Why ‘Shy’ Michael Landon ‘Loved Having a Birthday on Halloween’
According to one of Little House on the Prairie star Michael Landon’s longtime friends, he enjoyed having his birthday on Halloween because of the unique opportunity it created for him. What did Landon like best about having two things to celebrate at once, according to that friend? And how did the iconic television star’s childhood supposedly help create an appreciation for his Halloween birthday and eventually acting? Read on to learn how it all relates.
Michael Landon’s friendship with his best man started with a test
In a 2016 interview with Jeremy Roberts, Little House on the Prairie producer and production manager Kent McCray said his friendship with Landon started with an argument on the set of Bonanza. After Landon demanded to leave early under McCray’s watch, the actor confessed he’d only been testing him.
McCray shared, “I told him, ‘Don’t ever test me. You don’t need to do that. I have my job, and you have your job. I’ll support you any way I can, but don’t give me this crap about testing me. I won’t put up with it.'”
“And we became very good friends from that point on,” he added. Eventually, he even served as best man at Landon’s wedding. And he recalled the television icon “gave some great parties,” adding that when he hosted a bash, “It was just a wonderful night.”
Michael Landon loved having a Halloween birthday because ‘he could dress up and be somebody different
McCray told Roberts that Landon “loved having a birthday on Halloween.” He added, “That meant any party he had he could dress up and be somebody different.”
According to McCray, Landon was also a “very shy person” and didn’t strive to be the center of attention. “When Mike was at a birthday party, he never got up in front of a crowd and talked or told jokes,” he shared.
“When you were at his house, you were his guest. He was never ‘on’ as an actor,” he explained. “He was very down-to-earth and very loving and caring for people. And Mike didn’t particularly care for any gifts. I don’t think there was ever any exchange.”
But the Highway to Heaven star liked to hit the dancefloor, McCray recalled. “Every time the music started Michael came over to where I was sitting and said, ‘Come on, we gotta dance, Kent. Get up here and dance with me!'” he recalled. “That’s what we did all night long.”
How Michael Landon’s love for his Halloween birthday seemingly related to his childhood
According to McCray, Landon’s lonely childhood, lifelong shyness, and love for playing pretend molded him into an actor. “He would go out and play by himself in the surrounding, wooded areas,” he explained of Landon’s youth. “He’d make up stories that he was this person or that person. He lived in a fantasy world of his own.”
McCray thought Landon’s youth primed him for a life of pretending to be someone other than himself. “Those experiences fast forwarded to what he became,” he concluded.
