Although she rose to fame in 1973 playing Susan Fields in the commercially successful film The Paper Hunt, Lindsay Wagner had already been involved in a dozen film and television projects over the previous two years. She wears many hats as an actress, producer, mother, model, author, acting coach, singer, and adjunct teacher. She doesn’t like to distinguish between these roles, as she believes her commitment to them is her way of developing her potential.
One of the film industry’s most iconic roles in the 1970s and 1980s, in 1975, when she first played the character of Jamie Sommers in the science fiction television series The Six Million Dollar Man . She has since reprized this role more than once, and has racked up over 90 film and television credits to her name in her acting career. Wagner, who was diagnosed with dyslexia, is proof that anyone can overcome any obstacle to become a success.
Biography of Lindsay Wagner
First name Jean, her first name, Lindsay was born to Marilyn Louise and William Nowels Wagner on June 22, 1949 in Los Angeles. At the age of seven, she experienced the collapse of her parents’ marriage. She then lived with her mother and stepfather in Eagle Rock, Los Angeles, and later in Portland, Oregon.
It was here that she had her high school education at David Douglas High School and began to take more interest in the world of theater and acting. After graduating, she was admitted to the University of Oregon. Less than a year later, she transferred to Mount Hood Community College.
His career achievements
Over the course of her career, Lindsay has been a lot of things to a lot of people for a lot of reasons. Through her work on the big screen, in particular, it seems like she always takes on roles that seek to communicate ideas that help people move forward in their personal journeys.
Lindsay started working in modeling in Los Angeles, her hometown. Early in her career, she appeared on a few TV shows, including Playboy After Dark, and The Dating Game, while signing as a contract player for Universal Studios. She finally burst into primetime television when she appeared as Jenny Carson on an episode of Adam-12 in 1971. This opened the door to numerous television appearances with Universal. In this period, she portrayed Stella Bowers in The Bold: The Lawyers (1971); Diana Oliver in Owen Marshal, Barrister (1971); Laurie Peale at The FBI(1972) ; and Laurie Meyers in Sarge (1971) among others.
Moving on to film roles in 1973, she was cast in Two People as Deirdre McCluskey and The Paper Hunt as Susan Fields. The premiere was her feature debut and saw her play a lead character for the first time.
One of her biggest characters came in 1975 when she played Jamie Sommers in the sci-fi series The Six Million Dollar Man alongside actor Lee Majors. The positive response received for her portrayal prompted the network to write out her character in episodes and subsequent spinoffs of the series. This included a separate show for her character in 1976 titled The Bionic Woman. She continued to make guest appearances on both shows throughout 1976, as her own spin-off continued through 1978, ending a run of 58 episodes for the series. As a reward for her efforts, in 1977 she won an Emmy Award in the category “Best Actress in a Dramatic Role”.
Following the cancellation of The Bionic Woman in 1978, Lindsay Wagner continued to appear in a series of television films and minor projects. Among them are 1980’s Scruples where she played Billy Ikehorn and Nighthawks where she starred as Sylvester Stallone’s character’s ex-wife. The 80s also saw her reunited on screen with Lee Majors for several Bionic and Six Million Dollar Man TV movies.
In the early 1990s and 2000s, her acting career began to gradually fade. She appeared in Ricochet (1991); A Peaceful Kingdom (1989-1995); Thicker Than Water (2005); Warehouse 13 (2010 – 2014); and Blend All the Way (2018).
Wagner’s name was finally permanently engraved in ink on December 13, 1984, when she was offered her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in the movie category. She would earn her second star, a Golden Palm Star on the Walk of Stars, in Palm Springs, California, in 2012.
His non-interim efforts
Wagner slowly began to focus on other aspects of his career. In 2013, she served as an assistant professor as an acting coach at San Bernardino Valley College located in Southern California. Starting in 2018, she also began voice and motion capture on Death Stranding, a collaborative video game from Sony Interactive Entertainment and Kojima Productions.
As an author, Lindsay Wagner published a series of books between 1987 and 1994. These books saw her collaborate with authors Robert M. Klein and Ariane Spade. Her first book Lindsay Wagner’s New Beauty: Acupressure Facelift was released in 1987. Next was 30 Day Natural Facelift Program the following year and High Road to Health: A Vegetarian Cookbook in 1994. .
Lindsay has also appeared in a number of advertisements for brands such as Ford Motor Company and Select Comfort.
Lindsay Wagner, wife and children
The actress has been married four times, and interestingly, none of them lasted more than three years.
Her first relationship was with Captain Daniel M. Yoder. They never married, as the serviceman was sent to Vietnam, thus ending their relationship. Her first marriage was to music mogul Allan Rider from 1971 to 1973. She then tied the knot with another actor, Michael Brandon, in 1976, but that didn’t last until 1979.
Then Henry Kingi worked as a stuntman on the set of The Bionic Woman. She married him in 1981 and they called it off in 1984. However, the couple had two sons, Dorian and Alex, during their time together. Her last marriage was to Lawrence Mortoff, a television and film producer. The marriage lasted from 1990 to 1993.