ReelzChannel to explore whether Michael Landon got cancer from LHOTP

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...filming near a nuclear site

https://people.com/tv/michael-landon...er-reelz-clip/

The iconic TV actor from Bonanza, Little House and Highway to Heaven died of pancreatic cancer at age 54 in 1991. The ReelzChannel series Autopsy: The Last Hours of… will explore Landon's death on Sunday's episode. “For nine years, Little House on the Prairie was filmed just 15 miles away from the Santa Susana Nuclear Laboratory,” the narrator says at the beginning of the episode.

[RetroGuy2000]

The Santa Susana Nuclear Site is just three miles (as the crow flies) from the edge of Chatsworth and West Hills, neighborhoods in Los Angeles. If Simi Valley is contaminated, so, likely, is western Los Angeles.

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I immediately thought about the possibilities after hearing about Shannen Doherty revealing that she has stage IV breast cancer.

[MRPITT]

What about Merlin Olsen And Victor French.

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Michael Landon's daughter marks the 30th anniversary of his death by urging people to take care of their health

The Bonanza, Little House on the Prairie and Highway to Heaven TV icon died of pancreatic cancer on July 1, 1991 at age 54, shocking Hollywood less than two months after he appeared with Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show shortly after going public with his illness. "We just felt like he was a superman," says Leslie Landon Matthews, whose dad walked her down the aisle a few months before his death "He was bigger than life." She added that her dad's workaholic tendencies contributed to him giving his health short shrift: "When my dad didn't feel good — if something didn't feel right — he tended to ignore it," she says, "hoping that it would go away...He was a busy man burning the candle at both ends. I think his own health got put on the back burner."

[Tankeryanker]

How many of them were smokers?

[Hawkee]

When Michael Landon passed away in 1991 it was indeed a sad shock to the TV world because at age 54 Michael Landon proved that he still had superstar power after Little House On The Prairie ended and so with Highway To Heaven Michael Landon proved that he could still make a comeback to TV. And so in addition to Highway To Heaven Michael was also trying to become a successful businessman by creating children's books for Golden Books and it was a great hobby for him. But when he discovered he had cancer I think when he was first diagnosed I think he kept his illness a secret from his fans so they wouldn't freak out at what happened to him and when Highway To Heaven ended in 1989 Michael finally knew it was time to reveal to his fans the real truth at what happened to him. The thing with celebrities is when they have illnesses especially serious illnesses is they tell the fans why they haven't been seen lately is they keep illnesses secret because it's a private thing. When Alex Trebek had the exact same cancer as Michael Landon he let everyone know so fans could send him well wishes and when Chadwick Boseman died the same thing happened but Chadwick kept it a secret from fans. But I think if Michael Landon went to his doctor sooner and had surgery to get all the cancer out he would've been still alive today but I think he didn't get ill from the Little House On The Prairie set
Bestie

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Originally Posted by Tankeryanker

How many of them were smokers?

I know that Victor French like Michael Landon, was a heavy smoker. He died from lung cancer less than three months after being diagnosed in 1989.

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Originally Posted by LaBestia

When Michael Landon passed away in 1991 it was indeed a sad shock to the TV world because at age 54 Michael Landon proved that he still had superstar power after Little House On The Prairie ended and so with Highway To Heaven Michael Landon proved that he could still make a comeback to TV. And so in addition to Highway To Heaven Michael was also trying to become a successful businessman by creating children's books for Golden Books and it was a great hobby for him. But when he discovered he had cancer I think when he was first diagnosed I think he kept his illness a secret from his fans so they wouldn't freak out at what happened to him and when Highway To Heaven ended in 1989 Michael finally knew it was time to reveal to his fans the real truth at what happened to him. The thing with celebrities is when they have illnesses especially serious illnesses is they tell the fans why they haven't been seen lately is they keep illnesses secret because it's a private thing. When Alex Trebek had the exact same cancer as Michael Landon he let everyone know so fans could send him well wishes and when Chadwick Boseman died the same thing happened but Chadwick kept it a secret from fans. But I think if Michael Landon went to his doctor sooner and had surgery to get all the cancer out he would've been still alive today but I think he didn't get ill from the Little House On The Prairie set
Bestie

The thing about pancreatic cancer though is that it's very hard to detect and people don't physically feel the effects until it's too late. There's a reason why it's called the "silent killer". It wouldn't surprise me if Michael was already dealing with the disease when he was still working on Highway to Heaven. He didn't become seriously symptomatic until six weeks prior to the beginning of April 1991. And Michael would succumb to the illness later that July.

[80s Dude]

Michael Landon was a heavy smoker and drinker and that increases your risk of getting pancreatic cancer. None of the kids on the show has ever been diagnosed with cancer as far as I know of.

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Originally Posted by 80s Dude

Michael Landon was a heavy smoker and drinker and that increases your risk of getting pancreatic cancer. None of the kids on the show has ever been diagnosed with cancer as far as I know of.

Michael Landon was said to have smoked four packs of unfiltered cigarettes a day since at least 1961. When Michael was working on Bonanza, he was nicknamed "Socks" because he smoked so heavily on set, that even his socks smelled of cigarette smoke.

By the time that we get to Little House on the Prairie, Michael was said to have been smoking sixty to eighty unfiltered cigarettes a day. He even once off-set, had a seizure, due to his excessive drinking of vodka.

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Originally Posted by 80s Dude

Michael Landon was a heavy smoker and drinker and that increases your risk of getting pancreatic cancer. None of the kids on the show has ever been diagnosed with cancer as far as I know of.

Patrick Swazye was also a heavy smoker and drinker and like Michael Landon, got diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in his 50s.

[paul.austin]

As with John Wayne, even if he was downwind of fallout, Landon was playing Russian Roulette with an automatic pistol.

TBH , Landon was just like my own mother - Mum managed to survive lung cancer but kept heavily smoking.

Neither me nor my brother were able to stop her.

Mum died of smoking related heart disease last year.

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Originally Posted by Tankeryanker

How many of them were smokers?

'Little House on the Prairie' child star says set was like 'Mad Men': 'Cigarettes and glasses of gin'

"It was the ‘70s," she chuckled. "People drank, people smoked. [Landon] did all of these things. It was kind of strange you’re… on set and people are standing around with cigarettes and glasses of gin. It seemed odd, but that was TV in the ‘70s. It was like ‘Mad Men.’ [Landon] was so not Pa. But then, if you think about it, what a brilliant performance. Here was this man who came to work in his unbuttoned shirt, in his gold chains, in his Ferrari with his Marlboros, and then he turned into Pa Ingalls in a matter of minutes."

Landon, who played patriarch Charles Ingalls, died at age 54 from pancreatic cancer in 1991. The actress described her late co-star as a straight shooter who smoked furiously and battled insecurities when cameras stopped rolling.