The Loneliest Runner is an semi-autobiographical made-for-television film written, produced and directed by Bonanza star Michael Landon. It first aired on December 20, 1976 on NBC and starred Lance Kerwin, Brian Keith, DeAnn Mears, and Landon's Little House on the Prairie daughter, Melissa Sue Anderson. The film was nominated for two Emmy Awards. Synopsis John Curtis wins an Olympic marathon. He prepares to be interviewed on television by Rafer Johnson afterward, told that he will be asked questions like what got him into running. He flashes back to his childhood. As a 12-year-old suffering from chronic bedwetting, John wakes up early every day to change his soiled sheets and pajamas before his parents can see, running them down to the laundromat on the way to school. His supportive father, Arnold, had promised him a regular bed to replace his child-sized bed if he can stay dry until his next birthday days later. John’s mother Alice is shrill and strident, accusing him of either being too lazy to get out of bed at night to urinate or being spiteful against her. Pretty Nancy Rizzi, a new classmate and next door neighbor, takes an interest in John and they walk home together. They plan to be study partners. John’s father offers to drive him down to a football game early Saturday morning to watch John play with his team. John wakes up even earlier than normal to wash his sheets but finds the laundromat is still closed at that hour. After a resounding victory, Arnold proudly drives John and his teammates home. As they pull up, everybody sees John’s soiled sheet, which his mother had found and hung out of his bedroom window to humiliate him. John’s friends make excuses and walk home. With Alice goading him, Arnold decides to scold John. An embarrassed John tells his friends a story that he had picked up a stray puppy that wet his bed but they seem unconvinced. Nancy offers to walk home with him after football practice, but John races home alone to pull in his sheet so she won’t see it. He tells his parents that he’s quitting the football team because he lost his gear, which he actually threw out so he wouldn’t have to go to practice and could get home in time to pull in his sheet. For months, he continues to run home every day after school to