‘Little House on the Prairie’ Stars Dish on Charlotte Stewart’s True Relationship With Jim Morrison
What To Know
- Charlotte Stewart, who played Miss Beadle on Little House on the Prairie, had a close friendship and brief romantic involvement with The Doors frontman Jim Morrison.
- Stewart and Morrison shared a four-day road trip to delay his arrest, and Stewart later clarified their relationship as “friends with benefits,” reflecting the free-spirited nature of the 1960s and ’70s.
- Stewart’s former co-stars Alison Arngrim and Dean Butler on a podcast celebrating the show’s 50th anniversary.
Little House on the Prairie stars Alison Arngrim and Dean Butler dished on Charlotte Stewart‘s true relationship with The Doors frontman Jim Morrison.
On a December 4 episode of the Little House on the Prairie 50th Anniversary Podcast, the actors behind Nellie Oleson (Arngrim) and Almanzo Wilder (Butler) chatted with host Pamela Bob about Stewart’s friendship with the late rockstar.
Recently, Stewart, 84 — the actress who played the beloved Miss Beadle — recounted the time she helped Morrison escape from police. The Dade County Sheriff’s Office issued a warrant for his arrest in 1969 on counts of lewd behavior, indecent exposure, profanity and drunkenness following a Miami concert. Ultimately, Stewart joined Morrison on a four-day road trip to avoid (or rather, delay) his arrest.
“I didn’t want him to be my boyfriend,” she told Fox News Digital. “I didn’t want to marry him. All I wanted was to be his friend. He drank like I drank at that time. So we became trusted friends. He could count on me.”
During the podcast episode, a fan-submitted question asked if Stewart was a “rock and roll enthusiast,” in reference to the Morrison story.
“Was she ever! And they did more than just ride in a car together,” Bob replied. “And she talks about it in her book.”
Butler and Arngrim then recalled Stewart telling them all about her various connections to rock musicians, including helping Morrison escape the police.
“But as she said, ‘Oh, I was friends with Jim Morrison,'” Arngrim recounted. “And then eventually went, ‘OK, friends — we’re talking the late ’60s, early ’70s — you do understand what ‘friends’ means?’”
The Nellie Oleson actress continued, “And I went, ‘You mean friends with benefits?’ She’s like, ‘Honey, it was the ’60s. Everybody was friends with benefits. Figure it out.’ In today’s world, you would say she briefly dated Mr. Morrison.”
Ultimately, Morrison was sentenced to six months in jail and a $500 fine — but he died from heart failure on July 3, 1971, in Paris before serving the time.
Little House on the Prairie aired for nine seasons from 1974 to 1983.