14:38Classic TV · 1977Little House on the Prairie Cast Then and Now
Episode: Little House on the Prairie (1974): Cast Then & Now 2026 — Nine of Them Are Gone
From Hollywood Legends Era · 19 min ·
About the Little House on the Prairie Cast Then and Now
The Little House on the Prairie cast then and now is a story about the people who made a frontier family feel like part of our own. The pilot movie aired on NBC on March 30, 1974, the weekly series began that September, and the show ran for nine seasons until 1983.
This episode follows twelve people from the show. Nine have passed away, and three are still with us. Here is what we could confirm about each one.
Who Was in the Little House on the Prairie Cast, and Where Are They Now?
Michael Landon as Charles Ingalls
Michael Landon, already famous as Little Joe on Bonanza, was also the show's executive producer, a writer and a director. He was 37 when the pilot aired.
His private life drew headlines during the show's run. He divorced his second wife, Lynn Noe, in 1982 after about 19 years of marriage, and in 1983 he married Cindy Clerico, a makeup artist on the series.
Michael Landon died of pancreatic cancer on July 1, 1991, at his home in Malibu. He was 54.
Karen Grassle as Caroline Ingalls
Karen Grassle won the part of Ma after an audition held, according to Biography.com, under the name Gabriel Tree. A UC Berkeley graduate and Fulbright fellow at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, she made her Broadway debut in 1968.
Her memoir, Bright Lights, Prairie Dust, published in 2021, speaks openly about her struggle with alcohol. She also wrote that her relationship with Landon became strained after he refused her request for a raise, and that the two made peace before he died.
Karen Grassle is 84 and has kept acting on stage and in film.
Merlin Olsen as Jonathan Garvey
Before Walnut Grove, Merlin Olsen was one of the greatest defensive linemen in football history. He played 15 seasons for the Los Angeles Rams, made a then-record 14 Pro Bowls, and missed only two games in his career. He entered the Hall of Fame in 1982.
He joined Little House in 1977, then starred in Father Murphy and called NFL games for NBC.
In 2009 he was diagnosed with peritoneal mesothelioma and filed a lawsuit alleging asbestos exposure. He died on March 11, 2010, at City of Hope in Duarte, California, at age 69. His family settled the lawsuit the following year.
Hersha Parady as Alice Garvey
Ohio-born Hersha Parady's first Little House role was Eliza Ingalls, Charles's sister-in-law, in 1976. NBC later reported that Katherine MacGregor and Richard Bull saw her in a play and recommended her for the role of Alice Garvey.
Alice's death in the fire at the school for the blind, in "May We Make Them Proud" (first aired February 4, 1980), remains one of the show's most painful episodes.
Hersha Parady died on August 23, 2023, at her son's home in Norfolk, Virginia, after a battle with a brain tumor. She was 78.
Katherine MacGregor as Harriet Oleson
Katherine "Scottie" MacGregor, once a dance instructor in New York, made Mrs. Oleson unforgettable. In a 1981 interview, she explained that the character was written as simply mean, and "anyone that mean has to be a fool," so she began mixing farce into it.
She played Harriet in 153 episodes. She missed the series finale because she was on a pilgrimage in India, focused on her Hindu faith, and she later taught acting to children.
She died on November 13, 2018, at the Motion Picture and Television Fund home in Woodland Hills, California, at 93. Melissa Gilbert wrote that outsiders never knew how loving and nurturing she was with the younger cast.
Richard Bull as Nels Oleson
Richard Bull began his stage career at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. In 1948 he married actress Barbara Collentine, and they stayed together for more than 65 years.
Before Walnut Grove, he played the doctor on Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea in 27 episodes and appeared in The Andromeda Strain and High Plains Drifter. Then he spent nine seasons as patient Nels Oleson.
In 2012 he moved into the Motion Picture and Television Fund home, where Katherine MacGregor also lived. He died on February 3, 2014, at age 89.
Kevin Hagen as Dr. Hiram Baker
Kevin Hagen served in the Navy after World War II, earned a degree in international relations from USC, and worked for the State Department in Germany. He started acting at 27.
For years he played hard men in Westerns such as Gunsmoke and Bonanza, and in the 1965 film Shenandoah he played a renegade who kills James Stewart's son and daughter-in-law. Then he became gentle Doc Baker for 113 episodes.
He later toured a one-man show based on Doc Baker in Oregon. He died at home on July 9, 2005, a year after being diagnosed with esophageal cancer. He was 77.
Dabbs Greer as Reverend Alden
If you have seen The Green Mile (1999), you have seen Dabbs Greer. He played the elderly Paul Edgecomb, the older self of Tom Hanks' character, in his final film role.
On Little House, he was Reverend Alden in 76 episodes. He appeared in nearly 100 films and nearly 600 TV episodes.
Dabbs Greer died on April 28, 2007, in Pasadena, California, of kidney failure and heart disease. He was 90.
Melissa Gilbert as Laura Ingalls
Melissa Gilbert was adopted the day after she was born by comedian Paul Gilbert and Barbara Crane. Her grandfather, Harry Crane, created The Honeymooners. Her adopted brother, Jonathan Gilbert, played Willie Oleson, Nellie's brother on the show.
As a small child she made commercials, including one for Alpo with Lorne Greene, her TV dad's former Bonanza co-star. Her father died when she was 11.
She was about nine when she became Laura. She later played Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker, served as president of the Screen Actors Guild from 2001 to 2005, and played Ma in the Little House stage musical beginning in 2008. She is 62.
Steve Tracy as Percival Dalton
Steve Tracy was born Steven Crumrine in Canton, Ohio, and studied at Kent State before moving into acting in Los Angeles. He played Percival Dalton, Nellie's kind husband, in 11 episodes from 1980 to 1981.
In "Come, Let Us Reason Together," which aired January 12, 1981, Percival's father and Harriet Oleson argue over which faith Nellie's baby will be raised in.
Alison Arngrim has said she was the only one on set who knew he was gay. Six months before his death, he performed in AIDS/US. He died of AIDS-related complications in Tampa, Florida, on November 27, 1986, at just 34. His ashes were scattered beneath the "D" of the Hollywood Sign.
Victor French as Isaiah Edwards
Victor French's father, Ted, was an actor and stuntman in 1940s Westerns, and Victor started out the same way. He played so many villains that he later told TV Guide Michael Landon had saved him from 20 years of playing killers.
As Mr. Edwards, he appeared in 57 episodes and directed 18. Later he and Landon made Highway to Heaven together from 1984 to 1989.
While filming live-action scenes for Rock-a-Doodle in Dublin, he was diagnosed with lung cancer. He died three months later, on June 15, 1989, at 54. The final episode of Highway to Heaven aired two months after his death.
Alison Arngrim as Nellie Oleson
Alison Arngrim grew up in show business. Her mother, Norma MacMillan, voiced Gumby and Casper the Friendly Ghost, and her father, Thor Arngrim, was a talent manager whose clients included Liberace.
She was 12 when she was cast as Nellie and played her for seven seasons. Off camera, she and Melissa Gilbert became close friends, trading sleepovers on the weekends.
After Steve Tracy's death, she worked on an AIDS hotline and joined ACT UP, and she has long spoken for the child-protection group PROTECT. She is 64 and still working.
Why the Little House on the Prairie Cast Still Matters
Every week, this show promised that a family could weather anything. Off camera, the people who made it faced illness, addiction, loss and secrets they could not share in their own time.
Which Walnut Grove family member meant the most to you, and did you watch the show with someone you still think of today?
Sources and Further Reading
Topics in This Story
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