Former Child Stars Who Played Little Sisters on TV, Then and Now

Table Of Content

• Executive Producer
• Alison Arngrim (Nellie Oleson)
• Katherine MacGregor retired from acting and focused on her religion
• Alison Arngrim moved on to comedy and writing
• Shannen Doherty really made a name for herself
• Dan Schneider Sues ‘Quiet on Set’ Producers for Defamation, Calls Nickelodeon Abuse Docuseries a ‘Hit Job’

Richard Bull was another actor who was already famous before starring in the famous Little House on the Prairie. His role as the Doc in Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea secured his name as an amazing actor in the TV industry. Richard Bull crossed paths with Michael Landon on the set of Bonanza when he played a rancher caught in a vicious range war. We can’t confirm if this meeting had anything to do with Bull getting cast, but considering how much control Landon had on the creation, it’s certainly plausible. Melissa Sue Anderson was cast as Mary Ingalls after just a few successful commercial roles.

Executive Producer

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Melissa, 59, has also recently been promoting a new podcast with her husband, Timothy Busfield, and talks about her experience working on Little House in one of the episodes! He portrayed James Cooper Ingalls, the second adopted son of Caroline and Charles. After Little House on the Prairie, he appeared on shows like General Hospital and Matlock. Hagen starred in the one-man show, A Playful Dose of Prairie Wisdom, based on Doc Baker.

Alison Arngrim (Nellie Oleson)

In Australia, Region 4, the first releases were released by Magna Pacific (NBC Home Entertainment) on October 22, 2004 (Season 1 Parts 1 & 2) and November 12, 2004 (Season 2 Parts 1 & 2) and re-released early 2008. Via Vision then acquired the rights to the series and began releasing Uncut & Digitally Remastered version on May 6, 2015 and the final season on April 20, 2016. Also released are Complete Season boxset, the first two being non remastered and the latest version being the remastered Deluxe Edition. Although the show followed the life and adventures of a family living on a farm in the late 1800s, the issues they dealt with are still relatable to viewers even today. The show became a big hit right off the bat and will certainly be remembered as one of the greatest shows of all time. The series was based on the best-selling Little House Books, which were actually semi-autobiographical, based on author Laura Ingalls Wilder’s real-life family.

Katherine MacGregor retired from acting and focused on her religion

She’s coming up on her 82nd birthday on February 25th, 2024, and was last seen in 2021’s Not to Forget and 2017’s Lasso. She was seen in The Love Boat, Murder, She Wrote, Harry’s War and Not to Forget, roles she played that were totally different from her Ma’s character. On Nickelodeon's Drake & Josh, Miranda Cosgrove was best known as Megan Parker, the mischievous tween genius who hit her older brothers with non-stop pranks throughout the series, which ran from 2004 to 2007. But Cosgrove got her biggest break with her next gig, starring as the lead on all six seasons of iCarly. In 2012, Guinness World Records dubbed her the highest-paid child actress on television at the time.

Grassle kept on acting here and there over the years after the show ended. In fact, her IMDb page reveals that she recently completed 2021's "Not to Forget." However, Grassle admitted to Closer Weekly that she was typecast for a bit after the show's conclusion, so she put her energy elsewhere. She explained, "I did [have trouble getting roles after], but my priorities shifted because I wanted to have a family, so I was putting less energy into acting than I was into figuring out how to be a stepmom and have a child." When it debuted on NBC in March 1974, the show was immediately successful. The network authorized a full season that began in September of the same year, and for years, millions of people around the world tuned in to watch the adventures of the Ingalls family. While no longer airing new episodes, the show is still on TV to this day (per the "Little House on the Prairie" website).

Laura suggests she take a teaching position to help them earn money for a new farm, but Almanzo objects and postpones the wedding. When Kate accompanies him on a visit to deliver a baby to a woman whose own birth he had handled, their age difference is magnified for both of them. Eventually, Charles, while on a business trip to Sleepy Eye, discovers the truth about Danforth’s method. He performs a hustle from town to town, with the same three people in the audience pretending to need saving.

As for why generations of fans have continued to watch the show long after its 200-plus episodes across nine seasons came to an end in 1983, Grassle had a thought. Little House on the Prairie aired its first episode on March 30, 1974, and ruled the airwaves until 1983. Days were filled with back-breaking manual labor, miles-long walks to school, constant financial worry and no indoor toilets. The pilot, which first aired on March 30, 1974, was based on Laura Ingalls Wilder's third Little House book, Little House on the Prairie. The rest of the regular series premiered on the NBC network on September 11, 1974, and last aired on May 10, 1982.

Backdoor pilot

Some have pursued passions outside of the Hollywood spotlight, becoming moms, students and lawyers, while others have seen furthered success in the entertainment industry. Syndication, streaming services, DVDs, and Blu-rays make it easy for those who grew up watching "Little House on the Prairie" to return to Walnut Grove and revisit the Ingalls family. Along with re-watching episodes, "Little House on the Prairie" fans can also watch some of the movies that they may have forgotten. These days, Kyle Richards is best known as a reality TV star, but she actually got her start on "Little House on the Prairie" when she was cast as Alicia Sanderson Edwards.

Kyle Richards Signs With CAA (EXCLUSIVE)

None of the available releases of the series contain "The Little House Years", which was a three-hour Thanksgiving special aired during Season 6 that largely consisted of flashback clips. When Michael Landon decided to leave the show (though he stayed on as executive producer and occasional writer and director), a spin-off sequel show was created, the focus now placed on the characters of Laura and Almanzo, and more characters were added to the cast. A new family, the Carters (Stan Ivar as John, Pamela Roylance as Sarah, Lindsay Kennedy as older son Jeb, and David Friedman as younger son Jason), move into the Ingalls house. Meanwhile, Almanzo and Laura take in their niece, Jenny Wilder (played by Shannen Doherty), when Almanzo's brother dies and raise her alongside their daughter, Rose. The Wilders appear prominently in some episodes, while in others they appear only in early scenes used to introduce the story or its characters.

Charles shows up at one of Danforth’s church services and reveals the truth. They find that some of their old classmates are very successful, but wealth doesn’t necessarily equal happiness or a good marriage. And both Caroline and Charles are propositioned by former married classmates. In alphabetical order, the main or notable cast members, along with the character they portrayed. Despite appearances, in the years that followed the end of "Little House," Melissa Gilbert revealed that the relationship with her on-screen niece had broken down dramatically. Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

They first met in the 1980s when Cannon auditioned for Landon's series Father Murphy. She is best known for playing Felice, Donna Martin's mother, on Beverly Hills, 90210. Gilbert left Hollywood at 18 to attend business school and now works as a stockbroker in New York, according to his sister’s memoir.

In 2002 she won a Young Artist Award and in 2006 was honored (if you want to call it an honor) with TV Land’s "Character Most Desperately in Need of a Timeout" award. The three movie specials listed below were produced to tie up loose ends to storylines on both the two main series and those opened up in Hello and Goodbye. Many actors, who were either well-known or went on to become famous, guest-starred on the show. He passed away in 2014 from pneumonia just months before his 90th birthday. We’ll surely never forget him, especially as Nels Oleson, whose good judgment and sense of fairness, helped make viewers feel better about themselves when watching.

Sidney explained that they were both pretty unbothered by the experience, saying, "When we went for the interview Michael took us in his office without my mother to see what we would do; it didn't faze my sister or me." For many, Melissa Gilbert was the darling of "Little House on the Prairie." Viewers fell in love with Gilbert's portrayal of a precocious Laura Ingalls, and eventually Laura Ingalls Wilder. However, Gilbert has since shared that while her life on the show seemed to be picture-perfect and serene, the reality of what she experienced behind closed doors was anything but. The former costars visited recreations of the schoolhouse, mercantile and the iconic little house itself, which are set up, along with costumes and memorabilia, for an upcoming fan event known as Prairie Palooza. As fans will recall, Gilbert played lead Laura Ingalls, Grassle portrayed her mother Caroline and Arngrim took on the role of classmate Nellie Oleson on the NBC western.

Laura lived from 1867 to 1957 and is responsible for authoring the book series that would pave the way for several on-screen adaptations. After Little House on the Prairie, he was an actor and executive producer on Highway to Heaven. He played Jonathan Smith, a probationary angel sent to help people on Earth.

Melissa Gilbert started acting at a young age and was cast as Laura Ingalls Wilder at 9 years old. She starred on the show for 10 years and her performance earned her a Golden Globe nomination. Meanwhile, Ali, now 45, appeared in films and on television shows, securing a recurring regular role on The Young and the Restless from 2007 to 2013. Jaimee Foxworth made her name as Judy Winslow on Family Matters from its first season into its fourth, though her character was inexplicably written out of the series midway through season 4.