Michael Landon
American actor and filmmaker (1936–1991)
Michael Landon Sr. (born Eugene Maurice Orowitz; October 31, 1936 – July 1, 1991) was an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for his roles as Little Joe Cartwright in Bonanza (1959–1973), Charles Ingalls in Little House on the Prairie (1974–1983), and Jonathan Smith in Highway to Heaven (1984–1989). Landon appeared on the cover of TV Guide 22 times, second only to Lucille Ball.
Early life, family and education
Landon was born Eugene Maurice Orowitz on October 31, 1936, in Forest Hills, a neighborhood of Queens, New York City, New York. His parents were Kathleen "Peggy" (née O'Neill; a dancer and comedian) of Irish descent and Eli Maurice Orowitz. Eli was Jewish, and Peggy was Roman Catholic. Landon's sister, Evelyn, was born three years earlier.
In 1941, when Landon was four years old, the family relocated to the borough of Collingswood, New Jersey. He celebrated his bar mitzvah at Temple Beth Sholom in Haddon Heights, New Jersey.
“Michael Landon” enters the record as american actor and filmmaker (1936–1991). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Michael, Landon and American can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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“Michael Landon” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Michael, Landon and American provides the most credible route into that argument.
Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 2, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q346411. VIAF identifies the subject as 8188118. The Library of Congress control number is n85213028. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1936, 1991, 1959 and 1973.
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This entry incorporates text from “Michael Landon” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.