Joe Lando, who costarred as Jane Seymour’s love interest on her popular series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, revealed Saturday in a tearful video that his family had tragically lost their home in the raging LA fires.
But the 63-year-old actor revealed that they had gotten a crucial lifeline amid the devastation, as his longtime friend Seymour, 73, had invited his family to stay at her home in the aftermath.
‘The Lando family is intact. All of us and our dogs and our two birds, thankfully, there are angels in this world,’ Lando said in a video he shot outside.
‘We’re left with nothing except each other,’ he continued. ‘My friend Jane Seymour allowed us to come over to her house and opened it up for us without any hesitation and thank God [she] gave us someplace to come and sleep.’
Seymour and Lando costarred on Dr. Quinn for six seasons, from 1993 to 1998, and they both returned for two television films after the series had been canceled.
The English actress led the series as a Dr. Michaela Quinn, a trained physician who moves out to Colorado shortly after the end of the American Civil War.
Joe Lando, 63, revealed Saturday that his Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman costar Jane Seymour let his family stay at her home after theirs was destroyed in the devastating LA fires
Seymour and Lando costarred on Dr. Quinn for six seasons, from 1993 to 1998, plus two subsequent TV movies
She establishes a clinic in Colorado Springs and tries to ingratiate herself with the locals, who are initially resistant to being treated by a woman.
Lando was featured on the series as the beefcake outdoorsman Byron Sully, who was Seymour’s primary love interest.
Even though his family had a comfortable place to stay after losing their home thanks to Seymour, Lando revealed that things were still tough even at her home due to the effects of the fire.
‘The electricity [at Seymour’s home] just came on for the first time in three days,’ he shared in his video.
He added that there wasn’t any natural gas for cooking, and they had been advised not to drink the tap water.
‘And you can’t breathe the air because it’s all poisonous,’ he continued. ‘I’ve never been through anything like this. It’s indescribable.’
Lando, who filmed his video by himself, didn’t clarify if Seymour was also staying at her home at the moment.
He got increasingly emotional and briefly took off his sunglasses to wipe his eyes as he mused on the overwhelming tragedy he had experienced.
‘The electricity [at Seymour’s home] just came on for the first time in three days,’ he shared in his video, adding that they couldn’t drink the water and that they air was ‘poisonous’
He teared up as he spoke about losing his home and seeing so many of their neighbors left with nothing after the blaze swept through
Lando didn’t clarify if Seymour was staying at her home with his family. He choked up with emotion as he revealed that his children’s school had been burned down
‘You see people on TV who go through these things and you think, “Oh, my God, that must be a terrible thing. Thank God, it’s not me.” And now we’re those people,’ he said.
‘If it was just us I’d be OK with this,’ he continued, as his voice began to crack, ‘But it’s everybody. It’s everything and I’m just devastated and heartbroken for everybody.’
‘There’s a lot of wealthy people in my neighborhood, but that’s not the majority of this neighborhood,’ Lando said. ‘Most are just hard-working folks [who have] lived there for generations.’
Among those who lost everything in the fires were his wife’s parents, who lived just down the street from him and his wife Kristen Barlow before losing the house they had had for 40 years.
‘Our house wasn’t big or fancy, but it was our home,’ Lando continued through his tears. ‘I worked so hard on it. Whenever I wasn’t on an acting job, I would be working on it, trying to stay out of trouble and save money.’
The actor, who shares four children with his wife, sounded particularly dispirited when he spoke about taking them to school, only to note that their school was among the buildings burned up in the inferno.
‘Everything’s gone,’ Lando said as he was overcome by emotion.
He noted how the fire didn’t discriminate against its victims.