Miss Beadle: Charlotte Stewart On 'Little House' Legacy

Buzz Feed

5 days ago

Little House On the Prairie is one of the most beloved shows of all time, and continues to reach new levels of popularity. Netflix recently announced a Little House reboot, and in 2024, the series reached over 13 billion minutes of streaming on Peacock alone!
I had so much fun chatting with Alison Arngrim and Dean Butler that I reached out to Charlotte Stewart, who portrayed the lovable Miss Beadle. We hopped on Zoom to chat all about one of television's greatest teachers and continue celebrating over 50 years of iconic episodes.
Note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
BuzzFeed: Can you tell me about your audition for Little House?
Charlotte Stewart: In those days, I did a lot of television. I did shows like Gunsmoke and Medical Center, and it was just another interview. I didn't know it was a series. But when I walked in the door, I saw Michael Landon sitting there, and that was a shock. I had worked on Bonanza, but I didn't work with Mike, and I didn't know he was doing a series. I didn't know anything. I thought it was just another interview for another Western. So it was a shock, but it was an easy interview.
I showed up in my jeans and my tie-dye t-shirt. There had to be about 9 or 10 men in the room — no women. It was before they had a woman casting director. So it's this big room, everybody in folding chairs, and they asked, "Are you ready to read?" I asked the producer, "Can I sit behind your desk?"
He looked at Mike and all the guys, and said, "Sure, okay." So he gets up, and I go sit down at his desk. They're all looking around, and asking each other, "Well, what do you think?" and I went, "Silence!"
That's amazing! You definitely embodied a schoolteacher very quickly with that.
Charlotte Stewart: I'm pretty sure it got me the part!
Miss Beadle had quite the wig. Was it uncomfortable wearing it?
Charlotte Stewart: It was uncomfortable, but you get used to it pretty quickly. I had just cut my hair, so there was no choice. I had long hair before, so they couldn't have fashioned it. But we were characters, and I think they would have given me a wig whether I had long hair or not. They would have done it because they wanted all the frilly stuff around. It was both a wig and an attachment for the bun in the back. It was a lot, and it was hot in Simi Valley. But Alison Arngrim [Nellie], who was a little girl at the time, had to wear a wig, and Ma [portrayed by Karen Grassle] had to wear some attachments because she had short hair too. We're actors — we adapt!
Speaking of Simi Valley, I was always captivated by Walnut Grove. After multiple seasons of Little House, did it start to feel like a real town rather than a set to you?
Charlotte Stewart: Yes. You know, the makeup trailers and wardrobe trailers were far away. They were over a hill, out of sight, so you couldn't see them, no matter what direction the camera was in. I would go to the makeup trailer, get made up, get my wig on, go to wardrobe, and get into my costume. Then I would walk up a hill, and over a hill, and as soon as I got to the top, there was Walnut Grove. I had to walk down a dirt road over the bridge and the creek. Then I went past the Oleson store and the Mill to get to the church. That's only when we did exteriors — when we did interiors, we were at Paramount Studios inside a soundstage. Anything in the school was on a set, but anything outside was in Simi Valley.
Around 30 years after the show, we all did an interview for NBC with Lester Holt. We were all out in Simi Valley, and walking around. They wanted to do a shot with me and Alison [Arngrim]. We're walking, and Lester has his microphone. We're just looking at Simi Valley and what it looks like now.
I asked, "Where's the creek?" Alison looked at me, and she said, "What do you mean?" I said, "Well, every day when I came from the dressing room, I'd walk over the hill, over the bridge, and over a creek, into Walnut Grove."
And she said, "Charlotte, that wasn't real!" I said, "What?? It wasn't real?" Michael built it; he had the creek made for the set.
I want to touch upon a few of Miss Beadle's most iconic episodes. In "Blizzard," where the kids get caught in the storm, was it challenging to portray a more emotional side?
Charlotte Stewart: No, it wasn't, it wasn't difficult at all. By that time, I had gotten to know the kids a lot, so it wasn't hard to imagine that something horrible had happened to the children and that it was my fault. Also, the scene with Willie was so sweet. That's the best scene I had with him, because I always just sent him to the corner! It was very moving for me.
The next episode I want to mention is "Troublemaker," where Mrs. Oleson convinces the board to fire Miss Beadle. Katherine MacGregor is hilarious. Was it difficult keeping a straight face filming with her?
Charlotte Stewart: Katherine was always so funny. I took her very seriously, which I had to as an actor. But Katherine was such a good actress, and she was nothing like Mrs. Oleson. She was a devout Buddhist, and I didn't know that until she and I went away together to a health spa for a weekend. We were sharing a cabin, and when we got there, she opened her suitcase and took out her altar, which she set up on the bureau. Katherine was quite a complex character, which made Harriet even better.
"Here Come the Brides" is the iconic Miss Beadle episode. What sticks out to you the most about this episode?
Charlotte Stewart: Michael [Landon] came to me with two photographs and asked, "Which of these men do you think Miss Beadle would marry?" He didn't know that Josh [Joshua Bryant portrayed Adam Simms] and I had gone to school together when I was 17, and Josh was, I think, 18. We went to the Pasadena Playhouse, the State Theater of California, and we were students there.
We had known each other many, many years, so I picked Josh. We had such a good time working together. As it turned out, we got to work together for a few episodes, because the characters wind up having a child, and then move out of town.
Do you have any favorite memories of working with Joshua Bryant [Adam Simms]?
Charlotte Stewart: In the scene where we get married, the minister says, "You may kiss the bride." This was going to be the end of the episode, where they fade out on us kissing. I talked to Josh before we did the scene, and I said, "When he says, 'You may now kiss the bride,' don't stop kissing, even when Michael says, cut." So we started kissing and kissing. Michael goes, "Cut! Okay!" We're kissing and kissing, and Mike is going, "Nope, nope. Cut!" I thought that would be a funny outtake for them. So that was our joke.
Miss Beadle was in forty-five episodes. Is there a particular scene you are most proud of?
Charlotte Stewart: Yes, the one that comes to mind is when Miss Beadle is in her room [in "Troublemaker"], and Charles comes to tell her she's been fired.
It was painful because I, in my mind, was imagining being fired from Little House. Victor French was directing, and he said, "Don't let Charles see you cry." So I had to do the scene steadfast and serious, not emotionally, but still let the audience see how hurt Miss Beadle was. I think that's why that scene worked so well, because I did what the director said.
Michael Landon did it all — acting, writing, directing. What was it like working with him?
Charlotte Stewart: It was the best job I ever had, and I adored Mike. I loved watching him work with the children — I just admired him so much. He was so much fun to be around. He was funny, always joking, and making it fun for everybody. It was so fair. We got to go home for dinner. On most television shows, you work until 10 o'clock, 10 or 11 at night, and you come in at 6 in the morning. Michael was a family man. He had family to get home to. The children had families to get home to. The union rules also said you couldn't work the children for very long. Almost all of my scenes were with the children, so my working experience with Little House was pretty great.
Pivoting to the present, there have been quite a few Little House reunion events, including an event in June. How has it been to reconnect with your castmates?
Charlotte Stewart: I just love it. I so look forward to it. I love seeing Alison [Arngrim]. We actually became friends on set because she was older than most of the kids. Of course, I was 20 years older than her, but she was mature. Since it's been 50 years, we've become very close friends. We do a lot of traveling together, and with Dean and most of the actors who were babies in the series, we're all best friends. The only time I get to see them is when we travel.
Andrew Firriolo
Is there anything about portraying Miss Beadle you would like to highlight?
Charlotte Stewart: I based how I played Miss Beadle on my sister. I'm the youngest in my family, and my sister was nine years older. She had seven children. Miss Beadle handled the children in her classroom the same way my sister handled a room full of children — a baby in her arms, a 3-year-old, a 5-year-old, a 12-year-old, a 15-year-old in one room. I became my sister, who was very strict but very loving. She could be nursing a baby and also be telling one of the teenagers to pull it together, but she did it in a way that wasn't demeaning or anything. So I actually played my sister — that's who I based Miss Beadle on.
How has life been recently? How are the Beadle bags? [Charlotte sews beautiful handmade bags featuring images from Little House ].
Charlotte Stewart: I'm eighty-four and I'm still here! I'm still doing my mile-and-a-half walk every day. I stay active. I sew every day. Right now, I've got 15 bags ready to go on the road with me, and that's what I do to relax, rather than sitting and watching television or reading a book. I do every stitch on my Beadle bags.
Andrew Firriolo
Finally, if you could sum up your experience on Little House in just a few sentences, what would you say?
Charlotte Stewart: It was one of the most comfortable sets I've ever been on. The children were professional — they knew their lines, and they showed up on time. It was secure, and working with Michael Landon was just incredible. I had never met him before. I had worked on Bonanza a couple of times, but we never worked together. So the first time I met him was on Little House. Michael Landon was an actor who directed, and he was just so good. He was funny, he made life really fun, and we got to go home in time for dinner. Michael knew exactly what he was doing.
Thank you, Charlotte! Read more about Charlotte's incredible career in her autobiography, available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Keep up with Charlotte on her Facebook page!