didn't get the gig. Most people think of the cast of The Six Million Dollar Man as just Lee and maybe the boss, but the chemistry on that set was a fragile, lightning-in-a-bottle situation that almost went sideways a dozen times.
It was 1973. Television was transitioning from gritty westerns into this weird, experimental era of sci-fi. When ABC decided to adapt Martin Caidin’s novel Cyborg, they weren't looking for a superhero. They wanted a James Bond with a mechanical arm. Lee Majors brought something else. He brought a sort of blue-collar vulnerability to a man who was literally part bulldozer.
The Core Trio: More Than Just Metal and Circuits
Lee Majors was already a star from The Big Valley, but Steve Austin made him an icon. You’ve gotta remember, back then, there was no CGI. If Lee had to look like he was jumping thirty feet, they used a crane and a harness that probably hurt like hell. He did a lot of his own stunts, which is why he always looked legitimately exhausted.
Then you had Richard Anderson as Oscar Goldman. If Lee was the brawn, Anderson was the indispensable moral compass. Honestly, without Oscar Goldman, the show is just a guy hitting things. Anderson played him with this precise, bureaucratic kindness. He was the Director of the OSI (Office of Strategic Intelligence), but he felt like Steve’s worried older brother or a distant, demanding father. It’s a trope now, but Anderson invented the "boss who actually cares but has to send you on a suicide mission" archetype.
We can't forget Alan Oppenheimer—and later Martin E. Brooks—as Dr. Rudy Wells. This is where the cast of The Six Million Dollar Man gets a little confusing for casual fans. Oppenheimer played the bionic physician in the early movies and the first few seasons, bringing a slightly more "mad scientist" vibe. When Martin E. Brooks took over, the character became warmer, more of a technician than a theorist. Fans usually have a favorite, but Brooks is the one most people remember from the height of the show's popularity.
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The Bionic Woman and the Spin-off Shift
Then came Lindsay Wagner. She changed everything.
Originally, Jaime Sommers was supposed to die. That was the plan. She was a tragic love interest meant to give Steve Austin some "depth" through grief. But the audience went absolutely nuclear when her body rejected the bionics in the episode "The Bionic Woman." The network received so much mail that they literally had to "resurrect" her.
Wagner’s inclusion in the cast of The Six Million Dollar Man was a pivot point. She didn't just play a female version of Steve; she brought a psychological weight to the idea of being "remade." While Steve was a soldier who accepted his upgrades as tools, Jaime felt the loss of her humanity more acutely. It’s why her spin-off eventually became its own beast. The chemistry between Majors and Wagner was so palpable that even after she got her own show, the "crossover" episodes were the highest-rated events on television.
Sasquatch and the Villains
You can't talk about the actors without talking about the Bigfoot. People forget that Andre the Giant—yes, the Andre the Giant—was the first person to play the bionic Bigfoot. It was ridiculous. It was campy. It was also terrifying for a seven-year-old in 1976.
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Later, Ted Cassidy (Lurch from The Addams Family) took over the role. The fact that the cast of The Six Million Dollar Man included literal wrestling legends and towering character actors tells you everything you need to know about the show's scale. They weren't just hiring "bad guy #4." They were hiring physical presences that could actually make Lee Majors look small.
- John Saxon: Played Major Frederick Sloan and later the "Maskatron" type androids. Saxon was a martial arts legend in his own right, often appearing in Bruce Lee films.
- Monte Markham: Played Barney Miller (the other bionic man). His character was a dark reflection of Steve—a man who couldn't handle the power and went insane. It was one of the first times TV explored the "mental health" cost of being a cyborg.
Why This Cast Worked When Others Failed
The 70s were littered with failed sci-fi pilots. So why did this group stick?
It was the restraint. Lee Majors played Steve Austin with a lot of silence. He wasn't quipping like a Marvel character. He was a guy who’d been through a traumatic crash—a real-life event based on the 1967 crash of the M2-F2 lifting body piloted by Bruce Peterson—and was trying to find his place in a world that saw him as a government asset.
Richard Anderson stayed in character even off-set sometimes, maintaining that authoritative air. The actors took the ridiculous premise seriously. If they hadn't, the show would have been forgotten as another campy relic. Instead, they grounded it. They made us believe that a man could run 60 miles per hour even though we could clearly see the film was just slowed down while Lee jumped over a fence.
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The Later Years and the Reunion Movies
By the time the show ended in 1978, the cast of The Six Million Dollar Man was exhausted. But the "Bionic" family wasn't done. Throughout the 80s and 90s, we got three reunion movies.
The Return of the Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman (1987) was the big one. It introduced a young Sandra Bullock (really!) and finally gave fans the resolution they wanted between Steve and Jaime. Watching Majors and Wagner age into their roles was actually quite touching. They didn't try to hide the gray hair; they leaned into the idea that even bionic parts don't stop the clock.
What You Should Do Next
If you’re looking to revisit the series or research the history of the cast of The Six Million Dollar Man, don't just stick to the main series.
- Watch the three TV movies first: The Six Million Dollar Man, Wine, Women and War, and The Solid Gold Kidnapping. The tone is much more "James Bond" and less "superhero," and you'll see a very different version of Steve Austin.
- Look for the crossover episodes: Specifically the "Kill Oscar" trilogy. It’s the peak of the collaboration between the two shows and features the best work from Richard Anderson.
- Check out the "Bionic" documentaries: The DVD box sets contain interviews where the cast discusses the technical difficulties of the stunts. It’ll make you respect Lee Majors’ physicality a lot more.
- Track down the comic books: Many of the original actors lent their likenesses to the modern Dynamite Comics runs, which continue the story in a way that 70s budgets never could have allowed.
The legacy of these actors isn't just in the toys or the lunchboxes. It's in the fact that they took a sci-fi concept and made it human. They paved the way for every "enhanced" hero we see on screen today. Without Steve Austin, there is no RoboCop, no Iron Man, and certainly no Cyborg. They were the blueprint.