‘Little House on the Prairie’: Alison Arngrim Makes Bold Confession on Age Gaps in Her Onscreen Romances
What To Know
- Alison Arngrim discussed the significant age gaps between herself and her onscreen romantic partners on Little House on the Prairie.
- Arngrim and Dean Butler both acknowledged the awkwardness and challenges actors face when filming romantic scenes with much older or younger costars.
- The show featured several notable age differences in romantic pairings, including Butler (23) and Melissa Gilbert (15), and ran for nine seasons from 1974 to 1983.
Little House on the Prairie star Alison Arngrim recently opened up about the age gaps in her onscreen romances with Steve Tracy and Bob Marsic.
In a December 11 episode of the Little House on the Prairie 50th Anniversary Podcast, Arngrim and costar Dean Butler addressed the eyebrow-raising age differences in the beloved historical drama series.
Arngrim’s character, Nellie Oleson, eloped with pig farmer Luke Simms (Marsic) in Season 4, although their marriage was annulled by their families shortly afterward. Arngrim was 15 at the time they filmed the episode titled “Here Come the Brides,” while Marsic was 22.
Later, in Season 6, Nellie married Percival Isaac Cohen Dalton (Tracy). Arngrim was 17 or 18 at the time, while Tracy was a decade older, at 27 or 28.
Of actors getting paired up for a show, Arngrim, 63, pointed out, “What happens is [they say], ‘Hey, you’re married to this person. And we’re shooting all the love scenes first day. Perhaps you should chat over breakfast and introduce yourselves.’ And that’s really hard for all the actors.
She added, “It’s always weird. And you try to make it less weird.”
Argrim continued, of Nellie’s relationships on Little House on the Prairie, “I was very lucky. I had the pig farmer and Percival, and that worked out. Yes, they’re both obviously older than me, but we had some kind of thing. We talked, it was OK. I didn’t mind them. But it can be so weird.”
Another awkward age gap in LHOTP was Butler (Amanzo Wilder) and Melissa Gilbert (Laura Ingalls Wilder). He was 23, and she was 15 when their characters first kissed.
“I don’t think this was easy for either one of us,” Butler said on the podcast. “I give Laura a lot of credit. Laura stepped in, in a big way, to do this. And it wasn’t easy for her. But Michael [Landon] asked. Michael wrote these scenes, and she stepped into it. Everyone did them to the best of her ability.”
Little House on the Prairie aired for nine seasons from 1974 to 1983.