. . . and stumbled across this 6 part interview from 2007 with Melissa. (~60 minutes total)
I never knew anything about her, but Jesus, she seems like a really nice person - unusual for Hollywood.
It's an interesting look behind the scenes at Little House:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iF-eS-8LGQ
I saw that interview more recently as well, and even posted on it in the little house section.
https://moviechat.org/tt0071007/Little-House-on-the-Prairie/5d7d0fec63ed815dd4e43aec/Melissa-Anderson-Interview-part-1
I too was surprised to see how down to earth that she was. I know that among the cast of little house alumni, she had a reputation as being difficult to work with. But I certainly didn’t see any of that come through in this interview. She still looks pretty amazing as well, and she’s got a couple of years on me!
I didn't know she was difficult, it's hard to see from the interview, but then they were all children back then, and she's a grown woman now. Just judging from her character on the show, however, I can see where that could be true. Still, it's amazing to see a child star that navigated all the traps, and that made it to adulthood seemingly untraumatized.
I did see an interview where Melissa Gilbert was talking about not having learned her lines the night before, and she muffed a scene with Landon. She said that Michael wasn't mean about it, but he took her aside, and she said that she came away and KNEW from then-on to NEVER do that again.
It’s been a few months since I saw the interview Kielanders, but I seem to recall that Melissa Sue indicated that family life was preferable to hollyweird life, which totally makes sense to me.
Melissa Gilbert and Michael Landon were very close in real life, and she often spent weekends at the Landon home. There was a strain placed on the relationship however, when ML strayed from his marriage, and then later divorced, since MG was also fond of the wife.
There are some interesting stories regarding being on the set. Apparently, ML, and many other crew members, were drinking some high octane adult beverages on set, pretty much the entire work day :D She also told a story about how he had this peculiar habit of putting out his cigarettes by pinching the end with his gloved fingers. I never read any of the books, but apparently, Melissa Gilbert, Melissa Sue Anderson, and the chick that played Nellie, all wrote books about their experiences on little house.
Thanks for that. I hadn't thought about this show in decades, but for the magic of YouTube suggesting a Landon interview I never would have gone down this road and burned a lazy Saturday morning. I'll keep tooling around the cast interviews.
I have a vague memory of Melissa Sue Anderson's book coming-out 10 years ago, and chatter about how it DID NOT contain any negative or salacious stories about the production - which I thought was nice. The girl was certainly blessed in the looks department, so it stunned me watching her interview that she didn't have a Hollywood attitude and bad history to recount - but hell, maybe she's acting in the interviews.
I have a vague memory of Melissa Sue Anderson's book coming-out 10 years ago, and chatter about how it DID NOT contain any negative or salacious stories about the production