‘Little House’ Star Dean Butler Reveals Why He Made Melissa Gilbert’s Mother Cry
If you’re a Little House on the Prairie fan, you likely remember the first kiss between sweet Laura Ingalls (Melissa Gilbert) and Almanzo Wilder (Dean Butler) on the series. Gilbert was only 15 at the time, and her first onscreen kiss was actually her first kiss in real life, too — something that she wasn’t too thrilled about. Not to mention the fact that Butler was much older, about 23 at the time.
Butler opened up about the kiss in a clip shared to That’s Classic TV’s Instagram page. He said, “We were surrounded by people in this intimate little moment that appears to be two people alone on a porch. There were literally 100 people gathered around this moment on the other side of the camera, including Melissa’s mother, who cried three times and blew takes because it was so … jarring for her, I suppose, to see her little girl kiss for the first time.”
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He added that they were very careful with how the kiss happened, due to the age difference. The show didn’t want anything scandalous as it was wholesome family television, however in the true story of Laura and Almanzo, there was quite an age gap and they wanted to be factually accurate.
Eventually, the characters got married and starred in the spinoff series Little House: A New Beginning. While the kiss may have been awkward behind the scenes, it ended up being a touching and memorable moment for fans of the show. Gilbert later admitted in interviews that she was incredibly nervous leading up to the scene.
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Butler, for his part, was aware of the responsibility he had in making her feel safe. In later interviews, he spoke about how they rehearsed the moment carefully and tried to bring authenticity to the scene without crossing any boundaries. What did you think of the kiss?
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