Interview David Dortort about "Between Heaven and Earth"

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This is an interview of David Dortort:

David Dortort, 1991

"One weekend, my son, Fred, who was about 11 or 12 years old, and I were climbing rock formations in Palm Springs.
We decided we'd explore a canyon and we found a waterfall against a sheer rock, very steep.

Fred started to climb up the face of the rock and I followed him.

He went up like a little deer, no problem getting to the top. I got about three-quarters of the way up, and suddenly I was completely paralyzed with uncontrollable fear.
After a few minutes I slowly began easing my way down, literally an inch at a time.

Fred, by now, had gone up and over the other side and was waiting for me down below.


I came back to the studio and I was telling Michael about this.

And he said, 'You know, I think I have the same problem.'

So, as a result of that conversation we decided to do a story on it.

We found a location at Vasquez Rocks, in what's known as the Antelope Valley, north of Los Angeles, at the beginning of the Mojave Desert.

The episode, 'Between Heaven and Earth' dealt with Little Joe's unexplainable fear of heights.

As Michael was climbing up on the rocks, he began to get some of the same fear.

What was caught on film was not only acting, but the real thing.

I remember Billy Witney, the director, telling me, ‘You know, he's really terrified up there.’

And I told him, 'I can understand why. So was I!'

So, there was Michael Landon, who was in perfect physical shape, so agile; there was nothing physically he couldn't do, and yet, that situation affected him exactly that same way it affected me."