Michael Landon

The Athlete Who Ended Up in the Phone Book

Eugene Maurice Orowitz never wanted to be an actor. His personal obsession was the javelin throw, and he actually earned a college scholarship to the University of Southern California thanks to his arm. But a torn ligament in 1954 changed everything in an instant.

He took a job at a gas station to pay the bills, and that's where a talent agent discovered him. He took his stage name from a Los Angeles phone book because his original surname sounded too Jewish for the industry at the time.

And that's how Michael Landon was born.

His first real breakthrough was I Was a Teenage Werewolf in 1957. It was a B-movie that did wonders at drive-in theaters across the United States. But his real steady paycheck came when he joined the cast of Bonanza in 1959.

He played Little Joe for fourteen straight years. On that set he learned that writers sometimes ran out of ideas, so he started writing his own scripts out of sheer necessity. He went on to direct 14 episodes of the series before the show finally ended for good in 1973.

He didn't want to be just a pretty face in front of the camera.

Absolute Control of the Ranch

When Bonanza ended, the Landon ranch already had enough clout in the industry to set its own terms. At first, NBC didn't want to produce Little House on the Prairie, feeling it was too soft a rural drama for the era. He insisted, and he took charge of everything as executive producer, screenwriter and star.

He controlled every detail of the shoot in Simi Valley. They say he was an extremely demanding boss who would not tolerate supporting actors arriving late. In 1974, the series became a massive ratings phenomenon that broke every forecast by analysts.

But Landon had a complex side that the press of those years barely touched. He smoked four packs of cigarettes a day and drank vodka regularly during shooting days. He kept up that grueling work pace for decades without his image as a model father suffering the slightest damage.

After the end of Little House on the Prairie in 1983, it didn't take him even a year to launch another big-budget project. With Highway to Heaven in 1984, he proved once again that audiences wanted heartfelt stories with a very clear moral message. It was the first time an actor of his stature played an angel on American television on an ongoing basis.

His luck ran out in the spring of 1991.

An Ending Without a Script

He was diagnosed with inoperable pancreatic cancer in April of that year. He appeared on Johnny Carson's show to talk about his condition with a composure that left the nation speechless. He wasn't seeking sympathy; he wanted to explain why he would fight the disease until the very last minute.

He died at his home in Malibu on July 1, 1991, at the age of 54. He left an estimated fortune of $100 million and nine children from three different marriages. The funeral was private, and television cameras were not allowed in.

His last credited production was the TV movie Us, released just a few months before his death.