Melissa Gilbert and ‘Little House on the Prairie’ cast then and now
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The fashionable new adaptation of “Little House on the Prairie,” which started streaming on Netflix earlier this month, has prompted a resurgence of curiosity in the unique 1974 tv collection starring Melissa Gilbert and Michael Landon.
But what occurred to the unique cast?
The cast of “Little House on the Prairie” is seen in a promotional photograph. (Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
Melissa Gilbert
Melissa Gilbert performed Laura Ingalls on “Little House on the Prairie.” (NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal by way of Getty Images by way of Getty Images; Stephane Cardinale – Corbis/Corbis by way of Getty Images)
Melissa Gilbert is finest recognized for her portrayal of Laura Ingalls in the unique collection, which she started in 1974 at just 9 years old.
The 62-year-old had already been on exhibits like “Gunsmoke” and “Emergency” when the present began.
Also serving as the narrator of the present, Gilbert stayed on “Little House on the Prairie” for all 9 seasons, till 1983.
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During her time on the present, she made a number of TV films, together with “The Miracle Worker,” “The Diary of Anne Frank” and “Splendor in the Grass.”
She additionally reprised her function in the TV films “Little House Years,” “Little House: Look Back to Yesterday,” “Little House: The Final Farewell” and “Little House: Bless All the Dear Children.”
Gilbert continued to behave after the present ended on dozens of TV movies and she additionally voiced Barbara Gordon on “Batman: The Animated Series” from 1992 to 1994.
Gilbert additionally made TV appearances on exhibits like “Touched by an Angel,” “Providence,” “7th Heaven” and “Nip/Tuck.” She had a recurring function on Hallmark’s “When Calls the Heart,” however lately revealed in an Instagram publish that she wouldn’t be returning to the present. She mentioned she was advised that was as a result of “finances points.”
The information got here after her husband Timothy Busfield, who she married in 2013, was charged with two counts of legal sexual contact of a minor and one depend of kid abuse in January. He was indicted by a federal grand jury in February on 4 counts of legal sexual contact of a minor.
Busfield has denied the expenses and Gilbert has continued to assist him, telling ABC in April that he’s the “last person in the world who would hurt a child.”
“I trust him with my children’s lives, with my grandchildren’s lives, my nieces and nephews,” she added. “He is an honorable, caring, generous human being.”
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Gilbert additionally defended the new reboot after she mentioned she’d seen followers debating on social media whether or not the new model or the unique had been traditionally correct and trustworthy to the books.
“The short answer is no, neither are entirely accurate to the times nor the books,” she wrote in a Substack essay.
After giving a number of examples of inaccuracies, she wrote: “My hope is that folks realize that these are all perfect examples of dramatic license. Even the real Laura took dramatic license in writing her books. For example, in the book, ‘Little House on the Prairie,’ all three Ingalls girls are older than they were in real life.”
She added, “So rather than getting all twisted up in what’s real and what’s dramatized, maybe just sit back and go for the ride the creative minds behind these shows want to take you on. If you like it, stick with it. If you don’t, you don’t have to watch.”
Michael Landon
Michael Landon is seen right here on “Little House on the Prairie” and in 1990, a yr earlier than his demise. (NBCU Photo Bank; Photo by Kypros/Getty Images)
Michael Landon, who performed Laura’s father Charles Ingalls on the present, started performing in the Nineteen Fifties, showing on exhibits like “Cheyenne,” “Suspicion” and “The Rifleman.” He was additionally in the film “I Was a Teenage Werewolf.”
Landon directed a lot of the present’s episodes and wrote and produced the present.
Before “Little House,” he starred as Little Joe Cartwright on the long-running collection “Bonanza.”
Landon continued to work on a number of TV films after the present ended, and he starred as angel Jonathan Smith on the 1984 to 1989 collection “Highway to Heaven.”
He additionally reprised his function as Charles Ingalls in 4 TV films.
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Landon died at 54 years outdated in 1991, simply months after he was recognized with pancreatic most cancers.
Gilbert referred to as Landon a “mentor and father figure” in a Fox News Digital interview in 2024. She mentioned she noticed her TV dad per week earlier than he died.
“There were always funny moments with Michael,” she mentioned. “Even as sick as he was, he still maintained his incredible sense of humor.”
Gilbert continuously posts recollections of him on her Instagram, writing earlier this month, “I’ve always felt like the luckiest girl in the world because he chose me to be his ‘Halfpint.’ Working with him was more than formative. I learned most of what I know about our industry from him.”
Karen Grassle
Karen Grassle seen as Caroline Ingalls on “Little House on the Prairie” and at an occasion in 2024. (George Hurrell/NBCU Photo Bank; Arnold Jerocki/WireImage)
Karen Grassle, who performed Laura’s mom Caroline, was primarily a theater and Broadway actress earlier than touchdown the function on “Little House.”
After the present ended, the 84-year-old continued to behave till 2021, starring in the film “Not to Forget.”
Grassle had a contentious relationship with Landon whereas on the present, which stemmed from a wage dispute in Season 2 and prompted her to depart a yr earlier than the present ended.
She fashioned a particular bond together with her onscreen kids “so they felt comfortable doing scenes with me as their mother,” however her relationship with Landon, whom she referred to as an “amazing, multi-talented person,” soured, in response to People magazine.
“I felt insulted as his co-star on a hit series,” Grassle advised the New York Post about his refusal to grant her a increase, arguing she must be paid the similar as her onscreen kids. “I didn’t want to gouge anybody, but I expected a fair wage.”
She mentioned Landon additionally minimize her onscreen time throughout the dispute and made sexist jokes on set.
The actress reconciled with Landon earlier than his demise, telling the Post: “I am very grateful that we mended our fences.”
Grassle can also be very pleased with her time on “Little House,” calling her character “an incredibly strong woman with a nature full of texture. Her spirit is one to live by.”
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Melissa Sue Anderson
Melissa Sue Anderson performed Laura’s older sister Mary Ingalls on “Little House on the Prairie.” (Bruce Birmelin/NBCU Photo Bank; Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)
Melissa Sue Anderson performed Laura’s older sister Mary Ingalls on the present.
The 63-year-old was the solely member of the cast to be nominated for an Emmy for an episode about her character going blind.
Two years older than Gilbert when she began on the pioneer present, Anderson had solely finished a bit TV work — together with as Bobby Brady’s first kiss — earlier than “Little House.”
Anderson made her movie debut in the horror film “Happy Birthday to Me” in 1981 and after the present ended, she made TV appearances on exhibits like “Hotel,” “Murder She Wrote,” “The Equalizer” and “The Love Boat.”
She met her husband, Michael Sloan, whereas showing in the Eighties reprisal of “Alfred Hitchcock Presents.” The couple welcomed two daughters and Sloan died in 2025.
Anderson and Gilbert famously didn’t get alongside.
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“We were very, very different,” Anderson advised the Atlanta Constitution-Journal.
Anderson additionally revealed a memoir about her time on the present referred to as “The Way I See It: A Look Back at My Life on Little House.”
Gilbert felt that Anderson acted like the boss on set.
“From the moment we walked onto that set, Melissa Sue Anderson was the boss of me,” she mentioned in an interview, in accordance to Parade. “She took that absolutely seriously. She was two years older than me, which, you know, when you’re 9 and 11 is a big deal.”
Gilbert added, “She was tough on me both off and on camera, but on camera especially.”
Anderson defined that she was simply very shy, telling Harry Brownstone on his podcast final yr: “I wish I had been more outgoing so I could have enjoyed it more and been more easygoing about everything.”
However, the pair reunited final yr at Gilbert’s off-Broadway play “Pen Pals.”
“Reconnection with a sister,” Gilbert wrote. “Long, healing talks. Lots of reminiscing. Lots of catching up. Lots of laughter and a few tears.”
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“Just us Ingalls girls. The best part is, the past is now just that and we can move forward as the sisters/friends we always wanted to be,” she wrote.
Rachel Lindsay and Sidney Greenbush
Sidney and Rachel Lindsay Greenbush each performed youthful sister Carrie Ingalls. (Gary Null/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal by way of Getty Images by way of Getty Images; David Livingston/Getty Images)
Twins Rachel Lindsay and Sidney Greenbush had been simply 3 years outdated once they had been cast as youthful sister Carrie Ingalls.
Sharing the function for eight years, they selected to depart after the eighth season once they had been 12 years outdated.
“Everybody separated, and I didn’t see anybody,” Rachel Lindsay mentioned at a fiftieth anniversary reunion, in response to Entertainment Weekly. “And that was really hard for me personally because I didn’t realize how connected I had been to everybody until years later.”
“You make these really deep, intense bonds working with each other every single day, and then when it’s over, you’re just supposed to be like, ‘Okay, that was nice. Bye,’” she advised the outlet. “And it’s really hard that way.”
Both sisters retired from performing in 1983 to focus on their schooling.
In 2014, she married Daniel Sanchez, whom she first met when he lived close to the set and used to sneak on to hang around with the cast and crew, in response to People journal.
She additionally has a grown daughter from a earlier relationship.
Sidney acted in “Hambone and Hillie” in 1983 and Rachel Lindsay was in an episode of “Matt Houston.”
Sidney simply wrote a kids’s e-book referred to as “Seven Sisters: The Lantern of Humanity.”
“I remember when they were making the movie ‘Return to Oz.’ My sister made it to the final three girls who were selected,” Sidney told Fox News Digital final month.
“They all did screen tests, and for the silliest of reasons, they chose another girl over her,” she mentioned. “Of course, we all know there can only be one choice in the end, but it’s a lot of pressure for children. So I decided I was going to explore other things because sometimes you go to what they call ‘cattle calls,’ where there are so many people competing for the same role. The casting directors aren’t always nice.”
The two sisters had been credited as “Lindsay Sidney Greenbush” on the present.
Alison Arngrim
Alison Arngrim performed bully Nellie Oleson on “Little House on the Prairie.” (NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal by way of Getty Images by way of Getty Images; Arnold Jerocki/WireImage)
Nellie Oleson, the daughter of the mercantile retailer homeowners who bullied Laura, was performed by Alison Arngrim.
The 64-year-old was simply 12 when she started performing reverse Gilbert, saying at the fiftieth reunion the two of them had been “like sisters” on set, in response to People.
“It’s so completely bonkers,” Arngrim mentioned. “Here’s Melissa Gilbert and I playing mortal enemies, beating each other senseless all week. And then on the weekends, we’d go to each other’s house for a slumber party, and we were hanging out.”
She can also be the writer of “Confessions of A Prairie Bitch: How I Survived Nellie Oleson and Learned to Love Being Hated” and had a one-woman present referred to as “Confessions of a Prairie Bitch.”
In 2002, she was honored with the Young Artist Former Child Star Lifetime Achievement Award for her work on the present.
Aside from “Little House, Arngrim also made appearances on shows like “Fantasy Island,” “The Love Boat,” the TV movie “Life Interrupted” and she recently made a cameo on the “Little House” reboot.
Katherine MacGregor
Katherine MacGregor was gossip Harriet Oleson on the show. (NBCUniversal via Getty Images)
Katherine MacGregor played nasty gossip Harriet Oleson on the show.
After she died at 93 years old in 2018, Gilbert called her “outspoken and hilariously humorous” in an Instagram post.
“A really gifted actress as she was in a position to play a despicable character however with a lot coronary heart. Her Harriet Oleson was the girl our followers liked to hate. An ideal antagonist,” she added.
“The factor individuals exterior of our prairie household did not know, was how loving and nurturing she was with the youthful cast.”
Before “Little House,” MacGregor acted on shows like “Mister Peepers,” “Mannix,” “Emergency!” “All in the Family” and “Ironside.”
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She was also a successful Broadway actress and she returned to the theater after the show ended. She retired from acting in the early 2000s.
Richard Bull
Richard Bull played Nels Oleson, Harriet’s husband and Nellie’s father. (NBCUniversal via Getty Images)
Richard Bull played Nels Oleson, husband to Harriet who, with her, owned the town mercantile store.
Bull began acting in the 1950s, landing parts on shows like “Perry Mason,” “Highway Patrol,” “The Virginian,” “The Fugitive,” “The Alfred Hitchcock Hour,” “Gidget,” “Gomer Pyle: USMC,” “The Andy Griffith Show,” “Bewitched,” “Mission: Impossible” and “Bonanza” before the show’s run.
He also starred as the doctor on “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea” from 1964 to 1968.
He continued to act until 2011 on shows like “Lou Grant,” “Knots Landing,” “Hillstreet Blues,” “Designing Women” and “ER.”
Bull died at 89 years old in 2014.
He also reunited with Landon on three episodes of “Highway to Heaven.”
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Dean Butler
Dean Butler came onto the show later in the series to play Laura’s husband. (NBCU Photo Bank; Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images)
Dean Butler played Laura’s eventual husband, Almanzo Wilder, who came onto the show in the sixth season.
He also appeared on shows like “CHiPs,” “Fantasy Island,” “Who’s the Boss?” “The Love Boat,” “Hotel,” and had a recurring role on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.”
From 1986 until 1988, he starred on “The New Gidget” as Jeff “Moondoggie” Griffin.
His last acting role was in 2008, and since then he has mainly worked behind the camera as a sports, entertainment and documentary producer, including a docuseries he narrated called “The Little House Phenomenon: A Place in Television History.”
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Butler, like Gilbert, commended the reboot, writing on Instagram earlier this month: “Something that I like about the program that I believe would have been actually enjoyable in the unique — which we didn’t do… is the household singing. Writers have rolled in songs that Pa performed on his fiddle, and the household is singing alongside, and they’re doing it fantastically, and this actually is the spirit of Laura’s books.”
He added that the show is beautifully produced, saying “there’s a number of good things going on right here.”
