Remember When Johnny Cash Guest Starred on ‘Little House on the Prairie?’
Little House on the Prairie had its share of top-notch guest stars over the course of its nine seasons, many of them popular child and teen actors of the time, including Peter Billingsley, Todd Bridges, Sean Penn, David Faustino, Willie Aames, Mike Lookinland, Lance Kerwin, Jimmy McNichol, and future Real Housewives Kyle and Kim Richards. But not even Michael Landon could resist the appeal of The Man in Black — he invited music icons Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash to appear in 1976’s Season 3 premiere episode, and they accepted. On what would have been Cash’s 93rd birthday, February 26, 2025, let’s remember the pair’s moving performances in “The Collection” — a perfect fit for Johnny.
Directed by Landon, the episode — among the series’ most highly rated — saw Cash and Carter play Caleb and Mattie Hodgekiss. The struggling couple takes in Walnut Grove’s beloved Reverend Alden (Dabbs Greer), who was injured while returning to town to gather funds for a nearby village destroyed in a prairie fire. While Mattie cares for the wounded pastor, former con Caleb sees a way to improve his family’s fortunes. He puts on the Reverend’s clothes, despite Mattie’s tearful protests, and heads into town, intent on keeping whatever spoils may come for himself.
Along the way, Caleb encounters Mary Ingalls (Melissa Sue Anderson) who offers to introduce “Brother Hodgekiss” to the town and steer him to the most generous folks. Moved by the sweet girl and the generosity of the welcoming Walnut Grove residents, Hodgekiss can’t go through with his con. Before he can even confess, the mended Rev. Alden appears and forgives the imposter, seeing how much the Hodgekisses long to live like the good people of Walnut Grove.
And yes, Cash did sing a song or two as Caleb Hodgekiss, warbling the traditional folk classics “Black Jack Davey” and “My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean.”
Critics and Cash fans noted how much “The Collection” mirrored Johnny’s own struggle to sync his devout faith with his penchant for running sideways of the law. (“Sometimes I am two people. Johnny is the nice one. Cash causes all the trouble. They fight,” he once said.) And he is clearly delighted to play Caleb, injecting flickers of his own persona into the musically gifted, wholly redeemed fellow.
The Cashes left an impression long after the episode wrapped. Cash gifted the cast with copies of his newly released autobiography, Man in Black. In a 2020 interview, Karen Grassle (who played Ma Ingalls) described her No. 1 showbiz moment as “[working] with Johnny Cash and his wife, June, on Little House. I had been listening to his music since I was a kid!”
Even the notoriously chilly Anderson hailed Cash as a terrific actor, calling herself “beyond excited” to be in nearly every scene with her famous costar.
Remind 
Kings Of Country
March 2022
From outlaws Willie & Waylon to the Man in Black, Johnny Cash, we have every tear in your beer covered
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