Most celebrities pay others to keep their houses up to par once they reach a new level of success. They hire private chefs, housekeepers and other things.
Michael Landon, who played “Little Joe” Cartwright on Bonanza, decided to stay true to himself, ensuring his down-to-earth personality always shined no matter how much money he was worth. He undoubtedly hired help in some areas for his career and private life, but he made sure to do some things on his own, too.
Landon didn’t have a problem using his hands, even if it meant spending his work-free weekend attempting to be a handyman around his home.
Bonanza’s success opened many doors for the actor, which allowed him to make significant purchases. He did just that by buying a home that he said was “too expensive” for him. In an interview with Johnny Carson, Landon shared a hilarious story of how he almost broke down his house.
“The first house I ever bought was too expensive for me. And I told my business manager that I am going to [fix] the yard,” the actor said. “Don’t worry about a gardener. I’m taking care of all of it. It was a one-and-a-half acre dune. So, I went out and rented a rototiller.”
As simple as it might sound, it was harder of a job than he thought. Landon set the rototiller to dig up 18 inches of the ground and ended up digging up the pipes to his house.
“I’m running through my yard thinking, ‘No wonder these construction people [don’t care].’ They throw pipe here, and they throw pipe there. They make a mess,” he added. “I’m throwing pipes over the hill. For three and a half hours, I [threw pipes] over the hill. It was my pipes. Four hundred feet of drain pipes.”
He continued the story saying he decided to go inside after failing to do the job accurately and ended up with more home improvement misadventures.
“Now I decided to do the important things: clean the ovens. We have automatic ovens, right, and I flip on clean for four ovens. But, I don’t put the shields up. Now, I’m sitting there drinking my coffee, and it’s like four television sets exploding. The glass breaks, but my wife’s not up yet. So, I’m not in trouble.”
Landon then decided that he wanted to clean the chandelier, which he ended up unscrewing it from the ceiling, and it fell and broke on his table.
Being a handyman was not for the actor, but being a legend was for sure.