"Remember me with smiles and laughter, for that is how I will remember you. If you can only remember me with tears, then don't remember me at all." What do you think?

Pretty presumptuous of someone to tell you how he wants you to remember him. He may be expressing some wish which will make him feel better (although if he is dead, he won’t know).

I find this statement arrogant, maybe egotistical to the extreme.

If I want to remember him with fine thoughts, good for me. If I want to remember him as a shitty son of a bitch, again, good for me. But it’s ME who is doing the remembering. He has no say in it.

Sounds melodramatic to me…

I want to be remembered as a pinch penny “skinflint” who “never met a nickel he didn’t like”.

@stanleybmanly I love it, I know this elderly fellow and he told me I aint leaving nobody nothing and I hope the last check bounces .

I guess it’s safe to sat that you all choose to not remember him at all!!!

There are so many things I’d love to not remember, people included. It’s wishful thinking on both Landon’s part, as well as mine.

I agree with @gorillapaws. Landon’s quote is melodramatic.

I’m not real worried about how people remember me. Although I do hope my funeral is not a sad one. I’d rather have a circus and invite the town!

@LadyMarissa ,Michael Landon was an ok actor I do find it sad his life was cut short by that evil cancer that kills so many.
I didn’t know the guy personally just his work in movies and tv, and his saying is a little melodramatic to me as well.
I hope if Mrs Squeeky is still with me when my time comes she will remember me but as for the rest of the world could care less if they do or don’t.

At the time Michael said this, he had just learned that he had cancer & that his cancer was getting ready to kick his ass as it was aggressive & incurable & I’m pretty sure that he wrote this for his family as he didn’t give a damn who else remembered him. I do believe that he might have been feeling a little bit melodramatic at the time he was facing his own mortality!!! He was facing his reality of telling those he loved the most that he’d be leaving them soon as he only had 3 months from diagnosis to death.

I think it’s a false alternative. Remember me with laughter or tears, it’s nice to be remembered period.

If it seems a bit melodramatic, so?
The media outed his diagnosis before he had opportunity to break the news to his kids. It was treated like some circus act by them. People were shocked, and family traumatized.
Personally, I think he was trying to find a way to deal with facing death alone, yet publicly.
He had a death sentence, and for the sake of those who were affected by the newsbreak he tried to offer some comfort.
Learning he was dying soon was a terrible burden for him. If he could gain some comfort from going how he chose, why would I judge?

@Patty_Melt Wow, what a insightful and thoughtful answer. I didn’t know any of that.

He made an appearance on the Tonight Show to make his public confirmation the story was true. He told Johnny Carson how he had intended to take his time breaking it to his family, plan what he would say. Somebody broke the story before he had the chance. He was very upset about the way it had been handled. He felt deep betrayal, and it was a situation where there was no possibility of a do over.
I recorded a rerun of the Tonight Show episode.