By Keith Griffith For Dailymail.com
Published: 21:19 EDT, 5 April 2019 | Updated: 00:01 EDT, 6 April 2019
A new TV show will examine the 1991 cancer death of actor Michael Landon
A forensic television series will explore whether the pancreatic cancer that killed actor Michael Landon was caused by a nuclear site near the filming location for Little House On The Prairie.
In the new episode of Autopsy: The Last Hours Of… set to air on Sunday will review Landon's 1991 death of pancreatic cancer at age 54, just 12 weeks after he was diagnosed.
Little House was filmed from 1974 to 1983 on a Simi Valley ranch just 15 miles away from the Santa Susana Field Laboratory, where in 1959 there was a partial meltdown of a nuclear reactor.
A later study said that the meltdown could have released more radioactive material than the better-known 1979 incident at Three Mile Island - though experts are skeptical whether Landon's cancer can be linked to Santa Susana.
Landon is seen in 1974 on the Little House On The Prairie set, a Simi Valley ranch just 15 miles away from the Santa Susana Field Laboratory, where a partial nuclear meltdown occurred
Warning signs are seen on the fence of building 22, Radioactive Material Handling Facility, at Santa Susana Field Laboratory in Ventura County, above Simi Valley. The building is used to store hazardous waste to be sent to landfills licensed to receive radioactive debris
A map shows the locations of the Big Sky Ranch, where the outdoor scene in fictional Walnut Grove were filmed for Little House on the Prairie, and the Santa Susana Laboratory
The partial meltdown of the lab's experimental sodium reactor was the first ever core meltdown of a commercial nuclear reactor, and the incident was covered up for decades by the Department of Energy.
There was a cancer cluster associated with the Santa Susana incident, an expert said in an advance clip of the new episode obtained by People.
'Studies have concluded that this was responsible for up to 2,000-cancer-related deaths and lead to a 60 percent increase in cancers such as lung, bladder, kidney, liver, blood, lymph node, upper digestive track and thyroid cancers,' said forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Hunter.
However, Hunter expressed skepticism that radiation from Santa Susana caused Landon's cancer.
'Despite the scientific studies linking proximity to the site with elevated cancer rates, there is no scientific evidence to suggest that Michael's pancreatic cancer was caused by him working so close to the contaminated area,' said Hunter.
The cast of the television series 'Little House on the Prairie' on the set of the show, mid 1970s. Clockwise from left: Actors Melissa Gilbert, Michael Landon (1936 - 1991), Karen Grassle, who holds an unidentified baby, Melissa Sue Anderson, and Lindsay or Sidney Greenbush
Aerial view of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory in the Simi Hills, with the San Fernando Valley and San Gabriel Mountains beyond to the east. The lab was the site of the first commercial nuclear reactor meltdown in the world, which was covered up for decades
He added: 'Although I can't rule it out entirely, I have found another, much more compelling and direct cause of his cancer.'
Although the advance clip does not reveal Hunter's suspicions, Landon was a self-admitted heavy drinker and smoker, both of which are known risk factors for pancreatic cancer.
In another advance clip, Landon's costar Karen Grassle, who played Caroline Ingalls, revealed that crew members on the show always knew when to bring Landon a 'snort' of hard liquor, something that she says occurred morning, noon and night.
Landon was a fitness buff, however, and was utterly shocked when he received the cancer diagnosis on April 5, 1991.
Not believing the doctor, he dropped to the floor and began doing push-ups to prove that he couldn't be sick, a family member said.
The aggressive and deadly cancer had already metastasized to his liver and lymph nodes, though, and was inoperable and terminal.
After granting several interviews to reveal his diagnosis, he retreated from public life to spend his final weeks on his 10-acre ranch in Malibu with wife Cindy and their two young children.
Landon died on July 1, 1991, less than three months after his initial diagnosis.
The full episode of Autopsy: The Last Hours Of… will air on Sunday at 8pm ET on Reelz.
Advertisement