What Happened to Michael Landon?

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Michael Landon.Image via Wikimedia Commons

The Rise to Fame

Michael Landon Sr. (born Eugene Maurice Orowitz; October 31, 1936 – July 1, 1991) was an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for his roles as Little Joe Cartwright in Bonanza (1959–1973), Charles Ingalls in Little House on the Prairie (1974–1983), and Jonathan Smith in Highway to Heaven (1984–1989). Landon appeared on the cover of TV Guide 22 times, second only to Lucille Ball.

Early life, family and education

Landon was born Eugene Maurice Orowitz on October 31, 1936, in Forest Hills, a neighborhood of Queens, New York City, New York. His parents were Kathleen "Peggy" (née O'Neill; a dancer and comedian) of Irish descent and Eli Maurice Orowitz. Eli was Jewish, and Peggy was Roman Catholic. Landon's sister, Evelyn, was born three years earlier.

In 1941, when Landon was four years old, the family relocated to the borough of Collingswood, New Jersey. He celebrated his bar mitzvah at Temple Beth Sholom in Haddon Heights, New Jersey. His family recalls that Landon "went through a lot of hassle studying for the big event, which included bicycling to a nearby town every day in order to learn how to read Hebrew and recite prayers." He said: "We were one of two Jewish families in a working-class town that had its share of anti-Semites". Years later he told an interviewer that he never went on a date when he was in high school "because no Christian father in the town would allow his daughter to go out with a Jew."

The Peak Years

During his childhood, Landon worried constantly about his mother attempting suicide. He later reported that on a family beach vacation, his mother tried to drown herself, but Landon rescued her. Shortly after the attempt, his mother acted as if nothing happened, and a few minutes later, he vomited. He said that it was the worst experience of his life. Stress overload from his mother's suicide attempts caused Landon to battle the childhood problem of bedwetting, which was reported in the unauthorized biography Michael Landon: His Triumph and Tragedy. His mother put his wet sheets on display outside his window for all to see. He ran home every day and tried to remove them before his classmates could see. Some of these experiences were incorporated into his semi-autobiographical television movie, The Loneliest Runner, which he wrote, produced, and directed.

Landon attended Collingswood High School and was an excellent javelin thrower, with his 193 ft 4 in (58.93 m) toss in 1954 being the longest throw by a high schooler in the US that year. This earned him an athletic scholarship to the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California, but he subsequently tore his shoulder ligaments, putting an end to his days as a college athlete and as a student.

In Los Angeles, Landon considered going into show business. He worked as an attendant at a gas station across from the Warner Bros. studios in Burbank, California. He was eventually noticed by Bob Raison, a local talent agent. Following his advice, Landon changed his Jewish-sounding name, selecting his new name from a telephone book.

Early work

What Changed

Landon's first starring appearance was on the television series Telephone Time, in the episode "The Mystery of Casper Hauser" (1956) as the title character. In the prior year, he had appeared in the short live TV series Luke and the Tenderfoot. He was in the premiere episode. The series lasted only one more episode before cancellation. Other parts came, including movie roles in: I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957), Maracaibo (1958), High School Confidential (1958), God's Little Acre (1958) and The Legend of Tom Dooley (1959), as well as many roles on television, such as: Crossroads (three episodes), The Restless Gun (pilot episode aired on Schlitz Playhouse of Stars), Sheriff of Cochise (in "Human Bomb"), U.S. Marshal (as Don Sayers in "The Champ"), Crusader, Frontier Doctor, The Rifleman (in "End of a Young Gun", 1958), The Adventures of Jim Bowie, Johnny Staccato, Wire Service, General Electric Theater, The Court of Last Resort, State Trooper (two episodes), Tales of Wells Fargo (three episodes), The Texan (in the 1958 episode "The Hemp Tree"), The Tall Man, Tombstone Territory (in the episodes "The Man From Brewster", with John Carradine and "Rose of the Rio Bravo", with Kathleen Nolan), Trackdown (two 1958 episodes), and Wanted Dead or Alive, starring Steve McQueen (in episodes "The Martin Poster", 1958, and "The Legend", 1959).

Landon also appeared in, at least, two episodes of Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater including "Gift from a Gunman" in 1957 and "Living is a Lonely Thing" in 1959. Landon can be seen in two uncredited speaking roles as a cavalry trooper in a 1956 episode of the ABC/Warner Bros. television series Cheyenne, an episode titled "Decision". Two years later, Landon returned to that same series as White Hawk in "The White Warrior".

In 1959, at the age of 22, Landon began his first starring TV role as Little Joe Cartwright on Bonanza, one of the first TV series to be broadcast in color. Also starring on the show were Lorne Greene, Pernell Roberts, and Dan Blocker. During Bonanza's sixth season (1964–1965), the show topped the Nielsen ratings and remained number one for three years.

Receiving more fan mail than any other cast member, Landon negotiated with executive producer David Dortort and NBC to write and direct some episodes. In 1962, Landon wrote his first script. In 1968, Landon directed his first episode. In 1993, TV Guide listed Little Joe's September 1972 two-hour wedding episode ("Forever") as one of TV's most memorable specials. Landon's script recalled Little Joe's brother, Hoss, who was initially the story's groom, before Dan Blocker's death. During the final season, the ratings declined, and NBC canceled Bonanza in November 1972. The last episode aired on January 16, 1973. Along with Lorne Greene and Victor Sen Yung, Landon appeared in all 14 seasons of the series. Landon was loyal to many of his Bonanza associates, including producer Kent McCray, director William F. Claxton, and composer David Rose, who remained with him throughout Bonanza, as well as Little House on the Prairie and Highway to Heaven.

Where Michael Landon Is Now

Little House on the Prairie

The year after Bonanza was canceled, Landon went on to star as Charles Ingalls in what became another successful television series, Little House on the Prairie, again for NBC. The show was taken from a 1935 book written by Laura Ingalls Wilder, whose character in the show was played by 9-year-old actress Melissa Gilbert. In addition to Gilbert, two other unknown actresses also starred on the show: Melissa Sue Anderson, who appeared as Mary Ingalls, the oldest daughter in the Ingalls family, and Karen Grassle as Charles' wife, Caroline. Landon served as executive producer, writer, and director of Little House. The show was nominated for several Emmy and Golden Globe awards.

After eight seasons, Little House was retooled by NBC in 1982 as Little House: A New Beginning, which focused on the Wilder family and the Walnut Grove community. Though Landon remained the show's executive producer, director, and writer, A New Beginning did not feature Charles and Caroline Ingalls. A New Beginning was actually the final chapter of Little House, as the series ended in 1983. The following year, three made-for-television movies aired.

In a 2015 interview, Gilbert said of Landon, "He gave me so much advice...the overall idea that he pounded into me, from a little girl, into my brain was that nothing's more important than 'Home & Family'; no success, no career, no achievements, no accomplishments, nothing's more important than loving the people you love and contributing to a community. Though we were working, really, really hard, we were 'Not Saving the World', one episode of television at a time, we're just entertaining people and there are more important things to do... and have fun; no matter what."

Legacy

Highway to Heaven

After producing both "Little House" and later the Father Murphy TV series, Landon starred in another successful program. In Highway to Heaven, he played a probationary angel (who named himself Jonathan Smith) whose job was to help people in order to earn his wings. His co-star on the show was Victor French (who had previously co-starred on Landon's Little House on the Prairie) as ex-cop Mark Gordon. On Highway, Landon served as executive producer, writer, and director. Highway to Heaven was the only show throughout his long career in television that he owned outright. Landon created the show after a promise he made to God when his daughter was in a coma.

By 1985, prior to hiring his son, Michael Landon Jr., as a member of his camera crew, he also brought real-life cancer patients and disabled people to the set. His decision to work with disabled people led him to hire a couple of adults with disabilities to write episodes for Highway to Heaven.

By season four, Highway dropped out of the Nielsen top 30, and in June 1988, NBC announced that the series would return for an abbreviated fifth season, which would be its last. Its final episodes were filmed in the fall of 1988. One aired in October, two in December, one in March 1989, and the remainder aired on Fridays from June to August. French did not live to see Highway's series finale broadcast; he died of advanced lung cancer on June 15, 1989, two months after it was diagnosed. Landon invited his youngest daughter, Jennifer Landon, to take part in the final episode.

Other projects

Frequently asked questions