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Michael Landon
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Michael Landon
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.
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."
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.
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".[citation needed]
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.[citation needed]
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Michael Landon
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.
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."
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.
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".[citation needed]
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.[citation needed]
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