Richard Anderson, who played OSI boss Oscar Goldman on both The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman, has died at the age of 91.

Anderson’s acting career didn’t just include the bionics shows: after an early appearance in Forbidden Planet, he made his name in Stanley Kubrick’s Paths of Glory, and was a frightening surgeon in John Frankenheimer’s SF tale, Seconds. He had a key role in the finale to the long running series The Fugitive, and as the villainous Night Strangler in the second Kolchak TV movie before being cast as Goldman for the second Six Million Dollar Man pilot, Wine, Women & War, based on the character created by Martin Caidin. Anderson went on to appear on two different networks simultaneously playing the same character when The Bionic Woman moved from ABC to NBC. He reprised the role for the three TV movies that followed.

Bionic man Lee Majors noted, “Richard became a dear and loyal friend, and I have never met a man like him. I called him ‘Old Money.’ His always stylish attire, his class, calmness and knowledge never faltered in his 91 years. He loved his daughters, tennis and his work as an actor. He was still the sweet, charming man when I spoke to him a few weeks ago.”

Bionic Woman star Lindsay Wagner added: “I can’t begin to say how much I have always admired and have been grateful for the elegance and loving friendship I was blessed to have with Richard Anderson.”

Sci-Fi Bulletin had the pleasure of interviewing Anderson in the late 1990s in Los Angeles, and can confirm Majors’ description of his stylish attire – in a crowded bookstore, he was instantly recognisable in his white linen suit!

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