Michael Landon starred in wholesome family dramas throughout his five-decade television career.
Michael`s roles created an image of Mr. Nice Guy, though in real life he was not the most
perfect person.
He had a very tough childhood that impacted on him as a future father and husband and
unfortunately led to troubles in his own family.
What struggles did Michael Landon have to face during his childhood?
Stay with us and learn more in this video.
Michael was the youngest son of a Catholic mother and a Jewish father who were both actors.
Michael`s parents fought bitterly in front of him.
The family did not have enough money and when Landon was four years old, they moved from
NY to the poor suburbs of New Jersey.
Since his father was Jewish, Michael`s family followed all religious traditions.
Thus, Michael attended and celebrated Bar Mitzvah at Temple Beth Shalom.
For that, Michael had to cycle to a nearby town every morning to learn how to read Hebrew
and pray.
Landon's mom was mentally unstable and often attempted suicide.
She would easily stick her head in the oven or threaten herself with a knife.
Landon constantly worried about his mother's suicide attempts.
As his father was busy with his acting career, Michael was the one who had to calm his mother
down in distress.
For a little boy who just started school, it was too much pressure.
Once, the family vacationed at a beach.
His mother tried to drown herself, but Michael rescued her.
Shortly after the attempt, his mother acted as if nothing had happened.
A few minutes later, Michael vomited.
He said that it was the worst experience of his life.
Stress overload from his mother's suicide attempts caused Landon to struggle with bedwetting.
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.
A chronic bedwetter, he retreated into a fantasy world, finding solace in comic books and solitary walks.
These events later inspired Landon to write and direct the 1976 made-for-television movie,
The Loneliest Runner.
Young Michael was an outsider: His classmates taunted him as a “Jewish bastard,” and
the shy, skinny adolescent ate lunch alone in the school cafeteria.
However, in high school, Landon was very successful in javelin throw.
He had the longest throw by a high schooler in the United States in 1954.
It even allowed him to get an athletic scholarship at the University of Southern California.
But a new trouble came in his way.
Michael subsequently tore his shoulder ligaments, ending his javelin career.
As his sports plans failed, he decided to follow his parents` career and started auditioning for roles.
His first starring appearance was on the television series, Telephone Time.
Then came a spate of tiny parts in B-movies like, I Was a Teenage Werewolf, Maracaibo,
and many, many others before Bonanza.
Of course, the role of Little Joe Cartwright in Bonanza was a huge breakthrough for Michael.
Unfortunately, it entailed a series of new worries, disappointments, and misery.
Stressed out by the show’s second season, he found himself popping up to 50 or 60 tranquilizers
every three days: “It was murder.”
Landon defeated drug addiction thanks to the support of his second wife, Lynn, and his
strong faith in God that he had since childhood.
Still, his sense of being an underdog never left him.
The perfectionism that spurred him to become one of TV’s most successful producers was
a reflection of his struggles to leave behind his hapless childhood.
So was his fierce devotion to his family.
Landon tried hard to build a happy family but his past left its mark.
He was married 3 times, had 9 children and still could not become the father he dreamed to be....
Though... how can we judge him, knowing his troubling childhood?
Want to know more about the life of Michael Landons` children?
Click on our video about their tragic life stories
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