‘Little House on the Prairie’: Alison Arngrim Shares Honest First Impression of Melissa Gilbert
What To Know
- Alison Arngrim recalled her first impression of Melissa Gilbert as a tiny, energetic child who immediately took charge and shared candid opinions about their castmates.
- Arngrim and Gilbert quickly bonded over their shared backgrounds in Hollywood families and early experiences in show business.
- Despite playing rivals on Little House on the Prairie, Arngrim and Gilbert became close friends off-screen, unlike Arngrim’s relationship with Melissa Sue Anderson.
Little House on the Prairie star Alison Arngrim shared her honest first impression of Melissa Gilbert in a new interview.
In a December 17 episode of The Patrick LabyorSheaux, Arngrim, 63, chatted with Patrick Labyorteaux, 60, who played Andrew Garvey (the foster son of the Oleson family) in the historical drama series. The duo touched on a number of topics during their sit-down, including Arngrim’s relationship with Gilbert, 61, who played Laura Ingalls Wilder.
“Melissa Gilbert appears like a puff of smoke at Paramount,” Arngrim said of meeting the fellow child actress in the early ’70s. “She was so tiny. I said I could fit her in my purse, and she could chew her way out if she had to, because she had not started the orthodontics yet. So she was like a beaver, a small beaver… And she’s so cute with it.”
The Nellie Oleson actress continued, “And she starts telling me what’s what and who’s where and who’s in charge, and she’s nice to them, and then they’re no good, and now she’s really great. And then she launched into a thing because she and Melissa Sue Anderson [Mary Ingalls] did not get along, despite playing sisters. So she gives me the whole riot act about how just, like, awful Melissa Sue is.”
Immediately, Arngrim said that she and Gilbert bonded over coming from Hollywood families.
“So her mom had been in show business, but her dad was Paul Gilbert, the actor Paul Gilbert. And her grandpa was Harry freaking Crane, the producer of The Honeymooners,” Arngrim pointed out. “She was born on a set, like born in a trunk. She was born under a 10k light. That’s where she lived.”
She added, “So we did bond because we both had that thing of being raised by a bunch of show folk and being in show business, and she’d been working since she could stand up straight.
By contrast, Arngrim didn’t mesh as well with Anderson.
“So we met. We’re like ‘yada, yada, yada, yada, yada, yada.’ Whereas Melissa Sue’s parents were not into that,” she explained. “I think she was looking at us like, ‘Who are those two? Run away, get away, get away.’“
Ultimately, Gilbert and Arngrim became best friends while working on the show — enjoying sleepovers and many Slurpees together — despite their nemesis dynamic on the series.
Little House on the Prairie aired for nine seasons from 1974 to 1983.
Little House on the Prairie, streaming on HBO Max, Prime Video, Philo, and FRNDLY TV