There was a time when fame and prestige were slowly simmered. That's why the numerous actors who starred in some of the most iconic series before the social media revolution still hold a special place in several generations. At least until Generation Y.
Among the seventies series that marked an era is The Bionic Woman, starring Lindsay Wagner (76), somewhat like the female version of The Six Million Dollar Man (1973-1978) by Lee Majors (86), who was also well known for being Farrah Fawcett-Majors' first husband, who would later achieve fame with Charlie's Angels.
Considered one of the most important science fiction series, The Bionic Womanturned Lindsay Wagner into a star, who through her Instagram has announced that the series is celebrating its 50th anniversary.
In Los Angeles, she worked as a model and TV hostess before her life changed forever. She became an actress by chance as while working as a caregiver for actor James Best's children, he suggested she attend his drama classes. In a short time, Universal Studios hired her in 1971 for $1,000 a week.
Her first significant role was in the series Adam-12, later she appeared in other TV shows like The F.B.I. or Marcus Welby and even starred in her first movie, Encounter in Marrakech (1973) with Peter Fonda.
After playing Jaime Sommers in The Six Million Dollar Man as the protagonist's girlfriend, the actress accepted the contract for her own independent series. Thus, The Bionic Woman was born. For this work, she initially earned $500,000 annually, a little over 12% of the royalties from merchandising and the guarantee of making five movies.
The actress has been married four times. From 1971 to 1983 to music editor Allan Rider, to actor Michael Brandon from 1976 to 1979, to film stuntman Henry Kingi, whom she met during the series and with whom she had two sons, Dorian (43) and Alex (39), from 1981 to 1984, and lastly to TV producer Lawrence Mortorff, from 1990 to 1993.
As an anecdote, it is worth mentioning that her uncle Ed Thraser was the husband and father of the children of Linda Gray (85), the unforgettable star of Dallas (1978-1991).
Such was the impact of The Bionic Woman that according to the actress in an interview with People magazine, "I couldn't go anywhere two months after the series premiered, so I had to do my shopping just before the stores closed." The most striking moment was when she coincided with a mother and her daughter in one of the aisles: "'I love the series so much that I named my daughter after you,' she said to me. That's when I realized how big the show was."
To celebrate the golden anniversary of the TV show, Lindsay Wagner will be hosting a series of virtual meetings with her fans, of which she says, "some are fun, some are very sweet and others have confessed to feeling sad and that the series helped them not to dwell on it and feel supported by Jaime."
Currently, Wagner still resides in California, but away from Hollywood, dedicating much of her time to caring for her 95-year-old mother, Marilyn.