His family recalls that Landon "went through a lot of hassle studying for the big event, which included bicycling to a nearby town every day in order to learn how to read Hebrew and recite prayers.

Landon considered show business and served as an attendant at a service gas station opposite the studios of Warner Bros.

[2] Landon's first starring appearance was on the television series Telephone Time, in the episode "The Mystery of Casper Hauser" (1956) as the title character.

Other parts came: movie roles in I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957), Maracaibo (1958), High School Confidential (1958), God's Little Acre (1958), and The Legend of Tom Dooley (1959), as well as many roles on television, such as Crossroads (three episodes), The Restless Gun (pilot episode aired on Schlitz Playhouse of Stars), Sheriff of Cochise (in "Human Bomb"), U.S.

Landon also appeared in at least 2 episodes of Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater including "Gift from a Gunman" in 1957 and "Living is a Lonely Thing" in 1959.

[citation needed] Receiving more fan mail than any other cast member,[10] Landon negotiated with executive producer David Dortort and NBC to write and direct some episodes.

[citation needed] The year after Bonanza was canceled, Landon went on to star as Charles Ingalls in the pilot of what became another successful television series, Little House on the Prairie, again for NBC.

Though we were working, really, really hard, we were 'Not Saving The World', one episode of television at a time, we're just entertaining people and there are more important things to do... and have fun; no matter what.

In Highway to Heaven, he played a probationary angel (who named himself Jonathan Smith) whose job was to help people in order to earn his wings.

[citation needed] By 1985, prior to hiring his son, Michael Landon Jr., as a member of his camera crew, he also brought real-life cancer patients and disabled people to the set.

French did not live to see Highway's series finale broadcast; he died of advanced lung cancer on June 15, 1989, two months after it was diagnosed.

In 1982, he co-produced an NBC "true story" television movie, Love Is Forever,[14] starring himself and Laura Gemser (who was credited as Moira Chen), about Australian photojournalist John Everingham's successful attempt to scuba dive under the Mekong to rescue his lover from communist-ruled Laos in 1977.

Sam's Son was a 1984 coming-of-age feature film written and directed by Landon and loosely based on his early life.

The film stars Timothy Patrick Murphy, Eli Wallach, Anne Jackson, Hallie Todd, and James Karen.

Up through the run of Highway to Heaven, all of Landon's television programs were broadcast on NBC, a relationship which lasted 30 consecutive years with the network.

After the cancellation of Highway and due to a fallout with those within NBC's upper management,[15] he moved to CBS and in 1991 starred in a two-hour pilot called Us.

[17] In 1957, Candlelight Records released a Michael Landon single "Gimme a Little Kiss (Will "Ya" Huh)"/ "Be Patient With Me" during the height of his notoriety for his role in the film I Was a Teenage Werewolf.

[citation needed] In 1962, both the A- and B-side of the record were re-released on the Fono-Graf label that included a picture sleeve of Landon's then-current role on Bonanza as Little Joe Cartwright.

[citation needed] He appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson to speak about the cancer and condemn the tabloid press for its sensational headlines and inaccurate stories, including the claim that he and his wife were trying to conceive another child.

Often cited on the special was Landon's bizarre sense of humor, which included having toads leap from his mouth and dressing as a superhero to visit a pizza parlor.

In 1991, during Landon's final Tonight Show appearance, Johnny Carson related how the actor took him back to a restaurant the two had dined at previously.

When sitting down to eat the second time, Carson discovered that Landon had helped create a fake menu of dinner items featuring cat metaphors.

The biopic detailed, from Michael Jr.'s point of view, the personal emotional trauma he endured during his parents' divorce and his father's premature death.

[32] In the book, Grassle detailed the troubled relationship she had with Landon, citing derogatory remarks he made about her while on the set of Little House, often with other members of the cast and crew present.

[33][34] Landon allegedly damaged a motel room wall during a 1962 stay while headlining the local county fair in Neligh, Nebraska.