Spanish version / en castellà. Michael Landon stars in this real life story on John Everingham. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085870/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_9 http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001446/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm Michael Landon was born Eugene Maurice Orowitz, on October 31, 1936, in Forest Hills, Queens, New York. In 1941, he and his family moved to Collingswood, New Jersey. When Eugene was in high school, he participated -- and did very well -- in track and field, especially javelin throwing, and his athletic skills earned him a scholarship to USC. However, an accident injured his arm, ending his athletic career -- and his term at USC -- and he worked a number of odd jobs and small roles to make ends meet and decided that acting was for him. However, he thought that his real name was not a suitable one for an aspiring actor, and so "Michael Landon" was born. His father was from a Jewish family and his mother was of Irish Catholic background. Started having grey hair at age 20. Studied karate under Chuck Norris, as did the children of his "Bonanza" co-star Dan Blocker. Before he became a successful actor, he worked in a warehouse and at a gas station. By most accounts he was exactly like the kind, gentle, heroic characters he portrayed onscreen and in fact few, if any, people complained about working with him, something rare in Hollywood. He smoked 4 packs of unfiltered Menthol cigarettes a day during his lifetime, which probably contributed to the pancreatic cancer that killed him. His stepdaughter, Cheryl, recalled in his biography "I Promised My Dad" that once Landon was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, he realized that all the years of smoking, drinking and eating an unhealthy diet had taken their toll. Later, despite going on a regimen that included a naturalistic approach to the cancer (coffee enemas and a healthy diet), Landon was devastated to learn that the cancer had tripled in size. He was left-handed, and his awkward handwriting (he often hand-wrote scripts) sometimes made it difficult for his secretary to read what he'd written). Despite being given a less than three per cent chance of survival, Landon announced he was going to beat his pancreatic cancer. Unfortunately by the time of the diagnosis it had already spread to his liver and stomach. Karen Grassle said in an interview that he had a very lonely childhood as a result of his parents fighting. Before he was a successful actor and director, he was also a singer. Depression ran in his family. PERSONAL QUOTES I want people to laugh and cry, not just sit and stare at the TV. Maybe I'm old- fashioned, but I think viewers are hungry for shows in which people say something meaningful. [In 1979]: People would do themselves a great favor if they would take the blame for things that go wrong, and say to themselves, 'I've got to do something about this.' But you can't do anything if you always blame your problems on someone else. You have to say, 'It's my fault, and I'd better do something about this.' I feel sorry for people who have problems which are beyond their control, but most of life's problems are our own fault - and sympathy under those conditions doesn't do a bit of good. [In 1976]: The very worst thing you can do to a man is to make him think he is a coward. If a guy needs his job in order to feed and clothe his kids, he'll put up with a lot of abuse before he fights back. I have seen many men mentally shattered by some big-mouth who screamed and yelled in order to get his way. Most of those men did not deserve the abuse but they had to have their jobs, so they kept their mouths shut - and that made them feel like cowards. [on his messy divorce from his second wife] The relationship lasted nineteen years. I don't consider that a failed marriage. I don't think it was a disaster. We produced some terrific kids. We just didn't grow in the same direction. We became different people. We both changed. To stay with someone when you no longer have anything in common is the cruelest thing to do to a child. It's much better to divorce and have two parents happy. I don't know if Charles Ingalls would have stayed married to Caroline as long as he did, except that it was a long way to the next house in those days. I was not an aging lecher looking for a fresh young thing. You don't dissolve a relationship to go to bed with someone twenty years younger. You have to have major differences to stop a relationship, after as many years as I was married. With a wife and seven children, there's always a problem. Lynn and I fought a lot, about jealousy, about my being tied up with my work. I'd go into depressed moods, and then I'd go around screaming at people at home and in the studio - and at everyone in sight. Banging down phones, swearing and yelling. But I figure if you don't have these kind of problems, life would just come up with some other unpleasantries for you. Nobody's perfect. Not Charles Ingalls. Not Michael Landon.

• published: 25 Mar 2015
• views: 2287