I Promised My Dad: An Intimate Portrait of Michael Landon by His Eldest Daughter

After actor, director and scriptwriter Michael Landon became incurably ill with cancer, his stepdaughter Cheryl Wilson determined ``to honor and protect his name'' following his death. This balanced portrait, written with freelancer Scovell, accomplishes its purpose, although the Landon it presents turns out to be less admirable than the star's heroic TV personas. Born Eugene Orowitz, the young Landon was shunned by school peers and unappreciated by his remote father and insulting mother. He Landon changed his name and later later starred as Little Joe in the TV series Bonanza ; roles in Little House on the Prairie and Highway to Heaven soon followed. Landon married three times (Wilson is the daughter of his second wife); in general, Wilson remembers him fondly, although she was heartbroken by his decision to leave her mother, his wife of 18 years, for another woman. Two sides of Landon emerge: the model father who helped Wilson recover after a car accident and an addiction to painkillers, and the moody practical joker who withdrew from loved ones during his third marriage. More a description of Landon's domestic life than his career, this biography views him through eyes both adoring and disappointed. Photos not seen by PW. (Nov.)