Melissa Gilbert’s favorite LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE episode is one of the saddest.
Gilbert, famous for playing Laura Ingalls in the ’70s show, said her favorite storyline was from Season 1: The Lord is My Shepherd, parts 1 and 2, TV Line reported.
The episodes are about the birth of Laura’s baby brother, Charles. He becomes sick soon after birth. Laura, jealous, refuses to pray for him. After he dies, she blames herself for his death and runs away from home.
The actress liked the story because it showed the bond she had with the show’s creator, Michael Landon, who played Pa Ingalls. After she runs away, her parents’ grief expands, and she understands how important she is to her father.
“The chemistry is palpable. It’s all on screen,” she told USA TODAY in 2024.
Gilbert looked up to Landon like a real father. She saw him a week before he passed away from cancer in 1991, nearly a decade after the show ended.
“There were always funny moments with Michael,” she said. “Even as sick as he was, he still maintained his incredible sense of humor.”
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After Gilbert saw SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY recently, she recalled a stunt move she pulled while filming LITTLE HOUSE.
“I was around 11 years old-my age in the photo above,” she wrote in an Instagram post. “I was in my full wardrobe and braids, sitting in a chair on the edge of the creek, near the little house, playing cards with one of the other kids.”
She was sitting in a folding chair and won the card game. So naturally, she shot her arms up in victory.
Then, “The chair tipped backwards and I went flying over the bank of the creek and back somersaulted into the water,” she said.
Somehow, Gilbert landed on her feet in the water and quickly held her pigtail braids up so they wouldn’t get wet.
“Everyone saw and there was absolute silence for about 10 seconds. Probably from fear that I’d been hurt,” she recalled. “Then everyone roared with applause.”
“I was perfectly fine. I was submerged to about my waist, but from there up, I, and most importantly, my braids were dry,” she concluded. “Now that’s some prairie/spidey stuff if ever there was.”
Netflix’s version of LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE came out in July with an all-new cast. Its eight episodes are available to stream now on the platform.
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