Why ‘Little House on the Prairie’s Melissa Gilbert Regretted Her Remake of a Natalie Wood Classic

SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS, Melissa Gilbert, 1981 — Warner Brothers/Everett Collection

Melissa Gilbert was still starring on Little House on the Prairie when she stepped into one of Natalie Wood‘s best-known movie roles. In the 1981 television remake of Splendor in the Grass, she played Deanie Loomis, the Kansas teenager Wood had portrayed opposite Warren Beatty 20 years earlier.

The original opened in New York on October 10, 1961, and was directed by Elia Kazan from William Inge’s screenplay. Wood received a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her performance, while Inge won the Oscar for his original screenplay.

NBC aired the remake on October 26, 1981, with Cyril O’Reilly taking over as Deanie’s boyfriend, Bud Stamper. The cast also included familiar faces, including Ned Beatty, Eva Marie Saint, and a young Michelle Pfeiffer.

Gilbert was just 17 when her version aired, while Wood had been 23 at the original’s New York opening. Gilbert had already played Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker and Anne Frank in The Diary of Anne Frank, but years later, she had some blunt things to say about her work in Splendor in the Grass.

How did the two versions of Splendor in the Grass differ?

SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS, Natalie Wood, 1962

Everett Collection

The remake kept the story in 1920s Kansas, where Deanie and Bud’s romance falls apart under pressure from their parents and the era’s sexual expectations. Richard C. Sarafian directed the television version, taking over from Kazan.

Beatty was still in the cast, though he played a different member of the Stamper family. Ned Beatty was Bud’s father, Ace, the role Pat Hingle had played in the original. Saint played Deanie’s mother, originally portrayed by Audrey Christie. Pfeiffer took over Barbara Loden‘s role as Ginny, Bud’s troubled sister, giving viewers an early look at the future movie star.

What did Melissa Gilbert say about playing Deanie?

SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS, Melissa Gilbert, Cyril O'Reilly, 1981

Warner Brothers/Everett Collection

In 1993, Gilbert told the Los Angeles Times, “At the time I did Splendor, I hadn’t even been on a date.” Deanie’s story, meanwhile, included heartbreak, a mental breakdown, and a stay in psychiatric care.

Gilbert was even harder on her performance in a December 31, 2014, post on her personal blog. She called it “one of the worst performances of my career” while writing about the pressure she had felt to change her appearance. For Splendor in the Grass, she recalled being put in a girdle, a corset and a padded bra, with makeup used to create cleavage. She also said they shaded the sides of her nose to make it look narrower.

Both actresses had grown up on screen

Gilbert mentioned Wood by name when discussing the difficulties of working through her teenage years in a 1983 UPI interview, and said, “I’ve been pretty lucky to survive that stage. But I’m not the only one. Natalie Wood and Elizabeth Taylor kept working throughout their teens, which are difficult years for most performers.”

Her company, Half-Pint Productions, made The Miracle Worker, The Diary of Anne Frank, and Splendor in the Grass during her years on Little House. Gilbert told UPI that having the company and choosing her roles had helped her move from child actress to adult performer.

She also had a say in casting and writing on the company’s projects. “Those movies proved that I could play roles other than Laura,” she said.