Make Every Moment COUNT

After losing his home in the California fires, the Dr. Quinn alum has a fresh perspective on life

- William Keck

When Joe Lando and his family lost their Pacific Palisades home of 22 years in the devastating January fires, his Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman co-star Jane Seymour offered them a place to live. “Jane opened her door to us,” Joe, who played the show’s hunky backwoodsman Byron Sully, tells Closer. “She’s given us time to get our wits about us and look for a new home. It was a very humbling thing.”

Joe starred on Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman from 1993 to 1998.

With cherished family mementos like his grandmother’s sewing machine and his father’s fishing gear now gone, Joe, 63, has been looking at his life with newfound appreciation for all that remains — primarily wife Kirsten and their four grown children. “I’ve always tried to be like my Sully character — an honest, stand-up guy who put all his energy and time into his family,” he says. “I know a lot of people who wish they’d done the same. Now I’m starting life over with no history to look back on. Everything is in front of me.”

He's been married to Kirsten Barlow since 1997. They are the proud parents of four adult children.

You grew up in Long Grove, Illinois. What was your childhood like?

It was the sticks then and it was great! [Lots of] lakes and ponds to go fishing in. I wasn’t a good student, but basically a really good kid until my teens when testosterone started kicking in. I rode motorcycles. My buddies and I beat each other up. A few near-death experiences.

When did you first get the acting bug?