Lindsay Wagner (born Lindsay Jean Ball on June 22, 1949 in Los Angeles, California) is an American actress.

Wagner has appeared in many movies and television shows. She is best known for her portrayal of Jaime Sommers on the television series The Bionic Woman, for which she won an Emmy Award.

When Wagner was seven, her parents divorced and her mother moved with her to the northeast Los Angeles neighborhood of Eagle Rock, near Pasadena. Wagner's acting career might have been able to begin her acting career as a teenager, she was offered a lead role in a TV series at the age of 13, but was advised by family friend James Best Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane of the Dukes of Hazzard to wait until she was older.

Another move with her mother and stepfather brought her to Portland, Oregon where she attended David Douglas High School and appeared in a number of school plays. She then studied at the University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon. Lindsay overcame dyslexia to become a successful academic student, to read and memorize her lines, and to become a prospective.

Acting career

Lindsay began by working as a model in Los Angeles and gained some television experience by appearing in Playboy After Dark.

However, it wasn't until she contacted a friend at Universal Studios and was cast for a small part in Marcus Welby, M.D. that her acting career began to take off. In 1971, Wagner signed as a "contract player" that meant she would appear in several different productions for a set weekly salary. Her appearances in these TV shows helped her win roles in the films Two People and as the girl friend of a Harvard law student in The Paper Chase.

Wagner's next appearance was as Jaime Sommers, a former tennis pro turned Bionic Woman in The Six Million Dollar Man (1975). Her character Jaime Sommers was critically injured in a sky-diving accident, and at the urging of Major Steve Austin, she was equipped with bionic limbs like his to keep her from being crippled. It was also intended for this to be her last role in a Universal production. Her character Jaime, who was Steve Austin's childhood sweetheart in the real town of Ojai, California, in a two-part episode of the series, sickened and apparently died.

Bowing to public demand, Universal brought "The Bionic Woman" back to life. Wagner starred in another two-part series within The Six Million Dollar Man, called "The Return of the Bionic Woman", and then her own series, The Bionic Woman, was spun off. Like Steve Austin, Jaime Sommers became an agent for the fictitious U.S. Government agency, the O.S.I., though, suffering from amnesia, she could not remember her previous crush on Major Austin.

Wagner has been married four times. From 1971-73 she was married to music publisher Allan Rider. From late 1976 through 1979, she was married to the actor and writer, Michael Brandon. Then in 1981, she married to Henry Kingi, a stuntman whom she met on the set of The Bionic Woman. Wagner bore two sons with Kingi; Dorian (b. 1982), and Alex (b. 1986). Lindsay married TV producer Lawrence Mortorff in 1990, but then divorced a couple of years later. She is remotely related to fellow actress Linda Gray by marriage, since Gray's husband is one of Lindsay's uncles.

Later life

Wagner continues to act, primarily in infomercials and appearances on other shows. Her largest roles have been in several made-for-TV movies about Steve Austin and Jaime Sommers. In the final and most sacharine installment, the pair finally hook-up in holy matrimony.

Lindsay Wagner is on the board of directors of the Teen Talking Circle Project and has been an active supporter of Girls Talking Circles.

The Project, which is directed by her friend and photographer, Linda Wolf, published an interview with Lindsay in their book, Daughters of the Moon, Sisters of the Sun: Young Women and Mentors on the Transition to Womanhood (by Linda Wolf & Wind Hughes, published by New Society Publishers, 1997), which can be read at.

Lindsay is also the co-director of her own nonprofit, PeaceMakers Community, with James Beard.

Recently, she appeared in infomercials for the Sleep Number Bed.

Trivia

Wagner was scheduled to be a passenger on American Airlines Flight 191 from Chicago to Los Angeles on May 25, 1979, but she felt uneasy about flying that day. Wagner skipped the flight, which crashed only moments after takeoff, killing everyone on board.

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