Michael Landon

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Birthday:

31 October 1936, Forest Hills, Queens, New York City, New York, USA

Birth Name:

Eugene Maurice Orowitz

Height:

175 cm

Michael Landon was born Eugene Maurice Orowitz, on Saturday, October 31st, 1936, in Forest Hills, Queens, New York. In 1941, he and his family moved to Collingswood, New Jersey.When Eugene was in high school, he participated -- and did very well -- in track and field, especially javelin throwing, and his athletic skills earned him a scholarship to USC. However, an accident injured his arm, ending his athletic career -- and his term at USC -- and he worked a number of odd jobs and small roles to make ends meet and decided that acting was for him. However, he thought that his real name was not a suitable one for an aspiring actor, and so "Michael Landon" was born.Two of his first big roles were as Tony Rivers in I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957) and as Tom Dooley in the western The Legend of Tom Dooley (1959). That same year he was approached by producer David Dortort to star in a pilot called The Restless Gun (1957), which was renamed when the series was picked up to Bonanza (1959). Landon played Little Joe Cartwright, the youngest of the three Cartwright brothers, a cocky and somewhat rebellious youth nevertheless had a way with the ladies. For 14 years, Landon became the heart and soul of the show, endearing himself to both younger and older viewers, and he became a household name during the 1960s and 1970s.In 1968, after almost ten years of playing Little Joe, he wanted an opportunity to direct and write some episodes of the show. After the season finale in 1972, Dan Blocker, who played his older brother Hoss and was also a close friend, died from a blood clot in his lung, after gall bladder surgery, but Michael decided to go back to work, revisiting his own character in a two-part episode called "Forever."Bonanza (1959) was finally canceled in early 1973, after 14 years and 430 episodes. Michael didn't have to wait long until he landed another successful role that most TV audiences of the 1970s would thoroughly enjoy, his second TV western, for NBC, Little House on the Prairie (1974). That show was based on a popular book written by Laura Ingalls Wilder, and he played enduring patriarch and farmer Charles Ingalls. Unlike Bonanza (1959), where he was mostly just a "hired gun," on this show he served as the producer, writer, director, and executive producer. By the end of its eighth season in 1982, Landon decided to step down from his role on "Little House" as he saw his TV children grown up and moved out of their father's house, and a year later, the show was canceled. After 14 years on Bonanza (1959) and 8 years on Little House on the Prairie (1974), it was about time to focus on something else, and once again, he didn't have to wait too long before Highway to Heaven (1984) came along. Unlike the western shows that he did for 23 years, this NBC fantasy/drama show focused on Jonathan Smith, an angel whose job was to save peoples' lives and work for God, his boss. Victor French played ex-cop Mark Gordon, who turned down a fortune but had redeemed himself by meeting Jonathan.By the end of the fifth season in 1989, French was diagnosed with lung cancer and died in June of that same year. Landon was devastated by the loss and pulled the plug on Highway to Heaven (1984). In early 1991, after 35 years of working on NBC, he was axed by the network, so he moved to CBS to star in the pilot of a two-hour movie, Us (1991), in which he played Jeff Hayes, a man freed from prison by new evidence after 18 years wrongfully spent inside. This was going to be another one of Landon's shows but, in April 1991, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He later appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962) to talk about his battle with the disease, and many people in the audience were affected by the courage and energy he showed. Unfortunately, he was already terminally ill by that time, and on Monday, July 1st, 1991, after a three-month battle, he finally succumbed to the disease. His family, his colleagues, and his children were all by his side. His life-time: Saturday, October 31st, 1936 to Monday, July 1st, 1991, was 19,966 days, equaling 2,852 weeks & 2 days. Show less «

Whatever you want to do, do it now. There are only so many tomorrows.

I was grown before I realized that other mothers didn't put their heads in the oven.

I felt my father's presence with me, enlightening my memories, helping me to commit to paper the feelings I had. I really heard my father sp...Show more »

I felt my father's presence with me, enlightening my memories, helping me to commit to paper the feelings I had. I really heard my father speaking to me from the other dimension, filling my mind with just the right words. The story came so fast and was so right. In three days, the script was complete. Show less «

I want people to laugh and cry, not just sit and stare at the television. Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but I think viewers are hungry for shows ...Show more »

I want people to laugh and cry, not just sit and stare at the television. Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but I think viewers are hungry for shows in which people say something meaningful. Show less «

[on his illness]: Well, the news shocked the hell out of me. Nothing was further from my mind, since I'm only 54 and, with rare exceptions, ...Show more »

[on his illness]: Well, the news shocked the hell out of me. Nothing was further from my mind, since I'm only 54 and, with rare exceptions, I'd been healthy my whole life. Not that I don't deserve to have a cancer. I'm a good athlete and I work out hard - before this happened I could bench press 300, 350 pounds, no sweat - but I've abused my body over the years. I don't want people to think that everybody is a likely candidate for cancer of this type. I think I have it because for most of my life, though I was never a drunk, I drank too much. I also smoked too many cigarettes and ate a lot of wrong things. And if you do that, even if you think you're too strong to get anything, somehow you're going to pay. Show less «

[on being so popular on television]: Boy, you gotta be real sick to get this much attention.

[During his last days]: I don't mind dying if I have to, but I'm damned if I want to pay for the guarantee. I'm sorry.

[on his physical technique]: I didn't have the right look. Back then actors were big, muscular, terrific! And I was still 125 pounds and the...Show more »

[on his physical technique]: I didn't have the right look. Back then actors were big, muscular, terrific! And I was still 125 pounds and the five foot eleven I'd always be. Show less «

[on the cancellation of Little House on the Prairie (1974)]: I wanted to destroy the entire town, which I did. Everybody needed the catharsi...Show more »

[on the cancellation of Little House on the Prairie (1974)]: I wanted to destroy the entire town, which I did. Everybody needed the catharsis on that show. We were together for nine years, and that's why we blew it up. That, plus the fact, I didn't want anybody making a trashy movie at Walnut Grove, because I like that town. Show less «

[In 1974]: Yes I am perfect. It's a problem I've had all my life.

[In 1991]: If I'm gonna die, death's gonna have to do a lot of fighting to get me.

I never felt I was going to make it as an actor because to me actors were tall and handsome and had great voices.

[Who wrote the majority of the Little House on the Prairie (1974) episodes, where he had a voice in matters of the series' policy]: We're tr...Show more »

[Who wrote the majority of the Little House on the Prairie (1974) episodes, where he had a voice in matters of the series' policy]: We're trying to stick close to the true story. The problem is the books were short and over four years - I think we can run four years - we'll need more than 100 stories. So, we have to invite some. Show less «

We each have our own miracles. I'm still hoping to beat it.

[Who differentiated between his Charles Ingalls character and himself]: Ingalls had a beard in real-life, but I don't. The problem is that I...Show more »

[Who differentiated between his Charles Ingalls character and himself]: Ingalls had a beard in real-life, but I don't. The problem is that I can't grow a beard - it just looks like stubble. I wasn't going to play the part for six months with a beard glued to my face so I decided to play him clean-shaven. Show less «

[Who said in 1980 of Pernell Roberts's departure on Bonanza (1959)]: Pernell didn't like the show and would let you know it, but he rarely c...Show more »

[Who said in 1980 of Pernell Roberts's departure on Bonanza (1959)]: Pernell didn't like the show and would let you know it, but he rarely cared to do much about improving it. To say a show stinks doesn't make it better. After he left, we took one leaf out of the dining room table and we all made more money because we split the take three ways instead of four. Show less «

[In 1979]: People would do themselves a great favor if they would take the blame for things that go wrong, and say to themselves, "I've got ...Show more »

[In 1979]: People would do themselves a great favor if they would take the blame for things that go wrong, and say to themselves, "I've got to do something about this." But you can't do anything if you always blame your problems on someone else. You have to say, "It's my fault, and I'd better do something about this.". Show less «

[When he began his directorial debut on Bonanza (1959)]: When I direct, I try to work with a minimum number of set-ups [individual scenes] p...Show more »

[When he began his directorial debut on Bonanza (1959)]: When I direct, I try to work with a minimum number of set-ups [individual scenes] possible so we have time to do certain shots you usually don't have a chance to do. In the first day of this show, for example, instead of having 15 set-ups, as is normal, we had only three in the can by noon. But they were intricate shots, and this technique pays off in the long run. Show less «

I feel sorry for people who have problems which are beyond their control, but most of life's problems are our own fault - and sympathy under...Show more »

I feel sorry for people who have problems which are beyond their control, but most of life's problems are our own fault - and sympathy under those conditions doesn't do a bit of good. Show less «

[In 1976]: The very worst thing you can do to a man is to make him think he is a coward. If a guy needs his job in order to feed and clothe ...Show more »

[In 1976]: The very worst thing you can do to a man is to make him think he is a coward. If a guy needs his job in order to feed and clothe his kids, he'll put up with a lot of abuse before he fights back. I have seen many men mentally shattered by some big-mouth who screamed and yelled in order to get his way. Most of those men did not deserve the abuse but they had to have their jobs, so they kept their mouths shut - and that made them feel like cowards. Show less «

[on blaming one's boss]: When a man knows he's being wronged and that he should yell right back at his boss, but is afraid to because he fea...Show more »

[on blaming one's boss]: When a man knows he's being wronged and that he should yell right back at his boss, but is afraid to because he fears being fired, then he had just convinced himself that he's a coward and that is one of the worst things you can do to a person. I don't blame a man for keeping his mouth shut in circumstances like that, but he will blame himself, and that is horrible. Show less «

[on his messy divorce from his second wife] The relationship lasted nineteen years. I don't consider that a failed marriage. I don't think i...Show more »

[on his messy divorce from his second wife] The relationship lasted nineteen years. I don't consider that a failed marriage. I don't think it was a disaster. We produced some terrific kids. We just didn't grow in the same direction. We became different people. We both changed. To stay with someone when you no longer have anything in common is the cruelest thing to do to a child. It's much better to divorce and have two parents happy. I don't know if Charles Ingalls would have stayed married to Caroline as long as he did, except that it was a long way to the next house in those days. I was not an aging lecher looking for a fresh young thing. You don't dissolve a relationship to go to bed with someone twenty years younger. You have to have major differences to stop a relationship, after as many years as I was married. With a wife and seven children, there's always a problem. Lynn and I fought a lot, about jealousy, about my being tied up with my work. I'd go into depressed moods, and then I'd go around screaming at people at home and in the studio - and at everyone in sight. Banging down phones, swearing and yelling. But I figure if you don't have these kind of problems, life would just come up with some other unpleasantries for you. Nobody's perfect. Not Charles Ingalls. Not Michael Landon. Show less «

I came home and found my 12-year-old daughter devouring the Laura Ingalls Wilder books. Then I discovered that my wife had devoured them too...Show more »

I came home and found my 12-year-old daughter devouring the Laura Ingalls Wilder books. Then I discovered that my wife had devoured them too when she was a girl, and was reading them again. So I went to NBC and told them Little House was it. Show less «