Alison Arngrim and other cast members celebrated the Golden Anniversary of the classic family TV series Little House on the Prairie.
Cast members Melissa Gilbert and Karen Grassle joined Arngrim to mark Little House’s 50th anniversary at a festival hosted this weekend at Big Sky Ranch in Simi Valley, California. This location served as the backdrop for the show throughout its nine-season run from 1974 to 1982.
“If you would have told us 50 years ago that this show would remain timeless, we would have thought you were crazy,” Arngrim recently told Fox News. Of course, Alison Arngrim played the infamous mean girl Nellie Oleson on Little House on the Prairie.
“We had no concept that this show would still be airing on television 50 years later,” she added. “We didn’t even know if there would still be TV in 50 years!”
Alison Arngrim Recalls the ‘Little House on the Prairie’ Set Resembling ‘Mad Men’
Michael Landon headlined the series, which followed the Ingalls family’s adventures in the Midwest during the 19th century.
The show was known as wholesome family entertainment. However, behind the scenes, the atmosphere was decidedly adult, Arngrim revealed.
“It was the ‘70s,” Alison Arngrim began about the Little House set. “People drank, people smoked. [Landon] did all of these things. It was kind of strange you’re… on set and people are standing around with cigarettes and glasses of gin.”
However, Arngrim feels this freewilling atmosphere says more about the era than the show itself. “It seemed odd, but that was TV in the ‘70s,” she explained. “It was like ‘Mad Men.’”
Michael Landon became something of a father figure for a generation of TV lovers because of the classic show. However, his real-life demeanor was a stark contrast to his Little House character, Arngrim claims.
“[Landon] was so not Pa,” she recalled. “But then, if you think about it, what a brilliant performance. Here was this man who came to work in his unbuttoned shirt, in his gold chains, in his Ferrari with his Marlboros, and then he turned into Pa Ingalls in a matter of minutes.”
Landon, who portrayed Charles Ingalls, passed away at 54 from pancreatic cancer in 1991. Arngrim remembered him as a no-nonsense smoker who grappled with insecurities off-camera.
“Michael in many ways was a Hollywood person,” she said. “Yes, he owned a Ferrari. He had fast cars. But… the show was therapy for people. And I believe it was therapy for Michael in a lot of ways…”
“[What surprised me] was that… insecurity, because he was so powerful. He was the writer and star of the show, he was everything. He was loved by millions, absolutely gorgeous, very much in charge… He’d be cracking jokes. He had a wonderfully twisted, warped sense of humor. He was hilarious.”