Michael Landon spent nine years entertaining millions of people every week as Pa Ingalls on the classic show “Little House On The Prairie” from 1974 until 1983. Sadly, he passed away just eight years later on July 1, 1991 of pancreatic and liver cancer when he was only 54 years-old.
In May of 1991, just weeks before his death, Landon appeared on “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” to address the rumors that were running rampant about his illness and prognosis. Landon and Carson were good friends, so it makes sense why he would choose this particular show to address the rumors head-on. The appearance is difficult to watch at times, particularly for Landon’s former “Little House On The Prairie” co-star Melissa Gilbert.
“I thought the most poignant moment of the show came at the end when Johnny invited his other guest, George Foreman, back after his next fight in August and Mike said he would also come back then,” she wrote in her memoir “Prairie Tale.”
“I nearly burst into tears because I realized that Mike knew there was no chance he would be back then,” Gilbert added.
Landon still managed to fill his final “Tonight Show” appearance with humor, joking about headlines at the time that alleged that he wanted to have a tenth child with his wife, “so she would have something to remember me by. I mean, I got 9 kids, 9 dogs, 3 grandkids, one in the oven, and my wife Cindy needs something to remember me by?”
Though Landon’s dramatic weight loss was obvious to viewers, the way he approached fighting cancer with both humor and courage continues to be moving to this day.
Despite the fact that Landon was in his own final days, he was still there for Carson when the late night host’s son Ricky was killed in a car crash on June 21, 1991. Landon was able to put his own excruciating pain aside to comfort his friend, and just ten days later, he passed away.
“This has been a devastating week for me and my family,” Carson said after Landon’s death. “Michael called last Monday expressing his deepest sympathy on the death of my son Ricky. The courage and sensitivity he showed in our conversation, in comforting me while he was in great pain, attests to the quality of this man and his character.”
Rest in peace, Michael Landon.
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