COLLINGSWOOD, NJ — Before Michael Landon became a television icon, he was a boy in Collingswood named Eugene Orowitz. A years-long effort to honor Landon in his hometown will culminate in May, with a celebration of a new bench in his honor at Newton Lake Park.
Landon stands in elite company on the small screen, known for his roles in Bonanza, Little House on the Prairie, and Highway to Heaven. He appeared on 22 TV Guide covers, which was second only to Lucille Ball. The actor died of pancreatic cancer in 1991 at age 54.
Born in Queens, New York, Landon was 4 when his family moved to Collingswood. He had a difficult childhood, which included his worries of his mother attempting suicide.
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Landon became an excellent javelin thrower at Collingswood High School — his toss of 193 feet, 4 inches in 1954 was the longest by a high schooler in the United States that year.
His success with the javelin earned him an athletic scholarship at the University of Southern California. Torn shoulder ligaments ended Landon’s track and field tenure. But Landon began considering show business when he worked as a gas station attendant opposite the Warner Bros. studios. A local agent discovered Landon, who followed advice to change his name.
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Although Landon became known far and wide, the bench pays tribute to his boyhood in Collingswood.
“My desire, along with others, to replace the current wooden bench on the dock with a new one carrying Michael Landon’s name is not about the end as those other monuments are, it’s about the beginning,” an organizer for the project wrote in May 2021. “This project is not about the man or the star, but about the boy.”
The celebration of Landon, which includes a bench dedication ceremony, will run from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. May 20 at Newton Lake Park — across from 632 S Newton Lake Dr., Collingswood.
Find out more from the Michael Landon Collingswood Memorial Bench Project.
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