1. Michael Landon is 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.
36 Facts About Michael Landon
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Michael Landon was born Eugene Maurice Orowitz on October 31,1936, in Forest Hills, a neighborhood of Queens, New York.
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Michael Landon's parents were Kathleen "Peggy" and Eli Maurice Orowitz.
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Michael Landon's father was Jewish, and his mother was Roman Catholic.
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Michael Landon celebrated his bar mitzvah at Temple Beth Sholom in Cherry Hill.
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Michael Landon later reported that on a family beach vacation, his mother tried to drown herself, but Landon rescued her.
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Michael Landon said that it was the worst experience of his life.
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Michael Landon's mother put his wet sheets on display outside his window for all to see.
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Michael Landon ran home every day and tried to remove them before his classmates could see.
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Now in Los Angeles, Michael Landon considered going into show business, and worked as an attendant at a service station across from the Warner Bros.
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Michael Landon was eventually noticed by Bob Raison, a local talent agent.
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Michael Landon's first starring appearance was on the television series Telephone Time, in the episode "The Mystery of Casper Hauser" as the title character.
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Two years later, Michael Landon returned to that same series as White Hawk in "The White Warrior".
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In 1959, at the age of 22, Michael Landon began his first starring TV role as Little Joe Cartwright on Bonanza, one of the first TV series to be broadcast in color.
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Michael Landon's script recalled Little Joe's brother, Hoss, who was initially the story's groom, before Dan Blocker's death.
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The year after Bonanza was canceled, Michael Landon went on to star as Charles Ingalls in the pilot of what became another successful television series, Little House on the Prairie, again for NBC.
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Michael Landon served as executive producer, writer, and director of Little House.
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On Highway, Michael Landon served as executive producer, writer, and director.
19.
Michael Landon invited his youngest daughter, Jennifer Michael Landon, to take part in the final episode.
20.
In 1973, Michael Landon was an episode director and writer for the short-lived NBC romantic anthology series Love Story.
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Michael Landon was a guest of the PBS television series The Electric Company.
22.
Michael Landon appeared as a celebrity panelist on the premiere week of Match Game on CBS.
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Michael Landon had a singing career, of the teen idol type.
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All of Michael Landon's singles have since been issued on compact disc by Bear Family Records as part of a Bonanza various-artists compilation.
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Michael Landon sang on television, on the Dean Martin Show, Hullabaloo, and other venues, and sang live on stage at theatrical venues.
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Michael Landon was married three times and was a father to nine children :.
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In February 1959, Michael Landon's father died from a heart attack.
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Michael Landon was hospitalized with serious injuries and remained in a coma for days.
29.
Michael Landon admitted to being a chain smoker and heavy drinker.
30.
Michael Landon began to suffer from a severe headache while he was on a skiing vacation in Utah.
31.
Michael Landon said that he believed his smoking and drinking had caused his pancreatic cancer, and that he had tried to quit smoking after co-star Victor French died of lung cancer.
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Michael Landon appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson to speak about the cancer and condemn the tabloid press for its sensational headlines and inaccurate stories, including the claim that his wife and he were trying to conceive another child.
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Michael Landon was interred in a private family mausoleum at Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery, in Culver City, California.
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When sitting down to eat the second time, Carson discovered that Michael Landon had helped create a fake menu of dinner items featuring cat metaphors.
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Michael Landon allegedly damaged a motel room wall during a 1962 stay while headlining the local county fair in Neligh, Nebraska.
36.
The room, now called the Michael Landon Suite, remains largely unchanged, and the plaque beside the hole commemorates the incident.