Dan Gordon

I’ve been a screenwriter for over forty years now, with close to twenty feature length films under my belt and several hundred hours of tv with my name on them. I’ve worked with some wonderful actors; Denzel Washington, Sir Ben Kingsley, Kevin Costner Gene Hackman , Kirk and Michael Douglass ( in a project that was cancelled when Kirk had his stroke), but the time I spent as head writer and exec story editor on HTH, and the work I was blessed to do with Michael Landon, were amongst the happiest experiences of my career. We set out to make a timeless show that would touch people’s hearts and challenge both our audience,and those of us who made the show, to find the better angels of ourselves. Mike ran interference with the “suits” and I never got a network note. The only person I ever got a note from was Mike and each one made the show better. We knew people at the network actually disliked the show and thought it corny and we took that as a sign we were on to something wonderful. We wanted to do a Frank Capra type show. When we came on the air Miami Vice was the hottest thing on tv and Mike would always say our show would still be in reruns forty years from now, when all the flavor of the month shows will be long gone, and it would still be touching people, making them laugh and cry, comforting and inspiring. We all knew at the time how fortunate we were to be able to do a show we loved, that consciously, every week tried to reach those better angels. May Michael’s soul be bound up with the souls of the righteous. Working with him was as good as it gets. DG