Michael Landon, the Father I Knew

Michael Landon, the Father I Knew is an American biographical television film which originally aired on CBS on Sunday, May 23, 1999. The film was written and directed by Michael Landon, Jr. documenting his privileged, but often troubled, childhood as the son of beloved television actor, writer and director, Michael Landon, Sr. The film stars John Schneider as Michael Landon, Sr., Cheryl Ladd as his second wife Lynn Noe Landon, and Joel Berti, Trever OBrien and Shawn Pyfrom sharing the role of their eldest son, Michael Landon, Jr. throughout his childhood years.

As the family grows and life begins to change, Michael Sr. becomes dissatisfied with his career and home life and his desire to fulfill his own needs begins to take precedent over those of his wife and children. Soon, a now teenage Michael Jr. Trever OBrien and the rest of the Landon family learn that Michael, Sr. has begun an extramarital romance with Little House on the Prairie makeup artist, Cindy Julie Condra, prompting Michael Sr. to eventually divorce Lynn and marry the younger woman.Feeling rejected as a result of the distant relationship that develops over time as their father begins a new family with Cindy, a now young adult Michael Jr. Joel Berti begins to struggle in his college classes and turns to alcohol, while his sister Leslie Sarah Lancaster develops bulimia, believing that her estranged father might take more of an interest in her if she were thinner. ........

Source: Wikipedia