Arngrim starred as Nellie Oleson on the show
Credit: NBCU Photo Bank/Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- Alison Arngrim, who played Nellie Oleson on Little House on the Prairie, says the show was “like therapy” for star Michael Landon
- In a new podcast, Arngrim said of the late Landon: “He was working out endless personal issues and childhood conflicts”
- Landon died in 1991 at age 54
Alison Arngrim says Little House on the Prairie was so personal for star Michael Landon that it was "like therapy," with him working through his own personal issues on screen before countless viewers.
Landon starred on the series as Charles “Pa” Ingalls, the father of Melissa Gilbert's Laura Ingalls, and also served as the show's producer and directed many episodes.
"This show was so personal for him. Little House in the Prairie, the show was personal for him," Arngrim, 64, said in a recent episode of the show rewatch podcast. "There's endless episodes and endless moments where Michael is like, as I said, it was it was therapy. He's find a way to get paid to go to therapy. He was working out endless personal issues and childhood conflicts."
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"And he was just working them all out in front of all of America," Arngrim added. "And it was brilliant. And it worked."
Landon died in 1991 at the age of 54 after he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
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Arngrim earlier spoke to Woman's World about Landon, calling him “one of the funniest people I ever met."
“I mean, it's one of the best ways to describe him. Remember, he's writing the show, he's producing the show and he's directing the show and he's this ball of energy and just a workaholic cuckoo, but so funny," she told the outlet. "Michael was a creative tornado. It was absolutely amazing to watch him work and then he was an absolute laugh riot and couldn't resist a practical joke.”
In that same interview, Arngrim acknowledged that Landon's personal life often informed his work on Little House.
“Michael Landon himself, his home life was not happy,” Arngrim said. “He had a miserable childhood, and he talked openly about how difficult his parents were. He was looking for the kind of real family and real love and connection that the show exemplified.”
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