Michael Landon’s Holiday Legacy of Love
What To Know
- Michael Landon was known for fostering equality and generosity on the set of his shows, giving thoughtful Christmas gifts to all cast and crew members regardless of their role.
- Landon and his family made it a tradition to spend Christmas Eve with children in need, teaching his own kids the importance of compassion and helping others.
- Despite his untimely death from pancreatic cancer, Landon’s legacy endures through the love, kindness, and sense of safety he inspired in those around him.
During my formative years, Michael Landon seemed to be everywhere. And he always seemed to be such a force for good. I first noticed Michael in the role of Little Joe on Bonanza. Little Joe wasn’t my favorite character on the show; that honor will forever go to Dan Blocker, who played Hoss. Still, Little Joe was a close second.
After Bonanza, Landon starred in NBC’s version of the beloved Little House on the Prairie books. It was there that I first got an inkling that Michael might be one of those people who, like me, really got into the holiday season — and used it as a time to truly spread love and joy to all of those around him.
Why Michael Landon was famous for his Christmas gifts
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In her book, Lessons from the Prairie, Melissa Francis, who played Cassandra Cooper Ingalls on the show, recalled one of her memories of Michael. She said she remembered that during the holiday season, he used to demonstrate to everyone on the set that they were all equals. Whether you were a cameraman, a makeup person, or Melissa Gilbert, everyone got the same really awesome gift from Michael each and every year.
In an article in Country Living magazine, she recalled, “If the actors thought we were better than the key grip or the best boy because they stood in front of the camera and the others stood way, way behind the lens, they could guess again. Christmas was the day Michael showed us we were a team of equals.”
In that same article, she remembered the year that Michael gave the cast and crew a newfangled contraption called a video cassette recorder. Everyone was thrilled. What they didn’t know then was that they were being gifted the loser in the videotape format wars. Because Michael wanted everyone to have the very best, he gifted them Sony Betamax machines.
In actress Deborah Raffin‘s book Sharing Christmas, Michael talked about how, for many years, Christmas Eve was a time where the adults would usher the kids to bed so that they could begin the unenviable task of assembling all of the toys. But he said Christmas Eve changed when his wife, Cindy, became involved with a facility that took care of battered and abandoned children. Instead of staying home, they would pack up the family and join these children for an evening of laughter and love, as well as a bunch of gifts.
In sharing this memory, Michael touched on how important he felt it was that he and Cindy involved their young kids in this event. He wanted them to understand how fortunate they were and also develop early in their lives a desire to help others.
Everett Collection
It wasn’t long after the release of Raffin’s book that Michael was delivered some really rough news. While on a ski trip in my home state of Utah in 1991, Michael started to get unbearable migraines. After a visit to the doctor and a host of tests, it was determined that Michael had developed a form of pancreatic cancer that was swift-moving and, unfortunately, inoperable. Just months later, he would be gone.
Michael’s legacy lives on to this very day in the hearts of those that he touched in both large and small ways. I think Melissa Gilbert said it best when she said that when you were around Michael, you felt safe and cared for, regardless of who you were. He was, after all, as she wrote in 2022, “a principled, honorable man who believed, first and foremost, in the power of love, tolerance, compassion and understanding.”
Toys & Games
November/December 2025
Fire up the Easy-Bake Oven, dust off that pogo stick, tickle that Elmo and get ready to blast back to a time when batteries were not included
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