Dodie Levy Fraser is a name most television fans have never heard, yet her life was tied to one of the most loved stars in American television history. She was the first wife of Michael Landon, the actor who played Little Joe Cartwright in Bonanza, Charles Ingalls in Little House on the Prairie and Jonathan Smith in Highway to Heaven. Long before Landon became famous, Dodie was already part of his life, raising a young son and working as a legal secretary while he struggled to break into acting.
Who Was Dodie Levy Fraser?
Dodie Levy Fraser was the first wife of actor Michael Landon. The two were married in 1956, when Landon was still a 19-year-old unknown trying to break into acting, and divorced in 1962, just as his career was taking off. She was a legal secretary, a widowed mother when she met Landon, and the mother of three sons. After the divorce she stepped away from Hollywood completely and lived the rest of her life in private, which is why so little is known about her today. Some details of her life are still not publicly confirmed.
Quick Bio
| Full Name | Dodie Levy Fraser (also written Dodie Levy-Fraser) |
| Born | March 16, 1933, in New York City, USA (as reported by biographical sources) |
| Parents | Nissim Levy and Victoria Dora Samarel Levy (as reported by biographical sources) |
| Profession | Legal secretary |
| Famous For | First wife of actor Michael Landon |
| Marriage to Michael Landon | 1956 to 1962 |
| Children | Mark Fraser Landon, Josh Fraser Landon and Jason (all adopted by Landon during the marriage; Mark was Dodie’s biological son from her first marriage) |
| Later Marriage | Dr. Peter Anthony Lake (married 1976, according to TheList and Nicki Swift; some blogs give 1971) |
| Died | July 5, 1994, in Riverside County, California, aged 61 |
| Net Worth | Not publicly documented |
Early Life and Family Background
Dodie Levy Fraser was born on March 16, 1933, in New York City, according to the biographical sources that have covered her life. Her parents are named in those sources as Nissim Levy and Victoria Dora Samarel Levy, and very little about her childhood survives in public records. Some pages also name two siblings, but this appears in only one source and has not been confirmed elsewhere.
What is better documented is that Dodie married young and became a mother early. Her first husband died in a car accident, leaving her a widow with a small son, Mark, born on October 1, 1948, according to biographical reports. She supported herself and her child by working as a legal secretary, a job that would remain her profession for much of her life.
Meeting Michael Landon
In 1956, Dodie met Eugene Maurice Orowitz, a 19-year-old from New York who had moved to Los Angeles hoping to become an actor. He was working as a gas station attendant across the street from the Warner Bros. studios in Burbank, and he had not yet taken the stage name Michael Landon. Dodie was 23, a widowed legal secretary and the mother of a seven-year-old boy. Most sources give the wedding date as March 11, 1956, and describe a modest, private ceremony, although one older biography gives December 1956 instead.
Landon was only 19 when they married, and he had not yet appeared in any of the roles that would make him famous. His first notable acting appearance, in the television series Telephone Time, came in 1956, the same year as the wedding. The marriage therefore began before the fame, before Bonanza and before the fortune.
Marriage to Michael Landon
The marriage lasted six years, from 1956 to 1962, and during that time the family grew. Landon adopted Mark, Dodie’s son from her first marriage, as his own. In 1960 the couple adopted a second son, an infant named Josh Fraser Landon, born February 11, 1960, and a third son, Jason, was adopted as a newborn about a year before the marriage ended. Landon said in 1962 that he hated it when people called Josh and Jason adopted, insisting they were his sons, period.
Life During the Bonanza Years
In 1959, three years into the marriage, Landon won the role that changed everything: Little Joe Cartwright in Bonanza, one of the first television series broadcast in colour. The show ran for 14 seasons and made Landon a star. Dodie was married to him through the first years of that rise, keeping the home and raising three small boys while her husband worked long days on set.
Three Sons and a Family Under Strain
By 1961, however, the marriage was already in trouble. Landon had begun an affair with Marjorie Lynn Noe, a model instructor he met on the set of Bonanza. The adoption of baby Jason came at a time when the relationship was already breaking down. Almost nothing Dodie herself said about those years has ever been published.
Why the Marriage Ended
The marriage ended because of Landon’s affair with Marjorie Lynn Noe. The divorce became final in December 1962, and Landon married Noe in January 1963, only weeks later. Dodie was given full custody of all three children. The divorce came just as Bonanza was becoming one of the biggest shows on American television, which meant that the end of the marriage was also the moment when Landon’s public life and his private life split apart for good.
The pattern will feel familiar to UK Time Insider readers: Elizabeth Huberdeau, the first wife of John Cena, and Melissa Womer, the first wife of Jim Carrey, also lived quiet lives after short marriages to men who became far more famous. These stories are filed under Celebrity.
The Story of Jason
The least known and saddest part of Dodie’s story concerns her youngest son, Jason. After the divorce, Dodie was a single mother of three boys, and she struggled to cope. According to a 1991 article in People magazine, reported in detail by TheList, she eventually handed her year-old son Jason over to a pair of Texan empty-nesters, Bill and Alma Smith, who re-adopted him. Landon’s publicist later said Landon kept checking that the boy was all right, although Jason was never counted among the nine children listed as Landon’s on his public record. Dodie herself refused to comment. She did not walk away with money and headlines. She walked away with three small children and a life that became harder, not easier, after the marriage ended.
Life After Michael Landon
After the divorce, Dodie Levy Fraser largely disappeared from public view. She went back to work as a legal secretary and raised her sons away from Hollywood. She did not give interviews about Landon, and she did not write a book about the marriage.
Marriage to Dr. Peter Lake
Love did come again, but it did not last long. According to TheList and Nicki Swift, Dodie married Dr. Peter Anthony Lake, a neuroscience specialist and research director, in 1976. The wedding was kept small and was held in a hospital patient suite. Only a few months later, in August 1976, Dr. Lake died at the age of only 36. Some lower-quality blogs give 1971 as the year of this marriage, but the 1976 date is the one supported by the better-sourced accounts, so 1976 is the date used here.
Death and Legacy
Dodie Levy Fraser died on July 5, 1994, in Riverside County, California, at the age of 61. Some sources say she died in Palm Springs, which is in Riverside County. The cause of her death is reported as natural causes by some pages, while others say it was never publicly specified, so the cause should be treated as not publicly confirmed. She had outlived Michael Landon by three years; Landon died on July 1, 1991, at the age of 54, of pancreatic cancer.
Her legacy is a quiet one. She was the woman who married Michael Landon before Bonanza, who raised three boys, and who walked away from Hollywood without ever telling her side of the story. Mark Fraser Landon, the son she brought into the marriage, was adopted by Landon and carried the Landon name. Mark tried a small acting career of his own and died on May 11, 2009, at the age of 60, in West Hollywood — fifteen years after his mother. Josh Fraser Landon grew up as Landon’s son as well, and Jason grew up in Texas with the family who adopted him after the divorce.
The verified record of Landon’s life and career is on his Wikipedia page, which confirms the marriage to Dodie Levy-Fraser from 1956 to 1962 and his three most famous roles. The fullest telling of the Jason story and of her marriage to Dr. Peter Lake is at TheList, and more background is at Nicki Swift.
Dodie Levy Fraser Net Worth
There is no publicly documented figure for Dodie Levy Fraser’s net worth. Many biography websites state that she was worth 500,000 dollars at the time of her death in 1994, but none of them cites a source, and other sites give different figures, from 300,000 dollars to more than 700,000 dollars. As a legal secretary she earned a modest, steady income, and no public record shows a settlement or inheritance figure from her divorce. Until a reliable record appears, any net worth number attached to her name should be treated as an estimate, not a fact.
What Is Not Confirmed About Dodie Levy Fraser
Because Dodie lived so privately, several claims about her that appear online should be treated with care. Her net worth, as covered in the section above, has no publicly documented figure. Some blogs also describe her as an actress, producer, director and author, but those credits are not verified, and the profession consistently reported across the better sources is legal secretary. Her full first name is given as Dorothy in one source only, and the exact month of her wedding to Landon is unsettled, with March 1956 given by most sources and December 1956 by one older biography.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who was Dodie Levy Fraser?
Dodie Levy Fraser was the first wife of actor Michael Landon, the star of Bonanza, Little House on the Prairie and Highway to Heaven. She was a legal secretary from New York City, married to Landon from 1956 to 1962, before he became a major television star.
How many children did Dodie Levy Fraser have?
She had three sons. Mark Fraser Landon was her biological son from her first marriage, and Landon adopted him. Josh Fraser Landon and Jason were adopted by the couple during their marriage. After the divorce, Dodie was given full custody of all three boys, and Jason was later re-adopted by a couple in Texas.
Why did Michael Landon and Dodie Levy Fraser divorce?
The marriage ended because Landon had an affair with Marjorie Lynn Noe, whom he met on the set of Bonanza. The divorce became final in December 1962, and Landon married Noe in January 1963.
When did Dodie Levy Fraser die?
Dodie Levy Fraser died on July 5, 1994, in Riverside County, California, at the age of 61. The cause of her death is reported as natural causes by some sources and is not publicly specified by others. Her second husband, Dr. Peter Anthony Lake, died only a few months after their wedding in 1976.
What was Dodie Levy Fraser’s net worth?
There is no publicly documented figure for her net worth. Many biography websites state 500,000 dollars at the time of her death in 1994, but none cites a source, and other sites give different figures. As a legal secretary she earned a modest, steady income, so any number attached to her name should be treated as an estimate, not a fact.
