"The Big Valley" was the last hurrah of the TV Western craze of the 1960s, so it's no surprise that many of the show's stars have since passed on. But two major actors are still with us, and if you've been keeping up with popular culture over the last five years, you know who they are.
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00:00The Big Valley was the last hurrah of the TV western craze of the 1960s, so it's no
00:05surprise that many of the show's stars have since passed on.
00:08But two major actors are still with us, and if you've been keeping up with popular culture
00:12over the last five years, you know who they are.
00:15Big screen westerns might have been falling out of favor at the U.S. box office in 1965,
00:20but TV westerns were still swaggering their way to strong ratings thanks to Bonanza, Gunsmoke,
00:24and The Wild Wild West, with Rawhide finally drawing to a close that year, allowing Clint
00:29Eastwood to become a modern western star.
00:31There was suddenly room for a new, sudsy, ranch-pound saga about scheming landowners
00:35and warring heirs.
00:41The Big Valley whooped it up for a solid four-season run on ABC, running out of steam in 1969.
00:47Viewers were hooked on the doings at the Barclay Ranch, a widespread of land bequeathed to
00:51Barbara Stanwyck's Victoria Barclay by her late husband.
00:54Victoria is a fiercely proud woman and as formidable a matriarch as television has ever
00:58had.
00:59She watched over three capable sons played by Richard Long, Peter Breck, and Lee Majors,
01:03and Linda Evans portrayed her vivacious daughter Audra.
01:07The Big Valley was a 19th-century-set precursor of sorts to nighttime soaps like Dallas and
01:11Dynasty, and it launched the careers of two actors who would become major TV stars in
01:15the 70s, and these two stars are still with us today.
01:19Lee Majors was in his mid-20s when he landed his first major role in television or film
01:23as illegitimate half-brother Heath Barclay on The Big Valley.
01:27The character had to brawl his way into the family, but was ultimately accepted.
01:31Majors was a sturdy athletic type, but was a touch too stolid to be a major movie star.
01:35He found his ideal role in 1973 as Colonel Steve Austin, aka the Six Million Dollar Man,
01:41a vibe he effortlessly carried over to the Fall Guy in 1981 as stuntman Colt Seavers.
01:47Majors was a heartthrob, to be sure, but he didn't have a natural charisma with his female
01:50leads like some of his big-screen contemporaries.
01:53So, once The Fall Guy ended in 1986, he was largely relegated to supporting parts.
01:58Most recently, he popped up at the end of David Leitch's 2024 The Fall Guy adaptation
02:02as a cop.
02:03And you, you have the right to remain silent.
02:07So shut the hell up.
02:09Born in Hartford, Connecticut but raised in Los Angeles, Linda Evans was on a rocket ship
02:13to celebrity beginning with her days at the Fame & Fortune Springboard that is Hollywood
02:16High School.
02:18Evans had the looks and the vivacity to be a major movie star, but she got her break
02:22early on in television and, after a string of guest appearances, broke through to the
02:26small screen big time in The Big Valley.
02:28Then in her early 20s, Evans was viewed more as a sex symbol than a serious actor, which
02:32was bunk because she was holding her own weekly in scenes with much more experienced performers.
02:36I'm really a gay star, aren't I?
02:40You're a mighty pretty one.
02:41She sought out film stardom in the 1970s, but the parts were rarely worthy of her.
02:46Nowadays, her most memorable movie performance is likely in the lousy 1975 Joe Don Baker
02:51cop thriller Mitchell, later made famous by Mystery Science Theater 3000.
02:55You've got me wrong, I'd like a glass.
02:58Okay, your majesty.
03:01Evans' next television triumph arrived in 1981 with Dynasty, where she torched the screen
03:05as the fiery Crystal Carrington.
03:07Again, she was terrific here, but all anyone seems to remember about her time on the long-running
03:12series is her epic on-screen catfights with co-star Joan Collins.
03:15How dare you talk to me about my son?
03:19His son too, Alexis.
03:20When the series ended in 1989, she gradually drew back from acting altogether.
03:25Aside from a small role in 2021's critically acclaimed drama Swan Song, she has basically
03:29retired.
03:30At the age of 81, she's more than earned her leisure time.