Little House On The Prairie cast ‘We were like family’
Nearly four decades on, the stars of the classic series tell all
It was the charming feelgood show adored by Aussie families for close to a decade. And now, nearly 40 years since it left our screens, Little House On The Prairie still holds a place in TV fans’ hearts.
The classic series, which aired from 1974 to 1983, is remembered just as fondly by the show’s cast, too.
“We were very lucky,” says Melissa Gilbert, aka young Laura “Half-pint” Ingalls. “We were like a second family.”
FUN PLAYGROUND
Little House On The Prairie was set in the late 1800s on a small farm near Walnut Grove, Minnesota, and Melissa, who went on to appear in Nip/tuck and 7th Heaven, says life on set was a dream.
“It was the best game of dress-up anybody played in the history of the world,” says the 57-year-old, who became a proud grandmother in June when her son Dakota, 32, welcomed his first child, daughter Ripley.
“I wore actual high-button shoes. We had wagons to ride, horses, cattle, chickens, and other kids to play with.”
But, like in any workplace, it wasn’t all fun and games on the Big Sky Ranch, where the exterior shots of the series were filmed.
Main star Michael Landon, who played patriarch Charles Ingalls and was also the show’s producer and sometimes director, ran “a very tight ship”, according to Alison Arngrim, 59, who played Laura’s sworn enemy Nellie Oleson.
“He knew exactly what he wanted with every shot and every scene,” says the star, who carved out a career as a stand-up comedian after Little House. “There was no real drama because Michael wouldn’t allow it.”
That didn’t mean there wasn’t friction though.
Melissa Sue Anderson, 58, who played eldest daughter Mary Ingalls, didn’t bond with the rest of the cast.
“She was quiet and kept to herself a lot,” says Alison. And Melissa Gilbert, who played her little sister, recalls the same. “She wasn’t easy to get along with.”
“Sibling” rivalry aside, the real feud was raging between Michael and onscreen wife Karen Grassle, 79, who played Caroline “Ma” Ingalls.
‘It was a bright spot in people’s childhoods’
“When we were in the top 10, I said, ‘Gee, it’s time to renegotiate my contract,’ [but] Michael did not want to pay me. It was very difficult,” says Karen, who left the show in 1982.
But she reveals she and Michael reconciled before his 1991 death, saying, “We had a friendly phone call about the good old days. I was glad we had that healing.”
And Karen can now look back fondly on the Ingalls clan.
“It was a bright spot in people’s childhoods,” she says.
Given the show’s enduring popularity, it’s no surprise that a Little House On The Prairie reboot is officially in the works.
“Fans are eager to see Little House On The Prairie come back to the screen,” says Trip Friendly, whose dad Ed owns the TV and movie rights to the Laura Ingalls Wilder semiautobiographical novels the series is based on.
“We feel optimistic that this will happen.”