Trivia for
"The Six Million Dollar Man" (1974) More at IMDbPro »

• Ex-USAF pilot and NASA PR man Martin Caidin's 1971 novel "Cyborg" was the source material for this show.
  
  
• The aircraft seen crashing in the show's opening sequence was an M2-F2, a "flying body configuration" built by Northrop. The audio sound effects are from a crash that occurred on May 10, 1967, at Edwards Air Force base in California (although the dialog heard was recorded by Majors). The test pilot, Bruce Peterson, hit the ground at 250 mph, tumbling six times. He lost use of his right eye and had to stop flying, ending his career. Understandably, Peterson has said that he hated reliving his accident, week after week, courtesy of the show.
  
  
• The characters of Oscar Goldman (Richard Anderson) and Rudy Wells (Martin E. Brooks) appeared on both this series and its spinoff, "The Bionic Woman" (1976). When the spinoff moved to another network, this practice continued. This was the first time the same continuing characters appeared on two different TV series broadcast on two different networks at the same time.
  
  
• Near the end of the series, Lee Majors experimented with changing Austin's look by growing a mustache. This proved unpopular and the idea was dropped, but not before a number of commercial tie-ins, including a comic book and a lunch box, had been produced with the new look.
  
  
• In the spring of 1977, before production began on what would be the show's final season, Lee Majors refused to go to work until contract demands were met. At one point it was reported that producers were considering hiring a new actor to take over the series. Among those considered were Gil Gerard, Bruce Jenner, and Harrison Ford (the producers said he was unsuitable as an action hero).
  
  
• Early episodes of the series had Austin killing villains on occasion. As it became clear that Austin was becoming a role model for kids, the level of violence in the series decreased, with Austin rarely (if ever) actually killing anyone.
  
  
• The characters Steve Austin and Jamie Sommers (from "The Bionic Woman" (1976)) were ranked #19 in TV Guide's list of the "25 Greatest Sci-Fi Legends" (1 August 2004 issue).
  
  
• Martin Caidin based the character of Steve Austin on astronauts David Scott and Eugene Cernan (commanders of Apollo 15 and 17, respectively).
  
  
• The exterior shots of OSI Headquarters are actually the Russell Senate Office Building as seen from the Senate side of the Capitol, across Constitution Avenue in Washington, DC.
  
  
• When the show was broadcast in Israel, it was called "The Man Who Is worth Millions". This was due to the fact that, in Israel, the number six million is associated with the Holocaust
  
  
• Martin Caidin originally wanted Monte Markham for the role of Steve Austin.
  
  

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