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 Michael Landon
Birthday: October 31, 1936
Birth
Place: Forest Hills, Queens, New York, USA
Height: 5' 9"
Below
is a complete filmography (list of movies he's appeared in) for
Michael Landon. If you have any corrections or additions, please email
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| Biography
Michael Landon was born Eugene Maurice Orowitz, on October 31, 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 UCLA. However, an accident injured his arm, ending his athletic career - and his term at UCLA - 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", 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" was finally cancelled in early 1973, after 14 years and 461 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", 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 cancelled. After 14 years on "Bonanza" and 8 years on "Little House", 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." In early 1991, after 35 years of working on NBC, he was axed by the network and moved to CBS to star in the pilot of a two-hour movie, Us (1991) (TV), in which he played prisoner Jeff Hayes, who tried his best to kill a wealthy man's wife and was sentenced to prison. 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 July 1, 1991, after a three-month battle, he finally succumbed to the disease. His family, his colleagues and his children were all by his side.
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Movie
Credits
Trivia
- Children: Mark Fraser Landon (adopted at age 7 in 1956; aka Mark Landon), Josh Fraser Landon (adopted as newborn in 1960), Leslie Ann Landon (b 11 October 1963; aka Leslie Landon), Michael Graham Landon (b. 20 June 1965; aka Michael Landon Jr.), Shawna Leigh Landon (b. 1971; aka Shawna Landon), Christopher Beau Landon (b. 27 February 1975; Christopher B. Landon), Jennifer Rachel Landon (b. 29 August 1983; aka Jennifer Landon), Sean Matthew Landon (b. 6/1986) and step-daughter Cheryl Ann Pontrelli.
- He was the only actor (so far) to have three consecutive shows on television which ran for five years or more: "Bonanza" (1959) (1959-1973), "Little House on the Prairie" (1974) (1974-1983), and "Highway to Heaven" (1984) (1984-1989).
- Interred at Hillside Memorial Park, Culver City, California, USA.
- Actress Melissa Gilbert's son Michael (b. 1995) was named after him.
- His birthplace, Forest Hills, is a neighborhood area in Queens, New York.
- U.S. President Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy Davis Reagan, attended Landon's memorial service the day after his death.
- Inducted (as a cast member of "Little House on the Prairie") into the Hall of Great Western Performers of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in 1998.
- Always claimed to have chosen his professional name by picking the name Michael Landon out of the Los Angeles telephone directory.
- His mother Peggy died on March 15, 1981.
- His parents were Jewish and Irish Catholic.
- Never legally adopted his stepdaughter, Cheryl, because of her birth father's objections.
- Started having grey hair at age 20.
- The youngest of two children.
- Won the freshman javelin toss at the University of Southern California-Los Angeles.
- Comedian and ex-talk show host, Johnny Carson was a longtime friend of his and had (in private) always confided in Landon and shared his own issues with him.
- Before his death, he appeared on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" (1962) to talk about his brave battle against cancer and his life and it was the highest-rated show of all time.
- Had to drop out of the University of California-Los Angeles because he tore his shoulder ligaments, which would prevent him from throwing the javelin again, and he was attending UCLA on an athletic scholarship.
- His last wife was former make-up artist Cindy Clerico, whom he met near the end of the "Little House" run in 1981, and married two years later.
- Grew up in the southern New Jersey town of Collingswood and graduated Collingswood High School in 1954.
- Charles Ingalls, Landon's character on "Little House on the Prairie" (1974), was ranked #4 in TV Guide's list of the "50 Greatest TV Dads of All Time" [20 June 2004 issue].
- Studied karate under Chuck Norris, as did the children of his "Bonanza" co-star Dan Blocker.
- Before he became a successful actor, he worked in a warehouse and at a gas station.
- Starred with Victor French in two of his successful TV series.
- His second wife, Marjorie Lynn Noe, was one of the few people who refused to attend his funeral, because she told her children that the divorce had already been like a death to her.
- When he filed for divorce from Lynn, it cost him million. Though he gave her his .5-million, 35-room Beverly Hills mansion, this bitter divorce was a devastating blow for Lynn, who stated on TV that her ex-husband had become her angel. (16 April 1981)
- In 1954, he was the national high school record holder in the javelin throw.
- Wrote and directed two movies that were semi-autobiographical: The Loneliest Runner (1976) (TV) and Sam's Son (1984).
- By most accounts he was exactly like the kind, gentle, heroic characters he portrayed onscreen and in fact few, if any, people complained about working with him, something rare in Hollywood.
- He had 10 hobbies: fishing, karate, spending family time, painting, creating half-finished dog houses, building mosaic coffee tables, using dismantled guns, creating components from sports cars, taking care of disabled kids and playing bridge.
- 12 years after his death, his eldest sister, Evelyn, died on New Years' Day, 2003.
- He smoked 4 packs of cigarettes a day during his lifetime, which probably contributed to the pancreatic cancer that killed him.
- His stepdaughter, Cheryl, recalled in his biography "I Promised My Dad" that once Landon was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, he realized that all the years of smoking, drinking and eating an unhealthy diet had taken their toll. Later, despite going on a regimen that included a naturalistic approach to the cancer (coffee enemas and a healthy diet), Landon was devastated to learn that the cancer had tripled in size.
- He was left-handed, and his awkward handwriting (he often hand-wrote scripts) sometimes made it difficult for his secretary to read what he'd written).
- Despite being given a less than three per cent chance of survival, Landon announced he was going to beat his pancreatic cancer. Unfortunately by the time of the diagnosis it had already spread to his liver and stomach.
Naked Photos of Michael Landon are available at MaleStars.com. They
currently feature over 65,000 Nude Pics, Biographies, Video Clips,
Articles, and Movie Reviews of famous stars. |
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