'Little House on the Prairie' Cast: Where Are They Now?

Then: He was the beloved Bonanza alum who followed his 14-season run on the family drama/western by playing Ingalls family patriarch Charles, a hard-working, loyal husband, father, and farmer who was one of the most respected members of the Walnut Grove community.

Now: Shockingly, Landon never received a single Emmy nomination for his performance on Bonanza or Little House. He was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame for his decades of work as a TV actor, producer, writer, and director, and TV daughter Melissa Gilbert has talked effusively of Landon’s real-life role as her surrogate dad after her own father died when she was 11. Landon, who, post-Little House, produced, wrote, directed, and starred in the hit drama Highway to Heaven, died at age 54 in July 1991 after famously appearing on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson just two months earlier to confirm his pancreatic cancer diagnosis.

(Credit: Getty Images)

Then: She was spunky “country girl” Laura Ingalls, “Half Pint,” the braids-wearing tomboy who liked to fish with her Pa and tussle with nasty Nellie Oleson, and who grew up to become a teacher and marry “Manly,” Almanzo Wilder.

Now: Post-Walnut Grove, Gilbert became a staple of made-for-TV movies, has guest-starred on shows like Touched by an Angel, Babylon 5 (with ex-husband Bruce Boxleitner), 7th Heaven, and Nip/Tuck (in a very un-Ingalls-friendly role, playing a woman who needed reconstruction surgery on her breasts after a sexual act with her dog). She also competed on Season 14 of Dancing With the Stars, and played Caroline Ingalls in a musical stage version of Little House. But it’s the former child star’s personal life — which she shared in candid detail in her must-read 2009 autobiography Prairie Tale: A Memoir — that continues to draw headlines, including drug and alcohol abuse; famous boyfriends like Rob Lowe, Tom Cruise, John Cusack, and Scott Baio; her two-term role as president of the Screen Actors Guild; her two divorces, and a third marriage (to thirtysomething star Timothy Busfield); tax troubles; and her August 2015 announcement that she’s running for Congress in Michigan’s 8th congressional district in the 2016 elections.

(Credit: Getty Images)

Then: Almanzo was a local farmer, and the older man who young Laura fell in love with… much to the chagrin of Pa Ingalls, who wouldn’t allow the couple to marry until Laura turned 18. Butler, pre-Little House, starred in the TV movie adaptation of Forever, the Judy Blume young adult classic.

Now: Butler followed his Little House days with roles as Moondoggie on The New Gidget, and, most memorably, as Buffy’s dad, Hank, on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. More recently, he’s focused on work behind the camera, including producing the Golf Channel series Feherty, and producing several Little House-related documentaries. He also narrates, writes, produces, and directs — in true Michael Landon style — DVD release bonus materials, including the six-part The Little House Phenomenon feature on the new Little House on the Prairie: The Complete Series Deluxe Remastered Edition box set. Butler is married to another TV celeb: Katherine Cannon, best known as Donna’s mom, Felice, from Beverly Hills, 90210.

(Credit: Getty Images)

Then: She was Laura’s sweet and smart older sister Mary, who lost her eyesight, married a blind attorney named Adam, and ran a school for blind children. Before her role on Little House, Anderson had guest-starred on shows like Bewitched and The Brady Bunch, where she kissed Bobby Brady!

Now: Anderson, who was nominated for a Lead Actress Emmy for Little House in 1978 (the only cast member to ever receive a nod for the series), went on to guest star on The Love Boat, The Equalizer, and Veronica Mars, but then focused her time on raising children Piper and Griffin with Emmy-nominated TV writer and producer husband Michael Sloan (The Equalizer). The actress, who lives in Montreal, released her own Little House memoirs — The Way I See It: A Look Back at My Life on Little House — in 2011, and has a role in the 2016 Sofia Vergara/Uma Thurman/Tim Roth big-screen comedy The Brits Are Coming.

(Credit: Getty Images)

Then: He was blind attorney Adam, the man who married Mary Ingalls and helped her run a blind school for children. Adam and Mary had a son, Adam Jr., who died in a fire at the blind school.

Now: Boomer turned his attention to producing and directing after Little House, winning an Emmy for the pilot episode of Malcolm in the Middle, which he created and which is inspired by his own childhood as a gifted student. He was also a writer on Night Court, Silver Spoons, and 3rd Rock From the Sun, and has been a consulting producer on The Mindy Project. He’s married to actress-turned-producer Tracy Katsky, an executive producer on Craig Robinson’s Mr. Robinson.

(Credit: Getty Images)

Then: She was Ma Ingalls, devoted wife, mother, and friend to many a Walnut Grove-ian. Caroline was also frequently pregnant throughout the series, prompting Rev. Alden to once joke to Charles that when God said to populate the earth, he didn’t intend for Charles and Caroline to do it all by themselves.

Now: Grassle followed her Little House days with guest stints on Hotel and Murder, She Wrote, and a role in Kevin Costner’s Wyatt Earp, and then turned her attention to the theater. She co-founded a theater in Santa Fe, New Mexico, before moving to Louisville and working with the company at the Actors Theater, and now lives in California. She continues to appear at Little House-related events, including Today’s 2014 cast reunion to mark the series’ 40th anniversary.

(Credit: Getty Images)

Then: Jenny was Almanzo Wilder’s niece, who was left in the custody of Almanzo and Laura when Almanzo’s brother, Royal, died.

Now: Doherty is best known for her contentious days as a star of Beverly Hills, 90210 and Charmed, but her post-Little House connection to Melissa Gilbert is among the actress’ most shocking scandals ever. In her autobiography Prairie Tale, Gilbert reveals that Doherty looked up to her during their Little House days, telling her she wanted to grow up to be just like her. Years later, Doherty slept with Bo Brinkman… Gilbert’s first husband at the time. When the two ran into each other afterwards at the Emmys, Gilbert confronted Doherty, who said, “I told you that when I grew up I wanted to be just like you.”

(Credit: Getty Images)

Then: She was the girl we all loved to hate, the nasty, entitled, plotting Nellie Oleson, daughter of Nels and Harriet, sister to Willie and Nancy, frenemy of Laura Ingalls (and pretty much every other human in town).

Now: Arngrim, who had auditioned for the roles of Mary and Laura Ingalls before being cast as Nellie, sprung from a showbiz family: Her mother was the voice of Casper in Casper the Friendly Ghost, Gumby, and Sweet Polly Purebred on Underdog. A close friend of on-screen rival Melissa Gilbert, Arngrim has become one of LHOP fans’ favorite cast members, thanks to her willingness to talk about the show and how much she loved playing nasty Nellie. Arngrim, whose 2010 memoir Confessions of a Prairie Bitch is a celeb memoir classic, also does a one-woman show under the same title, and devotes much of her time to charitable work, inspired by the 1986 AIDS-related death of Steve Tracy, who played Nellie’s husband Percival Dalton on Little House.

(Credit: Getty Images)

Then: The apple didn’t fall far from the “prairie bitch” tree: The Olesons were among the town’s wealthiest citizens as the proprietors of Oleson’s Mercantile, and Mrs. Oleson took every opportunity to make sure everyone knew she was richer, and in her mind, just plain better, than them.

Now: The former Arthur Murray Dance Studios instructor was the opposite of her character, and a particular favorite among her younger castmates, who addressed her by her nickname, Scottie. After Little House ended, MacGregor, 90, spent even more time with young actors, teaching acting to children in Hollywood. She is now retired from acting, and lives at The Motion Picture & Television Fund residences in Woodland Hills, California.

(Credit: YouTube/Getty Images)

Then: Mercantile co-owner Nels was as sweet as wife Harriet was… difficult, and despite her habit of spoiling daughter Nellie and son Willie, Nels tried to ensure the children would grow up to be kind people, and was, ultimately, successful.

Now: Bull, who was married to actress wife Barbara Collentine for more than 65 years, followed Little House with roles as Capt. Furillo’s dad on Hill Street Blues, and Tom Wilkinson’s dad in the 2002 movie Normal. He also guest-starred on Highway to Heaven, Designing Women, and the 2011 Kelsey Grammer drama Boss. The actor died in February 2014, at age 89, of pneumonia.

(Credit: Getty Images)

Then: After guest-starring as a young Charles Ingalls in flashback stories, Laborteaux joined the cast as Albert, a young orphan who Charles saved from living on the street and legally adopted into the Ingalls fam. Albert later had his fair share of problems, including a drug addiction and accidentally causing the blind school fire that killed Mary’s baby and Alice Garvey. Sadly, after moving away from Walnut Grove, he became seriously ill and returned to his former home to spend time with sister Laura before he died.

Now: Laborteaux starred in the short-lived series Whiz Kids after LHOP, and made guest appearances on Hotel, Night Court, and Silk Stockings. Now he focuses on voiceover work for cartoons like Aaahh!! Real Monsters and Spider-Man, the movies Bride Wars and Mulan, and video games like Thrillville and Star Wars: The Old Republic.

(Credit: Getty Images)

Then: Pre-Olsen twins, the Greenbush sisters played Laura and Mary’s little sister Carrie, the one most famous for tumbling down the hill in the show’s opening credits.

Now: Lindsay Greenbush (pictured in inset) has the best post-Little House story: When she was filming the show, there was a boy her age, named Danny, who lived near where the show was filmed, and he would often wander over to the set and interact with the young cast members. Eventually, when the show ended, he lost touch with the cast. Thirty years later, he and Lindsay, who had played together near an old tree on the set, were reintroduced, fell in love, and in 2014, were married, under the same tree where they used to play as children. Both twins regularly attend LHOP fan events, and Sidney designs and sells custom jewelry at the sisters’ website.

(Credit: Getty Images)

Then: He was Nellie Oleson’s equally annoying, but usually less mean younger brother, who, like Nellie, grew up to be a kinder, gentler adult.

Now: Even sister Melissa Gilbert says she doesn’t always know her brother’s whereabouts, but Jonathan graduated from Hamilton College and worked as a stockbroker in New York City for a while, though TV sis Alison Arngrim told a fan on her website that he “had become a Buddhist and was doing marvelous things for the poor in Africa and Central America. Go figure. “I always said he was a good boy, really.”

(Credit: Getty Images)

Then: A fightin’, cussin’, hard-drinkin’, gamblin’ mountain man, Mr. Edwards suffered a lot of personal tragedies, and frequently lost his way. But he always bounced back when he was near the Ingalls, especially his favorite, Laura, who loved when he sang his signature song, “Old Dan Tucker.”

Now: French re-teamed with friend Michael Landon on the post-Little House drama Highway to Heaven. He died in June 1989, at age 54, just two months after being diagnosed with lung cancer.

(Credit: Getty Images)

Then: Grace was the town widow, who caught Mr. Edwards’s eye when he came to Walnut Grove to visit the Ingalls. Eventually the two married and adopted a set of orphaned children, but their happy life was upended when an accident crushed Mr. Edwards’s legs and he began drinking heavily again. Grace left her husband, and he moved back to Walnut Grove alone.

Now: Bartlett followed up LHOP with a role on St. Elsewhere, where she and real-life husband William Daniels won Emmys, on the same night, for playing on-screen marrieds Ellen and Mark Craig. She went on to make guest appearances on ER, as Tim Taylor’s mother-in-law on Home Improvement, and on Grey’s Anatomy, and most recently guested on Parks and Recreation and the final season of Key and Peele.

(Credit: Getty Images/NBC)

Then: Doc Baker was the go-to guy for medical concerns in Walnut Grove, from diseases to pregnancies. As a leader in the community, he also helped keep the town going when Walnut Grove went bankrupt and many townsfolk moved away. Doc Baker once wooed the niece of Harriet Oleson, but after deciding he was too old for her, he remained a bachelor throughout the series.

Now: Having guest starred on everything from Gunsmoke to The Big Valley to Bonanza before Little House, Hagen returned to the westerns, via the 1988 TV movie Bonanza: The Next Generation, after LHOP. He also developed and performed as Doc Baker in a local spinoff series called A Playful Dose of Prairie Wisdom. Hagen, a ballroom dance instructor and Navy vet who didn’t begin his acting career until he turned 27, died in July 2005, at age 77, after a battle with cancer.

(Credit: Getty Images)

Then: Jonathan was a co-worker of Charles’s at the mill, and he and his wife Alice and son Andy were close with the whole Ingalls clan.

Now: The NFL Hall of Fame player and sportscaster followed his Little House stint with a starring role in the drama Father Murphy, a series created by Michael Landon. Olson died in March 2010, at age 69, after being diagnosed with peritoneal mesothelioma.

(Credit: Getty Images)

Then: Kind Alice nearly lost her family twice, once when Jonathan found out she’d been married previously (thanks to some mean-spirited gossiping by Harriet Oleson) and once when she insisted on taking a job to help her family through a financial difficulty. Jonathan eventually got past his stubborn pride both times, but their relationship still ended tragically, as she died trying to save Mary and Adam’s baby from a fire at the blind school.

Now: Her last TV appearance was in a 1997 episode of Kenan & Kel, but Parady has continued working in local theater near her home in Florida.

(Credit: Hallmark/Getty Images)

Then: Andy was BFFs with Laura, his fishing pal. Andy and his dad moved away from Walnut Grove after his mom died, and started a warehouse business together in Sleepy Eye.

Now: Patrick Laborteaux, the brother of Little House co-star Matthew, followed the show with memorable appearances in big-screen comedies Heathers and Summer School, and a starring role in the long-running CBS drama JAG. He also made guest appearances in series like Dexter and iCarly, and will play National Enquirer gossip columnist and author Mike Walker in Ryan Murphy’s upcoming FX series American Crime Story. Laborteaux and producer wife Tina Albanese created, wrote, and produced the TV Land Scott Baio comedy See Dad Run.

(Credit: Getty Images)

Then: Rev. Alden had his own tragic past before becoming Walnut Grove’s clergyman: He’d been a farmer who lost his entire family. He turned to alcohol to deal, but eventually started his life again, as a minister, after hearing the voice of God. Rev. Alden also found love again, marrying parishioner Anna Craig, despite Mrs. Oleson’s vocal objections and threats to fire him.

Now: Greer’s six decades in Hollywood included several roles as a minister, including marrying Mike and Carol Brady on The Brady Bunch and Rob and Laura Petrie on The Dick Van Dyke Show. Post-LHOP, he had guest roles on L.A. Law, Charles in Charge, and Lizzie McGuire, and in 1999’s The Green Mile, he played the 108-year-old version of Tom Hanks’s character. Greer died at the age of 90 in April 2007, from kidney and heart disease.

(Credit: Getty Images)

Then: Mrs. Beadle was the kind teacher of Walnut Grove’s school. She was especially kind to Laura and Mary, who were often given a hard time by Nellie Oleson for being “country girls.” Laura, in particular, had a special bond with Miss Beadle, who gave her extra encouragement with her schoolwork. Miss Beadle eventually married Adam Simms, and they left town when he couldn’t find a job.

Now: Stewart, 74, followed Little House with roles in the movies Irreconcilable Differences, Tremors, and Slums of Beverly Hills, and played Betty Briggs, the mother of Laura Palmer’s boyfriend Bobby, on Twin Peaks. She also guest-starred on Highway to Heaven, Life Goes On, and played a Staples customer who had an interesting interaction with salesman Dwight in the Season 3 “The Return” episode of The Office. Stewart, a breast cancer survivor, makes and sells “Beadle Bags,” homemade tote bags, via her Twitter.

(Credit: Getty Images)

Then: Town elder Lars, the owner of the local mill that employed Charles, was also the founder of Walnut Grove. He became very sick and his heart was broken when the townsfolk abandoned their homes when Walnut Grove went bankrupt, and despite a brief recovery when they eventually returned, he died a few months later.

Now: Swenson, who had played Eddie Haskell’s father on Leave It to Beaver, suffered a fatal heart attack at age 70 in October 1978, shortly after he filmed his final episode of Little House, Season 5’s “There’s No Place Like Home (Part 2).”

(Credit: Getty Images)

Then: Hester-Sue was a teacher at the blind school Mary and Adam opened in Walnut Grove. She was also a waitress at Nellie’s restaurant, and, after a near-reconciliation with her lying, drinking, gambling ex-husband, dated local retired boxer Joe Kagan.

Now: Lester was a popular singer whose cover of Dick Haymes’s “Love Letters” reached No. 5 on the Billboard chart in 1962 and earned her a gold record. The Grammy-nominated singer, who had toured with Cab Calloway and the Everly Brothers, didn’t begin her acting career until the 1970s, and she followed her role on LHOP with guest appearances on Hill Street Blues, Hotel, St. Elsewhere, and Quantum Leap. She also played Aunt Lucy in House Party 3, and maintains a Facebook page where she shares photos and memories of career highlights.

(Credit: Getty Images/Facebook)

Then: Eliza Jane was Almanzo’s older sister, and one of the biggest supporters of his relationship with Laura. Eliza Jane’s own love life was largely non-existent; the kind, but lonely Walnut Grove teacher fell in love with friend Harve Miller (guest star James Cromwell), but then found out he was already engaged to someone else.

Now: Flippin was a constant TV presence post-LHOP, with roles on Alice, Newhart, The Golden Girls, Moonlighting, ER, Beverly Hills 90210, Charmed, Judging Amy, and Still Standing, among others, and she appeared on the big screen in Flashdance, Summer School, and Little Black Book. Flippin regularly participates in Little House events, including a 2014 cast reunion to celebrate the show’s 40th anniversary.

(Credit: Getty Images/Sony Pictures)

Then: Cassandra and her brother James were orphaned when their parents, friends of Charles, were killed in a wagon accident. Charles tried to find a home for James and Cassandra, but when he failed to find a loving place for them, he and Caroline adopted them and moved them into the little house on the prairie.

Now: After appearing in the TV movie Something About Amelia and series like Hotel, St. Elsewhere, and ALF, Francis turned her focus to school, and graduated from Harvard with a degree in economics. She had also been the captain of the university polo team and the editor of the Harvard College Economist magazine, and now is a financial journalist for Fox Business. Francis also wrote a memoir, 2012’s Diary of a Stage Mother’s Daughter, about her complicated, sometimes cruel stage mother and her former child star days.

(Credit: Getty Images)

Then: James had a rougher adjustment to life as an adopted Ingalls than his sister Cassandra. He stole from Oleson’s Mercantile, he broke brother Albert’s prized razor, and once got shot while walking into a bank robbery, but ultimately became a beloved son of Charles and Caroline, and moved to Iowa with the family when Charles could no longer find work in Walnut Grove.

Now: Starring roles on sitcoms Silver Spoons, It’s Your Move, and Valerie followed Little House, but a string of sitcom flops filled Bateman’s career until 2003, when Fox’s quirky comedy Arrested Development became a cult fave hit that continues on Netflix today, and earned two Emmy nominations and a Golden Globe win for Bateman. He’s also found post-LHOP success on the big screen with roles in Starsky & Hutch, Juno, Hancock, Bad Words, and Horrible Bosses, and he and wife Amanda, the daughter of singer Paul Anka, have two daughters.

(Credit: Getty Images)

Then: She was the adopted daughter of Grace and Isaiah Edwards, who took her and her brothers into their home after the children’s mother died.

Now: The former child star followed LHOP with guest spots on ER, Beverly Hills 90210, 7th Heaven, and Love Boat: The Next Wave, but her most famous, or infamous, post-Little House gig is as one of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, in which she co-starred with fellow former child star (and Little House guest star), sister Kim Richards.

(Credit: Getty Images)

Then: John was another adopted son of the Edwards’, as well as Mary Ingalls’s first serious boyfriend. The two were engaged, in fact, until John decided to go away to college to pursue his dream of becoming a writer. Mr. Edwards was heartbroken later, after John became a reporter, to learn he had been murdered after uncovering a corrupt businessman.

Now: Pera starred as young Caine on Kung Fu just before he began his role on LHOP, and followed Little House with appearances on The New Mike Hammer and Starman, as well as the movie Red Dawn. Pera, who’s still very active with Little House-related events and cast reunions, retired from acting in the 1980s, and, according to his official website, lives in Austin and pursues work as a writer and director.

(Credit: Getty Images)

Then: Nancy was Harriet and Nels’s adopted daughter, who Nels hoped would help create a new family for the couple when Harriet became depressed after daughter Nellie moved away. That worked; but Nels didn’t count on having another bratty child, one whose plotting and manipulation of her parents and everyone else around her made Nellie look like, well, an Ingalls child, in comparison.

Now: Balson graduated from Princeton and got an MBA from the University of Dublin, and starred in movies The Legend of the White Horse, Best Seller, and Broken Blood. Balson, who keeps fans updated on her activities at her official website, is also a singer and songwriter who hosts a radio show called Music Scene Live, which spotlights new music.

(Credit: Getty Images)

Then: Baby Grace was the youngest of Caroline and Charles’s biological children, and she was played by the Turnbaugh twins, whose grandmother was a friend of LHOP producer Kent McCray.

Now: The Turnbaugh twins didn’t pursue acting careers after Little House, but do remain active with the Little House fan community. They have a joint website where they sell photos of themselves from the show, and update fans on their lives now, as wives and mothers of two children each. Wendi named her youngest daughter Reagan Grace, in honor of their Ingalls family member.

(Credit: Getty Images/PioneeronthePrairie.com)