Michael Landon : His Triumph and Tragedy (Paperback)

~ A. Joyce (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Zebra (August 1, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0821736515
• ISBN-13: 978-0821736517
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #908,638 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars New insight!, July 14, 2009

By	Jo Carlucci "irishjojo" (, MD USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Since our area has reruns of 'Little House' every day, and I now have more time to watch, I developed an interest in Michael Landon and wanted to know more about him.
The book answered many questions about Michael as a man, and businessman.
He was devoted to his children and held tight to his ideals concerning Little House and his other projects.
The book was a fast and interesting read.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Quicky Tabloid Release With Some Interesting Moments, July 5, 2009

By	Mediaman "TVviewer" (USA) - See all my reviews

This is one of those quickly thrown-together books that is published right after a star dies. It is merely a gathering of information from magazine articles and lacks a lot of detail. There are times when a couple of years of Landon's career is summarized in a paragraph or two.

The mostly-positive book does include a couple of the famous stories where Landon blows his stack or shows that he is a control freak. Those are actually the best parts of the book, because it appears that many, many people did NOT like Michael Landon because he treated almost everyone so terribly (except his real-life and television daughters).

He also was the opposite privately than he was in his moral TV roles. He freely cheated on his wives and then excused each one away as that his philosophy is that if he isn't happy, he needs to move on. His quotes prove him to be a very shallow person.

This book also confirms that Landon intentionally did not follow the real-world of the Little House books (much to the horror of the show's creator/producer, Landon made the family much more well-off and included contemporary issues that would have never occurred in the late 1800s), but the star exerted so much power over the production that he pushed out those who were concerned with authenticity and turned the show into his own therapy for dealing with a terrible childhood. His Jewish father ignored him and his Catholic mother appears to have despised him, though it's never clear which faith he was raised in nor why he supported his mother and sister in later years even though he refused to have anything to do with them!

This book has enough basic information to make it interesting--but there needs to be a serious biographer (other than a familiy member) who is willing to tackle the complex star. At the end of this book you won't like Landon and will especially feel sorry for the kids and wives he abandoned along the way of trying to make himself feel happy.