By Cordillia Marvine
FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
Lee Majors (born Harvey Lee Yeary; April 23, 1939) is an American actor. He portrayed the characters of Heath Barkley on the American television Western series The Big Valley (1965–1969), Colonel Steve Austin on the American television science-fiction action series The Six Million Dollar Man (1973–1978), and Colt Seavers on the American television action series The Fall Guy (1981–1986).
Majors was born in Wyandotte, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. His parents, Carl and Alice Yeary, were both killed in separate accidents. (His father died in a work accident five months prior to his birth, and his mother was killed in a car accident when he was almost seventeen months old.) At the age of two, Majors was adopted by his uncle and aunt, Harvey and Mildred Yeary, and he moved with them to Middlesboro, Kentucky.
He participated in track and football at Middlesboro High School. He graduated in 1957, and earned a scholarship to Indiana University, where he again competed in sports. Majors transferred to Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, Kentucky, in 1959. He played in his first football game the following year, but suffered a severe back injury which left him paralyzed for two weeks and ruined his college athletic career. Following his injury, he turned his attention to acting and performed in plays at the Pioneer Playhouse in Danville, Kentucky. Majors graduated from Eastern Kentucky in 1962 with a degree in history and physical education. He planned to be a football coach.
After college, he received an offer to try out for the St. Louis Cardinals football team. Instead, he moved to Los Angeles and found work at the Los Angeles Park and Recreation Department as the recreation director for North Hollywood Park. In Los Angeles, Majors met many actors and industry professionals, including Dick Clayton, who had been James Dean‘s agent, and Clayton suggested he attend his acting school. After one year of acting school, Clayton felt that Majors was ready to start his career. At this time, he picked up the stage name Lee Majors as a tribute to childhood hero Johnny Majors who was a player and future coach for the University of Tennessee. Majors also studied at Estelle Harman‘s acting school at MGM.
TODAY’S ALMANAC
Question of the Day
Advice of the Day
Home Hint of the Day
Word of the Day
Puzzle of the Day
Born
- William Shakespeare (playwright) –
- James Buchanan (15th U.S. president) –
- Lester Pearson (Canadian prime minister) –
- Shirley Temple Black (actress) –
- Roy Orbison (musician) –
- Lee Majors (actor) –
- Tony Esposito (hockey player) –
- Judy Davis (actress) –
- Valerie Bertinelli (actress) –
- George Lopez (comedian & actor) –
- Melina Kanakaredes (actress) –
- Kal Penn (actor) –
- Chloe Kim (Olympic snowboarder) –
- Frederick Richard (Olympic gymnast) –
Died
- William Shakespeare (playwright) –
- William Wordsworth (poet) –
- Harold Arlen (composer) –
- Howard Cosell (sports journalist) –
- Paul K. Keene (pioneer of organic farming in U.S.) –
- Boris Yeltsin (president of Russia) –
- David Halberstam (Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter) –
Events
- Church of England annulled the marriage between Catherine of Aragon and King Henry VIII –
- First postage stamps issued in Canada –
- Guelph, Ontario, incorporated as a city –
- Hank Aaron hit his first major league home run –
- Ranger 4 spacecraft launched –
- Natalie Wood made Harvard history when she became the first performer voted the year’s worst by the Harvard Lampoon to show up and accept her citation –
- The first YouTube video, “Me at the zoo,” was uploaded –
Weather
- Denver received 23 inches of snow in 24 hours –
- Ice out, Lake Winnipesaukee, NH –
COURTESY www.almanac.com
