Melissa Gilbert tells her Little House on the Prairie costar Michael Landon went the extra mile to keep the cast happy.
The actress (59) is with PEOPLE on Little House on the Prairie The cast reunion and 50th anniversary festival — which she said happened every holiday season.
“Every year he would announce the Rose Parade for NBC and instead of paying for it, he would use the money to buy Christmas presents for the cast and crew,” recalls Landon, who died in 1991 at age 54. after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
“So he sacrificed his New Year’s Eve, basically, to be at the Rose Parade at 3 in the morning so he could give us all really amazing Christmas gifts,” adds Gilbert.
Little House on the PrairieMelissa Gilbert Says Michael Landon Was ‘Father Figure’: ‘We Were Very Close’ (Exclusive)
The cast of ‘Little House on the Prairie’.
Gary Null/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty
Gilbert told PEOPLE that “there’s so much to say about the actor” — who played Charles Ingalls on the long-running series — including the fact that he was “like a father figure” to many cast members on the show. She noted that she especially had a deep connection with him.
“My father passed away when I was 11,” she continues. “I had been working with Michael for two years at that point and he really stepped in and looked after me in a much more fatherly way.”
The Mandate the actress noted that the series — which was partially based on Laura Ingalls Wilder’s iconic film A small house book series and aired more than 200 episodes — it wouldn’t be possible without Landon.
Little House on the PrairieMelissa Gilbert, Karen Grassle and Alison Arngrim are reuniting ahead of their 50th anniversary
“These people are here because he wrote this show and directed and produced it, and I know he’d be incredibly proud if he could see that,” Gilbert says of Landon.
“This is his legacy. One hundred percent,” she adds.
Gilbert, who landed the role of Laura Ingalls at just 9 years old, opened up earlier this week on Good morning America about how “emotional” it was for her to return to Big Sky Ranch, where she filmed nine seasons of the reunion show.
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“It’s devastating, actually,” she admitted. “I remember so much of my childhood and so many wonderful experiences and emotional experiences related to all these people.”
She told PEOPLE on the anniversary that she feels “blessed” to have her Little House on the Prairie experience.
“Every once in a while, in something like this, I’m reminded, ‘Gosh, I was a part of something that really, really affected many, many people.’ And kudos to me. I’m so blessed to get the role,” she says.
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