Mark Landon's Highway to Heaven

On a recent trip to Hillside Memorial Park, I stopped by the family room of Hollywood superstar Michael Landon, located in the mausoleum's Memorial Court, and noticed that the crypt of his eldest son, Mark Fraser Landon, was marked. 

It took some doing to see the marker, let alone photograph it, because Mark's remains are entombed in the tippy-top of seven stacked crypt spaces along the right wall, barely visible when initially looking inside the locked, glass-fronted door.

Mark was adopted by Landon during Landon's (first) marriage (1956-1962) to Mark's mother, Dodie Levy-Fraser, a widow who has been raising Mark alone after her husband was killed in a car accident. He lived his life in the spotlight once Landon achieved star status on the television series "Bonanza," appearing in publicity photos and fan magazines alongside his teen-idol dad.

Helping Michael with fan mail (Courtesy Memory Lane/St. Martin's Press)

Michael, Mark and Dodie (Courtesy BittenandBound.com)

Throughout the ensuing years and Landon's two other marriages, by all accounts, Mark and Michael remained devoted, although Mark and his brother Josh Landon (adopted by the couple as an infant) lived with Dodie. Landon's unofficially-adopted daughter from his second marriage, Cheryl Landon Wilson, sympathetically mentioned in her book "I Promised My Dad" (Simon & Schuster, 1992) that Dodie lived with the gossipy stigma of being "the woman Michael Landon married because he loved her son."

Growing into adulthood, Mark became a passionate musician, having studied classical piano, and did some acting, including guest appearances in his dad's television series "Highway to Heaven" and 1991 television movie, "Us," and other films, "Double Edge" in 1986 and "Goodbye America" in 1997.

He also appeared alongside his numerous siblings in the 1991 documentary, "Michael Landon: Memories with Love & Laughter," which was produced and directed by his brother, Michael Landon Jr., after their father's death in July of that year. Landon died a scant three months after having been diagnosed with inoperable, stage four pancreatic cancer.

You can see Mark telling a story about his dad at 2:00 into this clip from the documentary provided by YouTuber ElvisObsessor.

Mark's life came to an abrupt end on May 11, 2009.  News bulletins reporting that the eldest son of star Michael Landon had been found dead inside his West Hollywood residence from unknown circumstances flashed across the country. Sheriff investigators ruled out foul play and the story quickly fell off the radar.

So, what happened?  Subsequent research reveals that Mark had been suffering for several years from both the physical and emotional effects of Multiple Sclerosis, despite prescription medication and holistic forms of treatment to ease the symptoms. MS is a disease that affects the central nervous system, namely the brain and the spinal cord. Problems associated with MS include muscle control and strength, vision, balance, feeling and thinking.

That said, Mark was last seen alive on May 8. His concerned business manager requested that a welfare check be made by Mark's Sweetzer Ave. apartment building manager, who discovered Mark unresponsive in the master bedroom and called 911.

His death was ruled a suicide by the Los Angeles County Department of Coroner, the result of combined effects of alcohol and diazepam intake. Diazepam is the generic name for the anti-anxiety medication Valium. He also suffered from atherosclerotic coronary artery disease. A note was found on-scene, but its contents could not be fully deciphered. Family representatives reported that he never made any literal statements to them about ending his own life although he had talked about how difficult it was to live with MS.

Mark was reported to be 60 at the time of his death. His birthdate is listed on several public documents as being October 1, 1948, but the birth year on his crypt marker is 1945, indicating his age to be 63.

For further information about MS, please visit the National Multiple Sclerosis Society website. For further information on suicide prevention, awareness and support, please visit Suicide.org.

Special thanks goes out to my friends Craig, Scott and Phil for their assists on this story. "Michael Landon: A Biography" by Marsha Daly (St. Martin's Press, 1987) was also consulted. 

Comments

[Robbie]

Lisa, I love your blog! I follow you on Twitter, and I first heard of you @ michaeljackson.com. You blog is interesting, informative and not morbid. I think you honor the people you feature.

;o)

[Walter]

Do you know anything else about Mark's mom, Dodie Levy-Fraser? By my calculations Mark was about 8 years younger than Mike and it may be that they were more best friends or brothers in spririt, than father and son. Could be why Michael married his mother, rather than being in love with Mark, Michael may have wanted Mark looked after. I'll note that Michael Landon and Dodie divorced when Mark was about to turn 18 by the 1945 birthdate.

All I've been able to find out online, though not substantiated, is that she may have been six years older than Michale Landon, which means that she was 14 when Mark was born and could be the reason why all reports up to this time showed Mark as being born in 1949 instead of 1945.

[Jami]

I had wondered if Mark was interred near Mike, but never found the time to go to Hillside to see for myself. Back in September, I had a couple of friends visit Mike's grave, but they had told me that they didn't see any other markers in the room. Obviously from your report, his crypt was unmarked until recently. Thank you for the information Lisa. =) PS - I love your blog.

[sebastian cabot lodge]

great piece, Lisa
I think your site is a blast.
thanks for the info-tainment

[Terri]

I knew Mark, he was a friend. We lost touch, and I was talking about him the other night with somone, and if he had seen him recently because I hadn't seen him in years, to which he stated that Mark had died..........I was pretty shocked. I really liked Mark. He was really kind and had a gentle voice and a lovely "strangeness". The last time I saw him, he took me out for sushi. I remember he was totally stoked about this particular night cuz he said his dad had given him, as a birthday present, enough money to enjoy sushi for dinner every day for a year. Mark LOVED sushi.

I will miss his charming smile and mystical mystery.
RIP sweet angel, I only wish that I had the chance to see you just one more time.