from little joe cartwright to pa inngalls

Michael Landon because a true hollywood legend








On October 31, 1936, Michael Landon (Eugene Maurice Orowitz) was born in the town of Forest Hills, New York. He was the second child of Eli Orowitz and Peggy O'Neill. When Michael was a child his family moved to Collingswood, New Jersey and this was where he lived until after graduating high school. In high school he excelled in track and field, his specialty being javelin, and this earned him a scholarship to college at the University of California. After an injury to his arm he wasn't able to continue throwing the javelin, so he lost his scholarship and left school.
Michael Landon made his way into show business kind of by accident. While working at a warehouse, he accompanied a friend for an audition at Warner Brothers Studios. Instead of his friend getting signed, Warner Brothers signed Michael and sent him to acting school. And so began Michael Landon's career in the entertainment industry. First he acted in movies such as "I Was a Teenage Werewolf", "The Legend of Tom Dooley" and "Fight for the Title". However, he didn't become a household name until he played the part of Little Joe Cartwright in the popular western television series Bonanza, which ran from 1959 to 1973. As the character of Little Joe, Michael Landon stole the hearts of viewers young and old alike. Who didn't love Little Joe! The youngest of the Cartwright boys, he was fun-loving, humorous, friendly, caring and handsome to boot! During the run of this series Michael tried his hand at writing and directing and did so successfully. The titles of some of the Bonanza shows he wrote or co-wrote are "Ballad of the Ponderosa", "Joe Cartwright, Detective", "A Dream to Dream", "To Die in Darkness", "Kingdom of Fear" and "Forever". After the 14th and final season of Bonanza, Michael moved on to produce, write, direct and star in his second longest running television