Raise your hand if Little House on the Prairie was your preferred television program during the Hunker Down at Home period. Can you see our numbers from Birmingham?
If you're anything like us, the iconic 1970s and 1980s period drama has been a fantastic source of solace during these trying times caused by the coronavirus outbreak. As superfans, we're always thrilled to get behind-the-scenes looks into the show's stars and production, and the editors at Cheat Sheet just provided us with some fascinating information:
During the first season of filming, Melissa Gilbert, who portrayed Laura Ingalls, rallied her fellow young cast members to disprove suspicions about Alison Arngrim, who portrayed Nellie Oleson.
In her book Confessions of a Prairie B*tch: How I Survived Nellie Oleson and Learned to Love Being Hated, Arngrim writes, "I occasionally had problems talking to 'new people' one-on-one."
"I was now confronted with a cast and crew of over a hundred people, some of whom had, to put it mildly, imposing personalities. I had hoped I could just show up, do my job, and stay out of the way, but it was not to be."
Her shyness on set was quickly mistaken as an attitude, and Arngrim's agency spoke with the young star's father about the bad reports that she was "difficult" and the possibility of reevaluating her employment.
Gilbert, her best friend on set, then stepped forward to set the record right. "[Gilbert] had heard the allegations and, being the first person to befriend me, knew they were false," Arngrim wrote, according to Cheat Sheet. "So, what did she do about this when she was nine years old? She convened a gathering."
As it turns out, it probably wasn't even the kids circulating tales about Arngrim, but rather the parents of the young players, who were attempting to further their children's future careers in show business by destroying those of others.
Gilbert not only saved her good friend's career through a passionate speech urging her fellow child actors to stay together and speak up if gossip rears its ugly head to uncover the truth, but she also laid the groundwork for an inclusive community among the young stars.
Bravo! You may read the entire tale on CheatSheet.com and marvel at the young Gilbert's gentle leadership. Quite motivating for a small child, huh?
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