Mike Leyland: What Happened to the Leyland Brothers Star

For two decades, Mike and Mal Leyland were the brothers who seemed to live the adventure Australians dreamed about — a camera, a Land Rover and the whole outback as their backyard. The final chapter of Mike’s life was quieter and far harder to watch. He died on 14 September 2009 at 68, with ABC News (Australia’s national broadcaster) reporting the cause as complications associated with Parkinson’s disease. What follows pieces together what happened, what split the brothers apart, and where the Leyland name stands today.

Born: 4 September 1941, Hitchin, England · Died: 14 September 2009 (aged 68) · Cause of death: Parkinson’s disease · Occupation: Documentary filmmaker, explorer · Notable award: MBE

Eight facts capture the shape of the life: a British start, an Australian career, a theme park, and a family story the cameras never fully caught.

What happened to Mike Leyland?

• Mike Leyland died on 14 September 2009 at the age of 68 (ABC News)
• The cause was complications of Parkinson’s disease (ABC News)
• ABC News’ funeral coverage said Mike had died on the Monday, with a private service at Lake Macquarie, south of Newcastle (ABC News)

What was Mike Leyland’s cause of death?

• ABC News reported complications associated with Parkinson’s disease (ABC News)
• His family asked for donations to Parkinson’s NSW instead of flowers (ABC News)

The film database IMDb (film database) gives the same cause — complications from Parkinson’s disease — and places the death in Newcastle, New South Wales. The disease had already cost the brothers their on-screen partnership by the time it ended Mike’s life.

When did Mike Leyland die?

• 14 September 2009 (ABC News)
• Australian TV trade site TV Tonight (Australian TV industry site) marked the death with a tribute headlined “Vale Mike Leyland”

The ABC funeral report described a private service held in the days after his death, away from the media attention the brothers had once commanded.

How old was Mike Leyland at death?

• 68 — the age given in ABC News’ obituary (ABC News)
• Born on 4 September 1941, he had turned 68 ten days before his death (Wikipedia)

The pattern is painful: the public obituary was brief, but the private story had been running for years — a broken business, a broken partnership, and finally a disease the family had been living with behind closed doors.

Why did the Leyland brothers fall out?

• The falling out was tied to a financial rift over Leyland Brothers World (ABC News)
• The project collapsed in 1992 after reported losses of more than $6 million (ABC News)
• Both brothers were bankrupt by the time the venture failed (ABC News)

What caused the rift between Mike and Mal Leyland?

• Mal Leyland said in 2015 it was the first time he had publicly spoken about what split the pair (ABC News)

According to ABC News’ 2015 report, the theme park was the fracture point. The brothers had built Leyland Brothers World as a physical home for their adventures; when the money ran out, so did the partnership. Mal’s account pointed to money, not any single personal betrayal.

Was the falling out permanent?

• The brothers’ professional relationship ended in the years after the collapse (ABC News)

ABC’s 2015 Australian Story report said the pair’s relationship and collaboration had ended amid the financial rift. They did not return to making television together, and by the 2000s Mike’s health was also declining, which made a return to the road impractical.

Did the brothers reconcile before Mike’s death?

• No public reconciliation was reported before Mike died in 2009 (ABC News)

What the public never saw, according to ABC News’ 2026 profile, was the emotional weight the split carried. Mal was described as nearly collapsing when told of Mike’s death (ABC News).

The trade-off: the same risk-taking that made the Leyland Brothers compelling on screen made them vulnerable off it. A theme park was the logical next step for adventurers who thought big; it was also the place where their luck ran out.

Are both the Leyland brothers still alive?

• Mike Leyland died in 2009 (ABC News)
• Mal Leyland is alive, according to ABC News’ 2026 profile (ABC News)

Which Leyland brother is still alive?

• Mal Leyland — Malcolm Rex Leyland, per Wikipedia — remains alive (Wikipedia)
• Mike Leyland died on 14 September 2009 (ABC News)

Is Mal Leyland still alive?

• Yes. ABC News’ 2026 profile of Mal is built around him reflecting publicly on the brothers’ story (ABC News)

The profile also includes family members recalling Mike’s diagnosis and death — which only makes sense if Mal is still here to tell the story.

Where are the Leyland brothers today?

• Mike’s legacy is tied to the brothers’ films and Leyland Brothers World (ABC News)
• Mal has remained connected to the Leyland Brothers name (ABC News)

In practical terms, there is no longer a working duo. The name “Leyland Brothers” now describes a memory kept alive by one brother, the archive of their films, and the theme park that once carried their ambition.

What this means: the answer to “are both Leyland brothers still alive” is a clear no — and has been since September 2009. The living half of the partnership now carries the whole legacy alone.

Who are Mike and Mal Leyland’s wives?

• Mike’s wife, Margie, is named in ABC News’ 2009 obituary (ABC News)
• The family unit included step-daughters Sarah and Alison (ABC News)
• ABC’s 2026 profile gives a family voice to Laraine Leyland (ABC News)

Who was Mike Leyland’s wife?

• Margie — mentioned as his wife in ABC News’ report on his death (ABC News)

The coverage doesn’t detail when or how they met. In the public story, Mike’s marriage was private, mentioned mainly in the family list at the end of his obituary.

Who was Mike Leyland’s first wife?

• No first wife is named in the available coverage; ABC’s obituary lists only Margie (ABC News)

The public records do not name an earlier marriage. This is one of those places where the historical silence is itself the answer.

Who is Mal Leyland married to?

• The family name Laraine Leyland appears in ABC’s 2026 profile, though the article’s relationship details are not repeated in the public research notes (ABC News)

That might sound thin, and it is. The truth is that the Leyland brothers’ marriages were never the point of the show. Viewers knew the wives existed; the format kept the focus on the two men and the road.

The pattern: the more public the brothers became, the more carefully their home lives stayed out of frame. What we know about their wives is mostly what the obituaries and profiles chose to tell us.

How many children did Mike Leyland have?

• ABC’s obituary listed daughters Kerry, Sandy and Dawn (ABC News)
• It also listed step-daughters Sarah and Alison (ABC News)
• In total, the family count is five daughters (ABC News)

What are the names of Mike Leyland’s children?

• Kerry, Sandy and Dawn — with step-daughters Sarah and Alison (ABC News)

ABC’s funeral report described Mike as the father of five daughters, which matches the obituary’s list once the three daughters and two step-daughters are combined. Seven grandchildren are also named as survivors.

Did Mike Leyland’s children follow his career?

• The available coverage mentions his daughters in family listings but does not describe them as filmmakers or television presenters (ABC News)

The absence is the answer: the Leyland children were part of the family story, but not part of the act. The next generation stayed out of the spotlight.

The implication: Mike Leyland’s family outlived him in numbers the public barely registered. Five daughters and seven grandchildren mean the Leyland name continues — just not as a television brand.

Timeline: Mike Leyland’s Life and Career

Six dates, one pattern: a quick rise, a costly detour into theme-park ambition, and a long, private fade.

Why this matters: the dates hide the gap between Mike’s public peak and his private decline. The brothers were still household names when the money ran out; the collapse simply wasn’t visible on screen.

What’s confirmed and what’s still unclear

Separating the record from the speculation is the job of an obituary; this is where that split stands.

Confirmed facts

• Mike Leyland died on 14 September 2009, aged 68 (ABC News)
• Cause of death: complications of Parkinson’s disease (ABC News)
• He was survived by wife Margie, daughters Kerry, Sandy and Dawn, step-daughters Sarah and Alison, and seven grandchildren (ABC News)
• The brothers’ relationship ended amid a financial rift tied to Leyland Brothers World (ABC News)

What’s unclear

• The exact sequence of events that triggered the brothers’ split is not fully documented (ABC News)
• Whether any reconciliation happened privately before Mike’s death is not on the public record
• Mike’s precise net worth at death has not been established in the available sources
• The details of Mal’s marriage, including the role of Laraine Leyland, are not specified in the available research (ABC News)
• No earlier marriage beyond Margie is named in ABC’s coverage (ABC News)

The distinction matters: “confirmed” here means reported by at least one authoritative source, while “unclear” means the public record simply doesn’t answer.

Voices on Mike Leyland

Three voices frame how the public learned about Mike’s death — and what the family kept private.

“Vale Mike Leyland.”

TV Tonight, tribute headline, September 2009 (TV Tonight)

It was the first time he had publicly spoken about what happened to the Leyland Brothers — and why he and Mike went their separate ways.

Mal Leyland, as reported by ABC News, 2015 (ABC News)

“Mal Leyland reveals financial rift tore popular brothers apart.”

ABC News, headline of its 2015 report on the brothers’ split (ABC News)

They learned Mike had Parkinson’s disease — and that he knew he didn’t have much time left.

Laraine Leyland, quoted in ABC News’ 2026 profile (ABC News)

The pattern across these voices: the public got headlines; the family got the long version. The gap between the two is where the real story lives.

For the Leyland family, the cost of fame was paid in private long before Mike’s death: a business collapse that bankrupted the brothers, a partnership that ended in silence, and a disease that took Mike before viewers understood what had been going on. The public saw the films; the family lived the aftermath. For Mal Leyland, the legacy question is now settled: he can keep the Leyland name alive as a living archive of what the brothers built — or let the story end with Mike.

Frequently asked questions

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