1974 was the year that Michael Landon cast Melissa Sue Anderson as his on-screen daughter, Mary Ingalls, on Little House on the Prairie.
Throughout their professional relationship, Anderson and Landon experienced ups and downs while collaborating on the historical drama, but she always viewed him as a "big brother." Melissa Sue Anderson and Michael Landon enjoyed a long-lasting friendship.
After his tenure on Bonanza ended in 1974, Landon established Little House on the Prairie and served as executive producer and actor.
Anderson revealed that the seasoned actor was always available to offer advice after Little House ended production. "Through the years, even as an adult, I sought his counsel," she told HollywoodChicago.com in 2010 of Landon.
"I believe I reminded him of himself when he was starting out, despite the fact that I was considerably younger than he was when Bonanza aired. Both of us desired to learn so much." Anderson, who is now married and has two grown children, attended Landon's burial in 1991, when he died of pancreatic cancer.
She said to PopEntertainment.com, "I was friends with him and worked with him up to a year before he died." "He attended my wedding." He became ill immediately after I delivered my daughter. I was close to him for so many years. The affair of Michael Landon generated friction on the 'Little House' set.
Anderson remembered Landon's romance with Cindy Clerico in 1979, when he was still married to Lynn Noe, in her memoir The Way I See It: A Look Back at My Life on Little House, published in 2010.
As a father figure to the kid actors on set, Landon's infidelity caused his reputation to suffer greatly among the younger cast members. Anderson writes in her autobiography, "For us, as children, it was a devastating blow."
"While we knew he was occasionally tough and had problems, we never imagined he was capable of inflicting such suffering on his true family. I had held him to a higher moral standard than he had met... He had truly disappointed me."
Landon's actions strained his relationship with Anderson, as his affair impacted her opinion of him.
"He fluctuated in my favor from time to time," Anderson noted. "When you hold someone in such high regard, it's difficult to accept their fall. And I don't believe I was alone." The 'Little House' star acknowledged that Michael Landon was imperfect.
Anderson spent her teenage years watching Little House and viewed Landon's vulnerability as a wonderful learning lesson.
She told PopEntertainment.com, "That taught me a valuable lesson very early on that I had to work with him every day, no matter what."
"He was my superior and I loved him. He was a lovely guy and a wonderful figure in my life, like an older brother.
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