Eugene Maurice Orowitz born in 1936 and to become known as Michael Landon had a very rough childhood, mainly due to an emotionally fragile mother. He was best known for being part of happy families. First, as Little Joe as part of the Cartwright family in Bonanza, then the loving father in Little House On The Prairie.
Michael did not grow up in a loving, secure family. His parents did not have a happy marriage which led to constant arguing with resultant problems for the sensitive Michael. He would wet the bed which found little sympathy from his mother. She thought she could shame him into stopping by hanging his wet bedsheets out of his window and then the humiliation would cause him to stop. This made his embarrassment worse and he would rush home from school to pull in the sheets before his classmates saw them. The bedwetting continued till he was 12.
Michael’s daughter, Cheryl, described his upbringing in the biography, I Promised My Dad. She wrote about how his mother was a bully who made life difficult for everyone she came into contact with. Once she pulled a knife on Michael.
His mother was also suicidal and tried to kill herself a couple of times in front of Michael. Whenever she felt she was being ignored she would put the gas on and place her head in the oven. The incident that stuck out most for the young man was when the family was at a beach and there was the inevitable argument. His mother dealt with it by simply walking into the ocean and kept walking. Michael was horrified and ran into save her, even though he could not swim. When he successfully dragged her back to shore she acted like nothing had happened. Michael vomited and later described it as the worst moment of his life.
School was hell for him too. Scrawny and half jewish, always angry, he was a ready target. Cheryl wrote, ‘’He retreated more and more into his solitary world. He’d often fantasise about building an identity for himself, away from his current reality. ‘’
Another painful memory was when, in the 1950s, his father, who had connections with RKO, tried to get him a job in entertainment. The security guard on the gate didn’t know who his father was and did not allow them onto the studio grounds. The humiliation for both made Michael determined to be successful on his own terms and to achieve a high degree of independence.
He did succeed, beyond his wildest dreams.
For me he’ll always be Little Joe.
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