Little House on the Prairie Turns 50: The Actresses Tell Us About Filming

How was it back then, on the set of Walnut Grove, between the children and with the adults? The stars of the cult series remember for Première.

On September 11, 1974, the American network NBC broadcast the very first episode of a family series about the conquest of the West, which would shake up America and the entire world. Little House on the Prairie celebrates its 50th anniversary today. And its popularity is still going strong.It's moving to see that people still want to watch the series. It's very gratifying to see that it still has such an impact. Frankly, at the time, we didn't imagine for a second that it would mark people so much…“

Karen Grassle is now 82 years old. A little tired from the hustle and bustle and the questions from journalists, the actress is still happy to talk about Caroline Ingalls, a role she played for a decade alongside Michael Landon. “Maybe there was something in the water at Walnut Grove… When you see Karen… it's completely crazy, right?” laughs a few meters further Alison Arngrimaka Nellie Oleson. Sparkling, radiant and with a big smile on her lips, she is delighted to still be able to surf on her years as a village plague. With the other star actresses of the cast, they were recently invited to the Monte-Carlo television festival, to go back in time and tell The Prairie. The era. The phenomenon. And a shoot not quite like the others… Confidences.

It was in California, not at all in Minnesota (where the real Walnut Grove is located), that the entire troupe filmed, for 9 years, 200 and some episodes of Little House on the Prairie. In the heart of Los Angeles' Paramount Studios and Big Sky Movie Ranch – located 33 miles northwest of the city – Alison Arngrim spent his childhood surrounded by cameras and technicians. “Being a child star is not easy. There are big responsibilities to take on. You are asked to be mature like an adult and at the same time you have to go to school,” “recalls the 62-year-old American for Première.”Luckily, I wasn't alone. There were lots of other kids my age I could talk to. We understood each other. We confided in each other. I really had friends on set. And then we saw adults as parental figures in a way. Take Katherine MacGregor, who played my mother on the show: Mrs. Oleson was a real cow, but in real life, she was a lovely woman. She took care of us. She guided us, told us to finish our plate, and took us to the movies when we had time to kill…”

A joyful and bucolic atmosphere which also greatly pleased Karen Grassle. A theatre actress, she discovered the small screen and appreciated the less busy schedule: “The atmosphere on set was very cool, because there were lots of children. And so of course, the filming hours were limited. We could go home in the evening, have dinner with our families. And then we filmed a lot outside, in the sunlight, and that was fabulous.“Despite her role as matriarch of the Ingalls family, the actress never saw herself as “a mom” for the children of Little House on the Prairie. “No, I was more of an older friend… I felt like the nice aunt. I wasn't the type to give advice at random. These kids had real parents in their lives who were there to support them. It wasn't my place to pretend to be their mother!”

Melissa Sue Anderson has a less euphoric memory of this period. The interpreter of Mary Ingalls does not remember only an atmosphere of good friends at camp: “We got along pretty well. But I was quite different from the others, so I was never really friends with either of us. We weren't really close friends in real life. Besides, it wasn't advisable.” she confesses to us. “I was told this a lot at the time: don't be too close to your classmates, because if you bicker, if there's a clash or something else, it'll cause problems for the shoot. As if the children weren't able to rise above it to do the job… It was hard to live with, because the adult actors were seen as professionals, and we were seen as capricious children as soon as there was a problem. When we forgot a line or had trouble acting one day, it took on annoying proportions.”

Despite everything, together they managed to create one of the most cult series on the small screen, capable of reaching new generations even today. “I think there is a desire for nostalgia.”finally analyzes Melissa Sue Anderson. “These are not simple times. America is very fractured. The whole world is divided. And it reassures people to see this world where there is brotherhood, simple pleasures. They want that.”