What Are Some Facts About Michael Landon’s Family?
Michael Landon was born on Oct. 31, 1936, in Queens, New York, to a Jewish father and a mother from an Irish Catholic family. Landon was married three times, and he had nine children.
Landon’s birth name was Eugene Maurice Orowitz. His father, Eli Maurice Orowitz, was an actor and movie theater manager, while his mother, Peggy, was a dancer and comedian. Landon had one older sister, Evelyn, who was born three years earlier. His mother had attempted suicide several times, leaving him constantly worried about her.
Michael Landon married Dodie Levy-Fraser in March 1956, six years later Landon filed for divorce and the divorce officially finalized in December 1962. The couple adopted Josh Fraser Landon, born in 1960, as an infant, and Dodie herself had a biological son, Mark Fraser Landon, who was born in 1948. Mark died on May 11, 2009. He was featured in Landon’s TV movie “Us.”
Michael Landon married his second wife, Marjorie Lynn Noe, in January 1963. The couple divorced in 1982, and they had five children together, including Cheryl Lynn Landon, who was Marjorie’s daughter from her first marriage. The other four children are Leslie Ann Landon, born in 1962; Michael Landon Jr., born in 1964; Shawna Leigh Landon, born in 1971 and Chistopher Beau Landon, born in 1975. Christopher Beau Landon is a film director, producer and screenwriter best known as the writer of the 2007 film “Disturbia” and three “Paranormal Activity” films.
On Feb. 14, 1983, Landon married Cindy Clerico, a makeup artist on “Little House on the Prairie.” They had two children: Sean Matthew Landon, born in 1986 and Jennifer Rachel Landon, born in 1983. Jennifer is a Daytime Emmy-winning actress.
