Michael Landon

Michael Landon: Biography in Details

Who was Michael Landon?

Michael Landon was a Golden Globe Award winner and Hollywood Walk of Fame inductee.

Michael Landon was an actor, writer, director, and producer.

He was known for his roles as Little Joe Cartwright in Bonanza, Charles Ingalls in Little House on the Prairie, and Jonathan Smith in Highway to Heaven.

Landon appeared on the cover of TV Guide 22 times, second only to Lucille Ball.

When was Michael Landon born?

Landon was born Eugene Maurice Orowitz on October 31, 1936, in Forest Hills, a neighborhood of Queens, New York, the USA to Peggy (née O’Neill) and Eli Maurice Orowitz.

He was the Orowitz family’s second child; their daughter, Evelyn, was born 3 years earlier.

In 1941, when Landon was 4, he and his family moved to Philadelphia.

During his childhood, Michael Landon constantly worried about his mother attempting suicide.

Stress overload from the suicide attempts of his mother caused Landon to battle the childhood problem of bed-wetting, which was documented in the unauthorized biography, Michael Landon: His Triumph and Tragedy.

Where did Michael Landon graduate from?

He attended Collingswood High School. In high school, Landon was an excellent javelin thrower.

His record has been 193′ 4″ 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.

But Michael Landon subsequently tore his shoulder ligaments, ending his javelin throwing career and his participation on the USC track team.

Michael Landon’s Career, Profession

Landon started his career appearing on the TV series Telephone Time.

Soon he started getting movie roles in I Was a Teenage Werewolf, Maracaibo, High School Confidential, the notorious God’s Little Acre, and The Legend of Tom Dooley.

He appeared in many TV roles, like Crossroads, The Restless Gun, Sheriff of Cochise, U.S. Marshal, Crusader, Frontier Doctor, The Rifleman, The Adventures of Jim Bowie, Johnny Staccato, Wire Service, General Electric Theater, The Court of Last Resort, State Trooper, Tales of Wells Fargo, The Texan, The Tall Man, Tombstone Territory, Trackdown, and Wanted: Dead or Alive, till 1960.

In 1957, Candlelight Records released a Michael Landon single, “Gimme a Little Kiss (Will “Ya” Huh)”/ “Be Patient With Me”.

On 1962, both the A- and B-side of the record were re-released on the Fono-Graf label.

In 1964, RCA Victor Records released another Landon single, “Linda Is Lonesome”/”Without You”. All of Landon’s singles have since been issued on CD by Bear Family Records.

In 1959, Landon began his first starring TV role as Little Joe Cartwright on Bonanza.

During Bonanza’s sixth season, the show topped the Nielsen ratings & remained number 1 for 3 years.

Receiving more fan mail than any other cast member Landon negotiated with the executive producer & NBC to write & direct some episodes.

In 1962, Michael Landon wrote his first script. In 1968, Landon directed his first episode.

During the final season, the ratings declined, & NBC canceled Bonanza in November 1972.

The year after Bonanza was canceled, Landon went on to star in the TV series, Little House on the Prairie.

Landon served as executive producer, writer, & director of Little House.

Little House became Landon’s second-longest-running series.

It was nominated for several Emmy & Golden Globe awards.

After 8 seasons, Little House was retooled by NBC in 1982 as Little House: A New Beginning.

Landon remained the show’s executive producer, director & writer.

A New Beginning was actually the final chapter of Little House, as the series ended in 1983.

The following year, 3 made-for-television movies aired.

He also experimented as a producer. He produced “Little House” & later the Father Murphy TV series, Landon starred in Highway to Heaven.

On Highway, he served as executive producer, writer, & director.

By 1985, prior to hiring his son, Michael Landon Jr., as a member of his camera crew, he also brought real-life cancer patients & 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.

The final episodes were aired from May to August 1989. Co-star French would not live to see Highway’s series finale make it to air; he died of advanced lung cancer on June 15, 1989, the disease diagnosed 2 months before.

Michael Landon invited his youngest daughter, Jennifer Landon, to take part in the final episode.

In 1973, Landon was an episode director &writer for the series Love Story.

He co-produced an NBC “true story” television movie, Love is Forever, about Australian photojournalist John Everingham’s successful attempt to scuba dive under the Mekong to rescue his lover from communist-ruled Laos in 1977, in 1982.

The real Everingham was cast as an extra in the film. Sam’s Son was a 1984 film written & directed by Landon and loosely based on his early life.

After the cancellation of Highway to Heaven & before his move to CBS, Landon wrote & directed the teleplay Where Pigeons Go to Die.

Based on a novel of the same name, it was nominated for two Emmy awards.

Michael Landon’s Death, Cancer

After the cancellation of Highway and due to a fallout with those within NBC’s upper management, he moved to CBS.

In 1991 starred in a two-hour pilot called Us. Us was meant to be another series for Landon but, with his diagnosis on April 5 of pancreatic cancer, the show never aired beyond the pilot.

Michael Landon also appeared as a celebrity panelist on the premiere week of Match Game on CBS.

In February 1991, Landon began to suffer severe abdominal pain while on a skiing vacation in Utah.

On April 5, 1991, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, which had metastasized to his liver and lymph nodes.

The cancer was inoperable and terminal.

On July 1, 1991, at age 54, Landon died in Malibu, California.

Landon was interred in a private family mausoleum at Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery, in Culver City, California.

His son Mark’s remains were also interred there upon his death in May 2009.

The net worth of Michael Landon in 2024?

His net worth is estimated to be around $40 million as of 2024.

Hair, Eyes, Height, Social Media

Landon Sr. was a blond with blue eyes and with height of 5 feet 9 inches.

He has more than 2k followers on Twitter. He does not use Facebook or Twitter.

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Michael Landon's Anniversary Dates

Michael Landon's Birthday Dates