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 and as Tom Dooley in the western The Legend of Tom Dooley. 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. 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. 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 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, 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 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.


Children: Mark Fraser Landon (adopted-born October 1, 1958); aka Mark Landon) and Josh Fraser Landon (adopted as newborn in 1960-born February 11, 1960) with Dodie Levy-Fraser. 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. December 4, 1971; aka Shawna Landon) and Christopher Beau Landon (b. 27 February 1975; Christopher B. Landon) with Lynn Noe and Jennifer Rachel Landon (b. 29 August 1983; aka Jennifer Landon)and Sean Matthew Landon (b. 6/1986) with Cindy Landon. He also had a step-daughter, Cheryl Ann Pontrelli. Actress Melissa Gilbert's son Michael (b. 1995) was named after him. U.S. President Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy Davis Reagan, attended Landon's memorial service the day after his death. Always claimed to have chosen his professional name by picking the name Michael Landon out of the Los Angeles telephone directory. His parents were Jewish and Irish Catholic. Started having grey hair at age 20. Won the freshman javelin toss at the University of Southern California-Los Angeles. 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. 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. 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]. Before he became a successful actor, he worked in a warehouse and at a gas station. 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. In 1954, he was the national high school record holder in the javelin throw. 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 smoked 4 packs of unfiltered Menthol cigarettes a day during his lifetime, which probably contributed to the pancreatic cancer that killed him. 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). Wore lifts in "Bonanza" (1959) so he would not be dwarfed by considerably taller co-stars Dan Blocker and Lorne Greene. Had an IQ of 159. Is buried at the same cemetery as his TV father, Lorne Greene (Hillside Memorial Park, Culver City, California). Brian Keith and Ernest Borgnine attended his funeral. Was very good friends with Johnny Carson, Ernest Borgnine, Merlin Olsen and Victor French. He encouraged his children, not to make the same mistake Landon had made, when he was a teenager. As a result, his children were told to study, without watching television, except if it was "Little House on the Prairie" (1974). According to "Little House on the Prairie" (1974), co-star, Karen Grassle, she once said in an interview that he had a very lonely childhood as a result of his parents fighting. He once invited Shirley Jones to an art exhibit. His adoptive son, Mark Landon, died in May 2009 at the age of 60. Attended Ronald Reagan's second inauguration as Governor of California on 3 January 1971, and his first inauguration as President of the United States on 20 January 1981. Left an estate worth $100 million. Encouraged by his wife, Landon quit smoking in the summer of 1989 following his friend Victor French's death.