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Michael Landon (October 31, 1936 - July 1, 1991), born Eugene Maurice Horowitz, was an American actor and director.
Landon was best known for his starring roles in three TV series spanning three decades. In the 1960s he starred as "Little Joe" on Bonanza. In the 1970s and into the 1980s he starred as Charles Ingles in Little House on the Prairie and starred in Highway to Heaven as an angel, also in the 1980s. Landon also directed the last two series.
In high school, Landon excelled at track, especially with the javelin. He earned a scholorship to UCLA, but could no longer attend after tearing a ligament in his arm. At this point he started taking small roles and bit parts, but decided his birth name was not appropriate for an aspiring actor and changed his name to Michael Landon. He decided on the name by picking it out of a Los Angeles phone book.
Landon's first big part was as Tony Rivers in I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957). He also gained exposure as Tom Dooley in the western The Legend of Tom Dooley (1959).
That same year he started starring in the then-new TV series Bonanza as "Little Joe." The youngest brother in the Cartwright family and always a ladies man, he quickly became one of the show's most beloved characters. Late in the series, Landon asked for the direct and got permission to direct a few episodes of the series. The show ran for 14 years, from 1959 to 1973, and spanned 461 episodes.
Soon after the cancellation of Bonanza, Landon started a new series in 1974 called Little House on the Prairie based on the popular book by Laura Ingalls Wilder. He not only starred in the show as the patriarch Charles Ingalls, but served as the producer, writer, director and executive producer. He served in these capacities for the series' eight years, which ended in 1982.
In 1984 he began his role in Highway to Heaven as Jonathan Smith, an angel who tried to save people by helping them turn their lives around. When his friend and co-star, Victor French, died of lung cancer in 1989, Landon cancelled the series.
Landon had produced all three of his series for NBC, but after ending Highway he was let go. He then went to CBS and in 1991 starred in a two hour pilot called Us. This was meant to be another winning series for Landon, but he was soon diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
Lanson died in Malibu, California with his family, children and colleagues by his side.
Landon was married three times and died married to his third wife, Cindy Clerico. He fathered six children (by two different wives) and had two adopted sons (of his first wife, Dodie Frasier). His co-star on Little House, Melissa Gilbert, named her son, Michael (1995), after Landon.
