Few who grew up in the 1970s never heard of the Six Million Dollar Man as the show dominated the airwaves for five years. This series’ rise to prominence began with the success of Martin Caidin’s 1972 novel, Cyborg. Like the television show, this book followed Steve Austin as he became a cyborg following a devastating crash during a flight. While the book series continued, leading to three sequels, ABC took the concept from the first book to mold their hit show.
To bring the bionic man to life, ABC hired Lee Majors to become the lead man, Steve Austin. They then crafted three made-for-television movies that told the exploits of the Six Million Dollar Man. During the first movie, Steve Austin experienced his fateful crash as he flew an experimental aircraft. This crash severely damaged his left eye, right arm, and both legs. After accepting the offer from the Office of Scientific Intelligence (OSI), the government implanted bionic parts to fix his damaged body.
These bionics granted Steve Austin superhuman strength and abilities. So, the man became the OSI’s best asset as he traveled the world, taking on villain after villain. During his exploits, Jaime Sommers, his former flame, also experienced a tragic accident that led to her becoming the Bionic Woman. So, the show gained a spin-off starring Lindsay Wagner.
To create a hit show, ABC created multiple memorable characters that audiences could relate to. However, which of these characters stood out the most?
Presenting the top ten characters from the Six Million Dollar Man
10. Josh Lang
William Shatner briefly joined the cast of the Six Million Dollar Man as he guest-starred in the episode, Burning Bright. Here, he played a former captain of the United States Navy, Josh Lang. This man’s successful military career also led to NASA deploying him as an astronaut. Sadly, his successful career fell into chaos after he encountered an unusual electrical field while orbiting the Earth. This field messed with his brain’s neural chemistry, causing him to behave erratically.
After returning to Earth, Steve Austin and NASA became disheartened when they saw that his condition continued to deteriorate. So, they decided to ground him until his mental facilities returned. Unbeknownst to Steve Austin, Josh Lang had begun to develop telepathic abilities. He first displayed these new abilities to Steve by making dolphins jump via mental command. Despite this new development, Lang continued to become more violent.
After escaping, Lang traveled to his hometown in Texas, Redman, where he tried to reconnect with his long-deceased childhood friend, Andy. Thanks to his exponentially increasing telepathic powers, he killed a deputy while trying to render him unconscious. Unfortunately, as Steve tried to subdue Josh Lang, the electricity in his brain reached a critical point, killing him.
9. Peggy Callahan
Jennifer Darling took on the role of Oscar Goodman’s personal secretary, Margaret “Peggy” Callahan. This brilliant woman held a master’s degree in political science, so she easily kept up with her duties. She also loved to make a good impression as she strived to please her superiors. One of her most notable features was her raspy voice, which made her stand out in any scene.
While Peggy Callahan began with only a level 3 clearance with the OSI, she quickly gained higher clearance. When Steve Austin’s bionic leg suffered severe damage from a gunshot wound, she was called upon to assist with the repairs. Since Dr. Rudy Wells was not available, she gathered the electronic components that led to her learning top-secret information. Thus, Callahan gained access to level 6 clearance in the organization.
While she remained safe throughout the series as an office worker, she occasionally faced challenges that endangered her career and life. In The Winning Smile, the OSI began believing that she had leaked information about hydrogen fusion. So, she took a lie detector test to prove her innocence. Later, she faced imminent danger as a Fembot doubt assaulted her in Kill Oscar. Thus, Dr. Franklin took Oscar Goldman, Lynda Wilson, and her captive.
8. Andy Sheffield
Vincent Van Patten momentarily joined the cast of the Six Million Dollar Man as the new bionic boy, Andy Sheffield. After the star athlete of Kanab, Utah became crippled thanks to a rockslide, the OSI elected to implant the newest version of bionics. While Andy lost his father in the rockslide, he gained the opportunity to walk again thanks to the government agency. Rather than completely replace his limbs, as they did for Steve Austin, these new implants would augment his existing body.
After his surgery, Steve Austin traveled to Andy Sheffield’s hometown to oversee his recovery. The man also helped the new bionic boy become accustomed to his new powers. As Andy Sheffield adjusted to his bionic limbs, he soon began to display more power and speed than Steve Austin. Unfortunately, the power that these bionics granted the boy soon began to overwhelm his body.
Despite everyone’s best intentions, Andy Sheffield’s new bionics threatened his very life. Since they would have eventually killed him, Rudy Wells decided to neutralize the source of their power. While he saved his life, Andy returned to reduced mobility. While he frequently needed to rest, he still could walk for brief periods. So, he never reached the success of Steve Austin, and no one followed his exploits.
7. Dr. Rudy Wells
Three different men took on the role of the lead scientist responsible for Steve Austin’s bionic limbs, Rudy Wells. First, Martin Balsam took on the role during the first pilot televised movie. Many who tuned in to the first two seasons of the Six Million Dollar Man witnessed Alan Oppenheimer in the role. After Oppenheimer left the show, Martin E. Brooks took on the role beginning with The Return of the Bionic Woman.
No matter which actor played Rudy Wells, the man remained one of the OSI’s most respected scientists. This man collaborated with multiple other scientists to create bionic technology. Since he helped design the bionic components, he also led the surgical teams that implanted these bionic enhancements. Sadly, many who received his bionic implants also suffer from extreme side effects, some of which threatened their lives. However, the success of Steve Austin kept Rudy Wells as the premier scientist in bionic research.
Since Rudy Wells was the top expert in the field, he often checked up on the two OSI agents who adapted well to his implants: Steve Austin and Jaime Sommers. Thus, both of these bionic people also formed a strong bond with the man. Even though they trusted him, they also disagreed with him at times. For instance, Jaime Sommers became distraught when she learned that he planned to dissect the bionic dog, Max. So, she took him out on a run to stall the procedure before she eventually adopted him.
6. Bigfoot
When the Six Million Dollar Man turned to the legend of bigfoot, they put their own bionic twist on the plot. Rather than simply presenting the cryptid as most would expect, the missing link between man and great apes, they crafted a complex backstory for this creature. This version of Bigfoot was no mere creature roaming the woods. Instead, he was a robotic entity that an alien race built to keep them safe.
The first to take on the role of Bigfoot was André the Giant. He donned the furry costume in the season two two-part episode, The Secret of Bigfoot. As Steve Austin first encountered Bigfoot, he quickly learned that this creature was not as he seemed. When he accidentally severed the arms of this massive creature, Steve Austin learned that Bigfoot was a cybernetic creation.
As he continued to investigate Bigfoot, Steve Austin met Shalon, the alien who created the beast. She explained how she used Nyosynthetics, advanced bionics that Mergeron powered, to design a robot that imitated a lower life form from her home world. She hoped to cultivate mystery and fear with this robot so humans would not find their secret base.
Later, Ted Cassidy took on the role of Bigfoot as the beast returned in multiple episodes. This time, a rogue group of aliens used the robot to plunder things for their nefarious needs. After Steve gained control of the robot, he joined forces with Bigfoot to subdue the rogue faction. The final encounter with Bigfoot revealed that in the absence of the aliens, the creature was beginning to become purely biological.
5. Death Probe
When the Six Million Dollar Man aired on ABC’s network, the Cold War was in full force. At the time, Americans were always afraid of when a full-out war would rise from the silent power struggle between them and the Soviets. They also believed that Soviet spies were willing and ready to infiltrate all aspects of their culture to undermine their culture. So, it is no surprise that they would feature several enemies that stemmed from Soviet Russia.
One of the most notable foes from the Soviets came in the form of a crashed probe that they originally launched toward Venus. However, its botched launch led the probe to land in a remote area of Wyoming. Since their scientists built this machine for the harsh climate of space and Venus’ atmosphere, the machine was incredibly durable on Earth’s surface. This durability made this probe near indestructible.
In an attempt to recover the probe, the Soviets quietly moved the probe’s designer, Irina Leonova, to America. Unfortunately, her attempts to order the machine to shut down failed. She theorized that a gunshot had made the probe believe that it was near a volcanic eruption, overriding all orders.
Despite the probe’s durability, Steve Austin eventually came up with a way to defeat it. He reasoned that it had a significant internal pressure to help it deal with Venus’s surface. So, he brought the probe to the upper atmosphere, where the pressure was lighter. This gave him the opening to destroy the probe.
4. Barney Hiller/Miller
Monte Markham joined the cast of the Six Million Dollar Man as Steve Austin’s dark shadow, the Seven Million Dollar Man. In stark contrast to Steve, Barney Hiller took advantage of his superhuman abilities to follow his selfish desires. So, he became a cautionary tale of how badly Steve Austin could have become.
Originally, the show introduced this character as Barney Miller, a race car driver who lost his arms and legs in a crash. This crash gave the OSI the opening to grant him bionic limbs. Unlike their first success, the cost of Barney Miller’s augments cost about one million dollars more, totaling around seven million dollars.
Unfortunately, as Steve Austin mentored Barney on how to use his bionic limbs, he quickly found that the man had no qualms about violently using his powers. Unwilling to play by the OSI’s rules, Barney turned against them before he pursued his own goals. After Steve Austin subdued him, the OSI modified Barney’s bionics to remove his superhuman strength.
When he returned, the show changed his name to Barney Hiller. Despite the best intentions of the OSI, Barney managed to reactivate the strength behind his bionics as he tried to force his way back into racing. Even though he viciously attacked his sponsor, he, in turn, became manipulated as other villains kidnap his wife. So, he began a crime spree that caught Steve Austin’s attention.
3. Oscar Goldman
From the very beginning, Richard Anderson played the role of Steve Austin’s direct superior in the OSI, Oscar Goldman. This man began his career in the Navy before he joined the OSI to become one of their senior members. Notably, at some point in his early career, Oscar also served as a public prosecutor. So, he always enjoyed upholding the letter of the law and keeping the peace.
After Steve Austin’s tragic crash, Oscar Goldman convinced Senator Ed Hill to procure the Six Million Dollar funding for the surgery. Since he arranged for the creation of the OSI’s first bionic man, he became the top official with confidential information concerning these bionics. With his access to top-secret materials, the OSI formed standing orders to terminate Oscar in case of his capture.
As Oscar Goldman oversaw the bionics program, he rose to become the head of the OSI. While the series never clarified the position of the OSI in the United States government, he occasionally received direct orders from the president. He also reported directly to a cabinet-level secretary, though the show never named which one.
Beyond arranging the funding for Steve Austin’s augmentation, Oscar was instrumental in the authorization of Jaime Sommer’s surgery. Each of these bionic individuals agreed to serve as OSI agents in exchange for their implants. So, both Steve Austin and Jaime Sommers reported to and received orders from Oscar.
2. Jaime Sommers
As the Six Million Dollar Man was nearing the end of the second season, the show introduced Lindsay Wagner as the Bionic Woman, Jaime Sommers. Having grown up alongside Steve Austin in their hometown, Ojai, California, the two had a high-school fling in the past. While Steve moved on to join the military, eventually becoming an astronaut, Jaime became a teacher and a top-ranked professional tennis player. However, they quickly rekindled their romance when they met again in Ojai.
As they celebrated their reunion, the two went on a fateful sky-diving excursion. Sadly, Jaime Sommer’s parachute failed, which resulted in her receiving life-threatening injuries. At Steve Austin’s request, Oscar Goldman quickly authorized the surgery that would grant Jaime bionic implants and save her life.
As the surgery replaced her legs, right arm, and right ear, Jaime gained several of the same powers as Steve Austin. However, instead of bionic sight, she had bionic hearing that allowed her to hear from great distances.
While she happily joined the OSI as their newest agent, her body quickly began showing signs that it was rejecting her implants. When the show initially killed her off, fans quickly overwhelmed ABC with demands to bring her back. So, she returned in the third season, where she survived but lost her memories. After her return, ABC launched the spin-off series, The Bionic Woman.
1. Steve Austin
Lee Majors took on the leading role of the Six Million Dollar Man as Steve Austin, the first bionic man for the OSI. After a successful military career, NASA enlisted Steve for the astronaut program. As an astronaut, Steve landed on the moon as part of the Apollo 17 mission. After returning to the Earth, Steve set his sights on becoming a chief designer for an experimental space shuttle. Unfortunately, this path led to his tragic accident, which tore off his right arm, crushed his legs, and penetrated his left eye.
As Steve Austin teetered on the brink of death, Oscar Goldman pushed for the funds to turn this accolated man into the OSI’s first bionic man. Thus, Rudy Wells replaced his damaged limbs with augmented bionic limbs. They also replaced his left eye with bionics. Once Steve Austin recovered, he was capable of several superhuman feats, including running over sixty miles per hour. Likewise, his arm could now lift well over one thousand pounds. Finally, his eye gained the ability to zoom in, granting him enhanced vision.
As an OSI agent, Steve Austin traveled across the country, tackling the various forces that threatened the nation. Often, he thwarted the schemes of spies and other adversaries of the United States government. However, he also occasionally took on simple criminals that he came across.
Who were your favorite characters from the Six Million Dollar Man?
Today, we have shared with you our picks for the top ten characters from the hit show, The Six Million Dollar Man. However, we still would love to hear from you. Let us know in the comments below if you agree with our list. Who would you have picked as the top ten characters?
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Thank you providing an interesting and informative article. My blurred memory seemed to think that the actor Sam Groom played the second bionic man, but I read that he appeared in the Bionic Woman?
I looked over Sam Groom’s filmography. While he did appear in the Bionic Woman, he was Major John Cross for only one episode.
Wow my memory sure isnt like the reality. Im trying to remember the actor who plays a villain who is a cyborg that takes their face off to reveal a machine underneathe.
Sorry, not sure off the top of my head. Thank you for stopping.