Latest news with #LittleHouseonthePrairie
Daily Mirror
14 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Netflix to reboot 'beloved' period drama based on 'iconic' Epic Western novels
Netflix is set to reboot a beloved Western series based on the iconic novels. Netflix is set to breathe new life into a beloved Western period drama, making it the "perfect" watch for All Creatures Great and Small enthusiasts. If you're on the hunt for a wholesome family show, Netflix's forthcoming period drama should be on your radar. The much-loved series based on Laura Ingalls Wilder's classic series of novels is being adapted for Netflix, with filming currently in progress in Canada. Little House on the Prairie, described as "part family drama, part epic survival tale, and part origin story of the American West", arrives half a century after the original 1974 series that graced screens for nearly ten years. The narrative unfolds in the American Midwest, centring around a family residing on a farm in Walnut Grove, Minnesota from the 1870s to the 1890s. For those unfamiliar, Wilder's novels draw inspiration from her own experiences growing up and living in Wisconsin, Kansas, Minnesota, South Dakota, and Missouri between 1872-94, with her first book published in the 1930s. The upcoming adaptation, penned by Rebecca Sonnenshine (known for The Boys, The Vampire Diaries, Archive 81), promises a multifaceted portrayal of the hardships and victories of those who carved out a life on the frontier, as per Tudum. Jinny Howe, Netflix's vice president of Drama Series, expressed: "Little House on the Prairie has captured the hearts and imaginations of so many fans around the world, and we're excited to share its enduring themes of hope and optimism with a fresh take on this iconic story. "Rebecca's vision threads the needle with an emotional depth that will delight both new and existing fans of this beloved classic." Alice Halsey, known for her role in Lessons In Chemistry, has been chosen to portray young protagonist Laura Ingalls, whilst Luke Bracey (Elvis, Hacksaw Ridge, Little Fires Everywhere) will take on the role of Laura's ruggedly attractive and charismatic father, Charles Ingalls. Get Netflix free with Sky This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more from £15 Sky Get the deal here Product Description The revival faces a considerable challenge in satisfying devoted followers of the original television series, who have showered the programme with praise on IMDB, reports the Express. One enthusiast declared: "Absolutely love watching the Little House on the Prairie. Every short story has some moral behind it. "If you like nostalgic shows with very powerful meaning being sent across to you, you will like this one!" "Excellent programme for fans of all ages. I remember watching this show both in reruns and on Sunday evening television. This show was pretty much geared for families or anybody who wanted a combination of good drama and comedic moments," another viewer remarked. A release date is yet to be confirmed for Little House on the Prairie. All Creatures Great and Small is available to stream via Channel 5 and Netflix.
Buzz Feed
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
Patrick Labyorteaux Reflects On 'Little House' & Andy Garvey
One of the best parts of Little House on the Prairie is the memorable supporting characters. Who can imagine Walnut Grove without the Olesons or the Garveys? Season Four introduced us to Jonathan, Alice, and Andy Garvey, who became close friends with the Ingalls. To continue celebrating 50 years of Little House, I chatted with Patrick Labyorteaux about his audition, working with his brother Matthew [who played Albert Ingalls], Michael Landon, favorite episodes, and more! Note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity. BuzzFeed: You started Little House at the beginning of season four. Can you tell me about your audition? Patrick Labyorteaux: It was a pretty awesome experience. I'd been a fan of Little House because I was the same age as Melissa [Melissa Gilbert, who played Laura], and I loved watching a kid my age go on all these adventures. On a Wednesday, I had just watched an episode — I think it was "Bunny" or "The Race" — and that Thursday, my mom told me I had an audition for Paramount. I auditioned for Susie Sukman, the casting director. She said, 'I want you to read for Michael Landon,' and it turned out it was for Little House. I thought, 'Great, I love Little House!' They were shooting in Simi Valley that day, about 90 minutes from Paramount in Hollywood, so they put us on a bus. It was myself, my mom, and five other kids with their moms. We drove up there, and they had a base camp set up where all the big trucks and generators were in one area. We're coming up over this hill, and there's Walnut Grove, as we all know it, and under the main tree in the middle of the square was Michael Landon dressed up like Pa. Michael had this amazing ability to make you feel like he's just another guy, even though he's Michael Landon. We auditioned, and then he gathered all of us around. I was right next to him; he had his arm around me, and he goes, "I want to thank everybody for coming to read. We'll let everybody know as soon as we make our decision." We all started to leave, and he held on to me and leaned down. He goes, "You stay here," and he said it in a way where I felt I was in trouble! So everybody leaves. And he says, "Okay, you got the part, kiddo!" I couldn't believe it! I went to wardrobe, I tried on some outfits, and then I started work the next day. So Wednesday, I watched the show, and Friday, I'm on the show! What was it like filming your first episode, "The Wolves?" The next day after my audition, I was filming in the hay loft with Melissa, Melissa Sue, and the baby Carrie twins. At the end of the episode, I went around to say goodbye and thank everybody. Melissa [Gilbert] goes, "What are you doing?" I'm like, "It was great working with you!" She goes, "You're in the next episode!" I was told that I was on the show, but I understood that to mean I was on the show this week. I didn't know Andy Garvey was a recurring character. It was around a month before I realized that I had signed a contract, and I'm in a lot of episodes. I thought it would only be a couple episodes, but then it ended up being a few years. You had the unique experience of getting to act with your brother Matt. What was that dynamic like? (Laughs) He's my brother. Sometimes we'd get along, sometimes I couldn't stand his face. If you have a sibling, you know! The funny thing is, it was unique if it were any other show other than Little House. Melissa and Jonathan were brother and sister, and we had multiple sets of twins on the show with baby Carrie and baby Grace. A lot of the kids who were extras, like in the class and in the church, were children of the crew members. So on Little House, it actually wasn't unique to be on the set with another family member. Having said that, I was really happy that my brother and I got to do the show together. Getting to be on the same show and doing all of our press and appearances together was really helpful, for emotional support and for being under the gun. I remember we did this press tour where they flew us down to New Orleans. We were put in a hotel, and we did interviews for a couple of days. Back in the day, there wasn't Zoom — you would show up at a hotel, and they would interview all the NBC TV stars for the year. So we got to do those press junkets together, and it was always fun. My brother and I were adopted at different times; I was adopted at nine months old and Matt at ten months. The big question from the press was, "What was it like living in an orphanage?" It's like, I don't know, man, I was nine months old! So my brother and I would laugh about that. As far as working on the set, it was really great. If we ever had scenes together, we could rehearse at home, and that would save us time. I want to highlight a few specific episodes, starting with "Men Will Be Boys," where Andy and Albert go on an adventure in the woods. What are some thoughts you have on that episode? That's my favorite episode, mainly because it was with my brother and me. We shot it up in Sonora, up in Northern California. I loved Little House because it's about Laura going on adventures, and this time, Albert and Andy were going on an adventure! There's nothing better than going camping with a full Hollywood movie crew. You're out in the woods and you're camping, but they've brought everything. They're doing all the heavy lifting, but we get to benefit from it. We got to swim, we got to do all this stuff. The other reason why I love the episode is that Michael and Merlin [Merlin Olsen played Jonathan Garvey] were so funny in it. It was just us dudes hanging out on the set and working together. I loved Merlin, and Michael was an amazing inspiration as an actor, writer, and director. I really wish that Michael had done a comedy at some point, because he's really funny. I also love the scene at the halfway house! All the actors in there were really, really fun to work with. It is definitely my favorite episode. The next one I wanted to highlight is "The Cheaters," where Andy and Nellie cheat on their school tests. Well, firstly, Alison [Alison Arngrim portrayed Nellie] is a force of nature. If you see her at any kind of event, she's at 100% and I've never not seen her at 100%. When I first met Alison on the set, it was outside in Walnut Grove. She walked up to me, and she goes, "Have you seen Pink Flamingos [1972 film]?" And I go, "I don't know what Pink Flamingos is." She starts explaining about John Waters to me, and she was into all these independent movies. I always describe meeting Alison like she started talking to me as if we were in the middle of a conversation, and that conversation has never really stopped. She's the same person I met 50 years ago. The difference between Alison and Nellie was the same difference between Katherine MacGregor and Mrs. Oleson. When we were on set waiting to shoot, they were one type of person, and then when we were in the scene, they were a completely different person. For the most part, I think I was pretty much like Andy. I mean, I'm just a guy playing around and hanging out. Alison wasn't anything like Nellie, you know, Nellie was mean, and Nellie could be really manipulative. When we did the episode "The Cheaters," I remember thinking it was an episode where I had a lot to do. In many episodes, I didn't have a lot to do, but I was still on set all the time. It was really fun to work with Alison — no matter how hard my mom tried to be mean when we ran dialogue, it wasn't the same as how Alison would do it. The last episode I wanted to dive deep into is "May We Make Them Proud," with the fire at the school. That's a super dramatic episode, especially when you're watching it with the David Rose music! For me, it was a difficult period because Andy's mom, Alice Garvey, dies in the blind school. Then in the next episode, Jonathan and Andy move to another town, so I'm leaving the show. It was kind of a backdoor pilot that they didn't pick up. The idea was that Merlin would be the sheriff of a town, and I was going to be his son. The network said, "We want Merlin, but we don't want him as part of Little House." So they did the show Father Murphy, and had to cast a kid who looked just like me for that show. It's kind of sad because I was leaving Little House. When you're 15 and getting fired, even though you didn't do anything wrong, you're losing a job, and it sucks. The good news was that my brother was still on the show, so I saw all my friends whenever I could. We talked about a bunch of your co-stars, but can you tell me more about working with Hersha Parady and Merlin Olson? I got along great with Merlin and Hersha. Hersha played my mom, and I remember her being very motherly. It was sort of like my mom was on the set. I'm not a method actor at all, but I was a kid. If there's a lady playing your mom, I didn't try to avoid her, but like, I didn't want to be scolded, or I didn't want to be taken care of by two moms. Don't get me wrong, Hersha was amazing. As an actor, I loved doing scenes with her — she's got a great history, and she was really talented. But I was basically acting like a young boy having his mom on set. Merlin was a bit of a different story. My dad was really sick, and he was in the hospital all the time. I kind of needed that father figure, and I was looking to connect with Merlin. Merlin was an amazing guy who really took me under his wing. At the time, I didn't understand that he knew what was going on with my dad. I thought that I was getting away with getting an extra father for free, but he knew what was going on and was really sweet about that. What are you up to now? I'm a fan of your podcast! I'm still acting and writing screenplays, and I also started an acting school, Working Actors School. It's fully online; you can do it from anywhere. You don't have to be in Hollywood, and that's kind of the way the industry is now. It's for adults, it's for kids, and we have different classes for different age groups. It's a great school if you're looking to start out. The podcast started around the Working Actors School. I thought, "Well, how am I going to get people to know that the school exists?" A friend of mine said, "Why don't you try TikTok? Talk about your school, or put up some lectures or something." I did a couple, and on one of them, I told a story about, I think, Carol Burnett. I got like 400,000 views, and I had only been on TikTok a few weeks. I thought, "I'll just tell stories about people I've worked with!" Then reality hit, and I was telling stories, and they weren't all getting 400,000 views, but I could see the idea was working. I would also mention the acting school, and that was my idea of promotion. I realized I'm going to run out of stories, so I started talking to people that I've worked with. That's where the podcast came from. It's The Patrick LabyorSheaux with Patrick Labyorteaux. It's on YouTube and anywhere you get your podcasts. We talk about a person's career, their acting, and their experiences. I've had so much fun with it! It's been over 50 years since the show aired, and it's still so popular. Are you surprised by the fanbase Little House continues to have? I approach it from a couple of different angles. One, I'm a big science fiction and comic book guy. I understand the concept of a fandom, especially with shows like Lost, and also Star Wars and Star Trek. I get the idea of people connecting with Little House, especially since it was about something that really happened. I also think this recurrence got turbo-charged by the pandemic, and everybody found the show again. On a technical level, we shot on film, and so it's gorgeous. You can up-res to 16:9 because there's a film negative, which they've done to a lot of these episodes. Michael and I had lunch one day. Mike would eat with everybody, because he wasn't like one of those TV stars. He was just a guy on the show, and it just happened to be his show. We were sitting there, and we ended up being the last two people at the table. At the time, Mork and Mindy was a huge hit, and Robin Williams was breaking out, and you couldn't get away from it. I asked Michael, "Hey, are you worried about Mork and Mindy? It's huge!" They were on ABC, and we were on NBC, and I think we were going up against them. He goes, "No, not really." And I go, "But they're so cool!" He goes, "Our show is about the past. We're already predated. You'll be able to watch Little House in 50 years, and it'll still be on TV." He literally said that to me. What I didn't understand was the idea of reruns and syndication and, at that time, that meant being on local stations. There was no cable, there was no internet, but local stations would buy the shows and rerun them. The reality is, he was absolutely right. This type of show will always be able to be viewed because it focuses on interactions between humans. That's never outdated.
Indianapolis Star
15-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Indianapolis Star
'Everybody has a story about Kids Ink': Local bookstore owner retires after 39 years
Shirley Mullin likes to ask adults what book changed their life. Some just shrug. A few say the Bible. But many say they became a reader because of a book a teacher read aloud to them decades ago. That's what happened for Mullin, 80, in her rural Nebraska schoolhouse in rural Nebraska where her second grade teacher read 'Little House on the Prairie' to the class. When the teacher finished reading the series, the students begged her to read the books again — and she did. Mullin went home and played 'Little House on the Prairie' with her siblings on their family farm, where she was convinced Laura Ingalls Wilder had lived before her. 'It came alive,' she said. Mullin has spent her career making children into readers, first as a kindergarten teacher, and then a librarian and then the owner of Kids Ink Children's Bookstore on North Illinois Street. She's worked to put books in kids' hands for more than 40 years — and now she's the store is not closing. A mother-daughter pair has purchased it from Mullin and plans to carry on her legacy. Kids Ink is a small shop, nestled between storefronts in the Butler-Tarkington neighborhood. Colorful books line the shelves from floor to ceiling, with wooden puzzles, stuffed animals and Playmobil toys tucked between titles. Mullin opened the store in 1986 after a visit to Waldenbooks in the Glendale Mall to buy one of her favorite baby books, 'Goodnight Moon." She said when her own children were growing up, they ruined at least one copy each. So when the bookstore chain didn't have the title on hand, she made a decision. 'If they cannot keep that book in stock, I'll just do it myself,' she said. Almost four decades later, Mullin jokes about what a great business decision that was. Impulsive though it was, it worked. The store hosts story times and author visits. Every summer, Kids Ink participates in the area's 'Where's Waldo' competition for kids to spot Waldo dolls in local shops to win prizes. 'They know my kids, they know my family,' said Lindsay Donaldson, a regular customer who lives nearby. 'We just love it.' Five years ago, the staff helped her pick books to teach her son how to read. Today, they remember he likes historical fiction and stories with dragons. The store has been around long enough that some kids who grew up going to Kids Ink now bring in their own children. 'Everybody has a story about Kids Ink,' Wendy Fitzgerald said. And now Wendy and her daughter Kate will be telling stories of their own. The older Fitzgerald moved to Indianapolis from Wisconsin in February to be close to Kate and her 18-month old granddaughter. One of the first places Wendy visited in her new neighborhood was Kids Ink. A day after Wendy bought her house in Indianapolis, she was let go from her job. Four days later, Kate was let go too. So in June when Wendy heard Kids Ink was for sale, she reached out to Mullin. After what Mullin's lawyer said was the simplest and shortest property sale he'd ever seen, the Fitzgeralds became the new owners of Kids Ink. Mullin has always worked with children and books. Before Kids Ink, she was a kindergarten teacher and a librarian, and then taught children's literature at what was then IUPUI. She reopened the library at Riley Hospital for Children and ran it for almost a decade before she opened Kids Ink. Running a store, she learned, was not the same as working in a library. Mullin wanted to give children books, not sell them. So Mullin found ways to share books with kids who couldn't afford them. She received grants to donate books to Indianapolis Public Schools and other schools around the state. During Christmas, she set up a giving tree for customers to buy books for kids. 'It's just so amazing when they get a first book,' she said. A few years ago, Kids Ink received hundreds of thousands dollars from a private donor to gift packages of books to 900 immigrant children in Wayne Township. The best part, Mullin said, was choosing the books herself. She included an age-appropriate atlas in each child's package so they could look up their homeland. Mullin has spotlighted several Indiana-based authors over the years. Troy Cummings, a children's book author and illustrator who lives in Greencastle, said it seems like every author, teacher and librarian in the state knows Shirley. Cummings remembers the first event he attended at Kids Ink, where kids brought drawings of monsters emulating the creatures in his own books. He sees Kids Ink as a 'launchpad for creativity,' a place for kids to realize the joy to be found in reading. 'It should feel like playing,' he said. 'It should feel like you're getting away with something.' Mullin hand picks what the store stocks — the 'great old books,' quality nonfiction, works by local authors, books on parenting and potty training. 'It's not unusual for Barnes & Noble to call and say, 'We have a customer wanting books on whales, do you have anything?'' she said. 'Well yeah, we do.' Mullin has also tried to appeal to diverse clientele over the years. Kids Ink stocks stories with LGBTQ+ characters and every display includes books about children of color. 'Most librarians and most teachers, they understand that the kids need to see themselves in a book,' Shirley said. 'And they're not going to see themselves in a book if they don't see kids like them.' The Fitzgeralds are eager to carry on that mission. Especially in the current political climate, Kate said, it's important to give kids books that prepare them to go to school with kids different from themselves. 'This is their chance to build their empathy,' Kate said. 'Reading a book is the closest that you'll get to being in somebody else's shoes or feeling feelings that you've never felt before.' Mullin's family worked at Kids Ink from the start and many of her staff became like family to her. Two of her children (both of whom are now authors) worked there for years. In the back of the store, the white walls in the bathroom are scribbled with signatures and notes of affection from authors who have visited Kids Ink. The small room features signatures from Cummings, John Green and hundreds of others. The tradition began almost 30 years ago when Mullin's family repainted the bathroom. Her baby son's footprints were painted and stamped on the wall, and the rest of her family signed their names, she said. Some of the staff have worked there for decades. A teacher, Kathy Taber, came to Kids Ink for book recommendations in 1992 and started working part time. When business was slow, she and Mullin would just sit and chat. 'She cared about each and every one of us that worked there,' Taber said. 'Not only was her knowledge so great, but you know, she just cares about us and what's going on in our lives, which makes her very special.' Many other employees have also been with the shop for more than 20 years. That's part of the reason, Taber said, that it was hard for the staff to hear Mullin would be retiring. 'It'll be different, because you know — Kids Ink is Shirley, or Shirley is Kids Ink, to us,' Taber said. 'But it's a well deserved time for her to retire. You know, she's got plans.' Mullin will garden and continue to speak at local library events. She'll devote time to what she calls her "forever research project," a dive into her family history during WWII. Mullin said she doesn't know how she feels about retirement yet as it's only been a few weeks. She's mostly been "untangling" things so far. 'For me, it feels a lot like ripping off a Band-Aid,' she said. 'But that's okay. I was ready for it. I was ready for it before it happened.'
New York Post
12-07-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Post
Melissa Gilbert reveals moment her birth father ‘knew' she was his child
After Melissa Gilbert's biological father saw her on television, he knew that the young actress was his child. The former child star, who played Laura Ingalls Wilder in 'Little House on the Prairie,' recently appeared on her co-star Patrick Labyorteaux's podcast, 'The Patrick LabyorSheaux.' She described what it was like getting in contact with her birth father after she welcomed her son Dakota in 1989. 'I didn't tell him who I was, and then he asked me, 'Well, who are you? What do you do?'' Gilbert recalled. 'And I said, 'Well, here's the thing… Did you ever watch 'Little House on the Prairie?' And he said, 'You're Laura, aren't you? I knew it.' He knew it.' 'He could see,' the 61-year-old shared. 'And when I met my half-siblings, we all looked alike. So you could definitely see it… It's pretty clear.' Labyorteaux, who was also adopted, said he had a similar experience. Like Gilbert, his birth mother died before he was able to find her. 'I never met her, but I met her family, who was a stepfamily,' the actor explained. 'She had three kids that she had inherited from the husband that she married. So, she had three kids, but they weren't her biological kids. She only had one biological kid… They would watch 'Little House' and when I would show up… because of my eyes, they would go, 'Oh, that's probably your kid.' And they would make fun of her like that… They were right.' 6 'Little House on the Prairie' actress Melissa Gilbert said her biological father saw her on television and knew she was his child. Getty Images for BAM 6 'He said, 'You're Laura, aren't you? I knew it.' He knew it,' Gilbert said about her dad. Courtesy Everett Collection Gilbert was adopted by actors Barbara Cowan and Paul Gilbert. Her biological parents were also in entertainment. According to the star, her birth mother was an exotic dancer and her father was a stock car racer and musician. 6 Melissa Gilbert in 'Little House on the Prairie' in 1974. Courtesy Everett Collection 'It was pretty clear that it was in me,' said Gilbert on pursuing showbiz. '… All the kids are performers on both sides of that family. So it was genetic and environmental.' 'They were each married to other people and had three children each and ran off together and conceived me on a motorcycle trip in the desert,' she said. 'Explains a lot. And then they left their spouses for each other and got married after [getting] pregnant with me and moved all the kids in, so I was number seven. So, the decision was made to put me up for adoption.' As Gilbert got older, she yearned to discover her roots. 6 'I realized there's got to be more,' the actress said about connecting to her roots after giving birth to her son. GC Images 'When I saw [my son Dakota] for the first time, I went, 'Oh my God, he had my eyebrows, and he had my lips, and I've never seen anyone that looked like me,'' said Gilbert. 'And then I realized there's got to be more.' Her family background wasn't the only thing that Gilbert faced after 'Little House' came to an end. In the podcast, she described how, as an adult, many fans still expected her to be Laura Ingalls. 'It was weird,' Gilbert admitted. 'I think people still, almost into my 40s, always kind of half expected a 12-year-old to come in with a fishing pole [and in] gingham. And that, at that time, to me, felt like a weakness.' Gilbert said it was a 'shock factor' when people realized that she was 'a full-grown adult with opinions and ideas that are smart and work.' For her, it was important to have an identity outside of Hollywood. 6 'I think people still, almost into my 40s, always kind of half expected a 12-year-old to come in with a fishing pole [and in] gingham,' Gilbert said about people wanting her to be Laura Ingalls. Courtesy Everett Collection '[As child actors] we either grow up super sheltered and don't know how to do things like wash dishes, or [be] super overexposed and exploited,' she said. Gilbert added that the second group are the ones that end up struggling with 'the big problems.' Keep up with today's most important news Stay up on the very latest with Evening Update. Thanks for signing up! Enter your email address Please provide a valid email address. By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Never miss a story. Check out more newsletters So at age 22, she moved to New York City to appear in an Off-Broadway play. 'There I was at 22, living on my own with my cat and my dog in New York City, and completely unprepared to live on my own entirely. Completely,' she said. '… I had to figure out how to do so much stuff that I had no clue about,' she shared. 'Like, I didn't realize that you could break a $100 bill at a bodega, and you didn't have to go to a bank. It's little things like that… At one point, [I] let the dishes pile up in my sink so bad, and I didn't have a dishwasher, so I threw them out and bought new dishes. On my $700 a week salary at that point.' Still, Gilbert had fond memories of growing up on the set of 'Little House.' 'Our set was as kid-friendly as a set could be at that time,' she said. 'Even with all the adult shenanigans going on, we were sort of protected from a lot of that. I didn't know half the stuff that the grown-ups were doing until they started writing books about it.' Back in 2024, Gilbert told Fox News Digital she had to eventually leave Los Angeles to age gracefully. 6 'Our set was as kid-friendly as a set could be at that time,' Gilbert said about her time on 'Little House.' Courtesy Everett Collection 'I looked at myself in the mirror several years back,' the 61-year-old recalled at the time. 'I was living in Los Angeles, and I did not recognize who I was. I had overfilled my face and my lips. My forehead didn't move. I was still dyeing my hair red. I was driving a Mustang convertible. I was a size two in an unhealthy way. I looked like a frozen version of my younger self, and that's not who I was.' Every morning, the NY POSTcast offers a deep dive into the headlines with the Post's signature mix of politics, business, pop culture, true crime and everything in between. Subscribe here! 'I was stuck,' Gilbert admitted. 'I could feel myself fighting it. And I said to myself, 'It's time to age.' I had to leave Los Angeles to do that – not Hollywood – Los Angeles specifically.' Gilbert said she and her husband, actor Timothy Busfield, moved to his home state of Michigan following their wedding in 2013. They lived there for five years. She felt free to finally age. 'I stopped coloring my hair,' she explained. 'I had [my] breast implants removed. I decided to just be the best, healthiest version of myself without this pressure to look a certain way, and it paid off in a huge way.' 'I finally found my feet as a woman, fully, 100 percent strong in my own knowledge, in my own accomplishments. Everything got easier. And a bonus? I have a lot more free time not staring in a mirror, sitting in a dermatologist's chair, or sitting in a hair chair.' In 2019, Gilbert and Busfield purchased a rustic cottage on 14 acres in the Catskill Mountains. Life today is 'incredibly fulfilling,' she said. 'It's remarkable,' Gilbert gushed. 'I love being this age. There are things about it that are not a lot of fun. I don't like it when my ankles ache in the morning or my skin's drier. Aging is not for sissies, but it is certainly better than the alternative. And I've never felt better in my skin.'
Perth Now
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Melissa Gilbert reveals her biological father recognised her from TV when he first met her
Melissa Gilbert's biological father recognised her from TV when he first met her. The 61-year-old actress was adopted immediately after birth, and by the time she was reunited with her dad, she had achieved fame through her role as Laura Ingalls Wilder on Little House on the Prairie. Speaking on the Patrick Labyorteaux podcast, she said: "I didn't tell him who I was, and then he asked me, 'Well, who are you? What do you do?' "And I said, 'Well, here's the thing.' And I said, 'Did you ever watch Little House on the Prairie?' And he said, 'You're Laura, aren't you? I knew it.' He knew it. "When I met my half-siblings, we all look alike. So, you could definitely see it. So, it's pretty clear." In the same interview, the former Dancing with the Stars contestant shared what she called the "best Hollywood story" that involved Michael Jackson and the daughters of Judy Garland. She said: "I had an agent, Michael was also Rob Lowe's agent. We were together at the time. So Rob had done The Outsiders with Patrick Swayze. And Patrick Swayze was doing a show at the Beverly Hills Playhouse, a dance show, and Rob couldn't go because he was shooting St. Elmo's Fire. And so Michael and I went to the show. "And then there's like a commotion at the door, and Liza Minnelli came in and beelined and sat down at our table and was hiding alcoholic beverages because she wasn't supposed to be drinking by putting them in front of me. "So at one point, I had four wines, three screwdrivers in front of me. And then her sister came in, and Liza was like drinking under the table, and Lorna Luft was there. "And [Michael Jackson] came and sat at our table. In the meantime, I keep looking at Rob going, 'What's going on? Please, I want to go home. I'm scared of all of this. "So, we finish our meal, Wolfgang [Puck] is bringing his piece that he's made, and he's sitting down, and people are hovering around. Michael Jackson is not saying a word. And then we finish our meal and we're trying to figure out where to go, and Michael Jackson, the only thing he says the whole night, 'You can come to my house, I've got a llama! Melissa is the adopted child of actors Paul Gilbert - who died in 1976 - and Barbara Cowan but also recently recalled how much of a "paternal" figure Michael Landon had been to her when he played her dad on the hit Western drama. She said: "Michael Landon was like a father figure to many of us, obviously, and a very, very important influence in my life,' Gilbert shared during the show's 50th anniversary cast reunion. 'My own father passed away when I was 11. And I had been working with Michael for two years at that point, and he really sort of stepped in and kind of watched over me in a much more paternal way."
