Fifty years ago, an iconic television show was born when Little House on the Prairie premiered on NBC in September 1974. Based on Laura Ingalls Wilder’s children’s book series and set in the late 1800s, Little House on the Prairie ran for nine seasons, captivating viewers with the many adventures and struggles of the Ingalls family in Walnut Grove, Minnesota.
While Little House on the Prairie aired its final episode on NBC over four decades ago in 1983, the show may have an even stronger fan base today, thanks to the convenience of streaming.
Where can you watch Little House on the Prairie in 2024?
You can watch all nine seasons of Little House on the Prairie on Peacock right now.
Need more stories from the Ingalls? You can also find all of the Little House TV movies — Look Back to Yesterday, Bless All The Dear Children, and The Last Farewell — on NBC’s streaming platform.
It’s been many years since the Little House on the Prairie cast wrapped the beloved family drama, so where are they today? You might already know Jason Bateman, who played James Cooper Ingalls, went to star in popular series like Arrested Development and Ozark. And you might follow Kyle Richards, who played Alicia Sanderson Edwards, on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. But what about the rest of the Ingalls family? And the Olesons?
In honor of the 50th anniversary of Little House on the Prairie, let’s take a look at what the cast has been up to since the show ended.
Melissa Gilbert (Laura Ingalls)
From 9 to 18 years old, Gilbert starred as Laura Ingalls on Little House on the Prairie and in the show’s many spin-offs. Gilbert was a very successful child actor — with a notable performance as Helen Keller in the 1979 TV movie The Miracle Worker — and she’s kept busy since Little House ended, even joining the cast of Dancing with the Stars in 2012.
Gilbert, 60, is a mom of two adult children, sons Dakota and Michael, a grandmother, and is married to actor Timothy Busfield. In 2009, she released a memoir titled Prairie Tale about her experience as a young actress playing Laura Ingalls and other personal stories.
In 2025, Gilbert will guest star in Season 12 of the Western drama series, When Calls the Heart, Deadline reported. She also co-founded an expansive lifestyle brand, Modern Prairie. In an interview with USA Today in 2024, Gilbert said she believes Little House has such a big and lasting fanbase because the show “crosses all borders.”
“Everybody can take ownership of it,” she said. “I think it resonates because it speaks to everyone on their level. And the stories we told, many of them were very, very, very rough. We didn’t tell exploitively, we told honestly, and from a place of compassion and understanding, and I think that is impactful for people. We weren’t jamming our perspectives down people’s throats.”
Michael Landon (Charles “Pa” Ingalls)
Landon had starred in several movies and TV shows before he portrayed Charles “Pa” Ingalls on Little House on the Prairie. From 1974 to 1983, Landon played the patriarch of the Ingalls family and was also an executive producer, writer, and director on the long-running historical drama.
After Little House ended, Landon created, directed, and starred in the NBC series Highway to Heaven, which also featured many of his former co-stars.
Sadly, Landon passed away in 1991 at the age of 54, months after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Shortly before his death, Landon appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and addressed the insensitive tabloid coverage he’d been facing since his diagnosis. “For any of those families out there who have a relative who has cancer, they know how tough the fight is and how important the mental attitude is,” he said. “You pull together and you keep a very, very up attitude … because mentally is more than 50% of your medicine.”
Karen Grassle (Caroline “Ma” Ingalls)
Grassle played Caroline “Ma” Ingalls for eight seasons on Little House on the Prairie. While working on the NBC series, Grassle co-wrote and starred in the 1978 TV movie about domestic abuse, Battered. When Little House ended, Grassle went on to act in many plays around the country. She also had roles in a variety of movies, including the biographical Western Wyatt Earp starring Kevin Costner.
In 2021, Grassle released her memoir — Bright Lights, Prairie Dust: Reflections on Life, Loss, and Love from Little House’s Ma. That same year, she also starred in Not to Forget, a film she described on her website as a “lighthearted story that revolves around the issue of dementia and family.”
In 2024, Grassle, now 82, celebrated the 50th anniversary of Little House on the Prairie with the cast and fans of the show. In a video from the event, Grassle was asked if she had a favorite Ingalls child, and very gracefully and simply said, “No.”Melissa Sue Anderson as Mary Ingalls
Melissa Sue Anderson (Mary Ingalls)
When Anderson was 11 years old, she landed the role of Laura Ingalls’ older sister Mary on Little House on the Prairie. In 1978, Anderson earned an Emmy nomination for her portrayal of Mary Ingalls, who loses her eyesight in Season 4.
In the years after Little House ended, Anderson acted in many TV movies, episodes, and specials, including The Equalizer, the Veronica Mars film, and Murder She Wrote.
Anderson, now 62, is a mom of two adult children, daughter Piper and son Griffin, and has been married to her husband Michael Sloan since 1990. While Anderson was born in California, her family now calls Canada home.
Nowadays, Anderson has mostly stepped away from acting and released an autobiography in 2011 titled Way I See It: A Look Back At My Life On Little House. In 2014, she reunited with her castmates and spoke to TODAY for the show’s 40th anniversary. “The set to me was like a warm blanket,” Anderson said about working the show as a young girl.
Lindsay and Sidney Greenbush (Carrie Ingalls)
Identical twin sisters Lindsay and Sidney Greenbush, now 54, shared the role of Carrie Ingalls, Laura’s younger sister, on Little House on the Prairie. In an interview with Cozi TV, the sisters shared some behind-the-scenes facts about filming the show when they landed the role at just 3 years old. “When we shot the episode ‘Little Girl Lost,’ I was the one that fell in the well,” Lindsay revealed as Sidney added with a laugh, “And I come out.”
After Little House ended, Sidney had a role in the 1983 movie Hambone and Hillie, according to her IMDb profile, and hasn’t acted in anything since. In a 2024 interview on the Lament of Hope podcast, Sidney shared that she had been her mother’s caretaker before she passed away a few years ago.
Lindsay had a role in the TV show Matt Houston in 1983 and performed in The Vagina Monologues in 2016, according to her IMDb profile. She met her husband, Danny Sanchez, on the Little House on the Prairie set in 1977. They reconnected decades later in 2007 through a mutual friend and eventually married in 2014. “We went up to the oak tree that we had first met under and got married, underneath the oak tree … by the Ingalls’ home,” Lindsay shared on the Little House 50 Podcast in 2024.
Katherine MacGregor (Harriet Oleson)
MacGregor played Mrs. Harriet Oleson, the feisty town gossip and wife to Nels Oleson, on Little House on the Prairie. “I look for the humor of Mrs. Oleson,” MacGregor said in an interview with the Santa Cruz Sentinel in 1981, per The Hollywood Reporter. “She was originally painted as just black-and-white mean. Anyone that mean has to be a fool. So I began mixing farce into it. I think the audience counts on seeing Mrs. Oleson fall on her fanny.”
After Little House on the Prairie, MacGregor focused on participating in local theater, according to Deadline. In 2018, the actress passed away at the age of 93.
Richard Bull (Nels Oleson)
Bull had a very active acting career before landing the role of Nels Oleson, husband to Harriet and co-owner of the town’s general store, on Little House on the Prairie. But when he first booked the role, he thought it’d be for only one episode. “I thought it was a one-shot and that was it. When my agent told me they wanted to sign me for a seven-year contract, I just about dropped my cookies. I was just flabbergasted,” Bull said in a behind-the-scenes interview.
In the years following Little House, Bull had several roles in movies and TV shows including Let’s Go to Prison, Sugar, Highway to Heaven, and ER. In 2014, Bull died at the age of 89 after falling ill with pneumonia.
Alison Arngrim (Nellie Oleson)
At 12 years old, Arngrim landed the role of Nellie Oleson, the young villain of the show and Laura Ingalls’ enemy. In a 2024 interview with Cozi TV, Arngrim said that while fans had strong feelings about the mean character she played for seven seasons, she realized the unique job perk it gave her. “Everybody goes to work and you have to be nice to people all day. How hard is this sometimes, right?” she said. “The most amazing thing for me was that I didn’t have to do that. I got to go to work and yell and scream at people and throw things and break stuff.”
Nowadays, Arngrim, 62, is still an actor as well as a stand-up comedian. She also wrote an autobiography, Confessions of a Prairie Bitch: How I Survived Nellie Oleson and Learned to Love Being Hate, and hosts a podcast, The Alison Arngrim Show.
Jonathan Gilbert (Willie Oleson)
Gilbert played Willie Oleson, Nellie’s troublemaker younger brother on Little House on the Prairie. (In real life, Gilbert is related to his Little House co-star Melissa Gilbert and Roseanne actress Sara Gilbert.)
After Little House, Gilbert, now 57, left acting, moved to Manhattan, and went on to study finance. He currently works as a stockbroker, according to his IMDb profile. At an event for the show’s 50th anniversary, Gilbert said he realized that playing Willie was one of the best jobs he’s ever had. “Really at the end of the day, there’s nothing better than acting with the Little House cast,” he said. “Of all the things that feels most like living, which was odd because I spent the whole time after Little House trying to figure out how to live. And what I didn’t really realize [until the show’s 50th anniversary] was that I was home.”
Matthew Labyorteaux (Albert Quinn Ingalls)
At 10 years old, Labyorteaux joined the cast of Little House on the Prairie as Albert Quinn, the adopted son of the Ingalls.
Since the show ended, Labyorteaux, 57, has had a steady acting career, most recently lending his voice to video games including Yu-Gi-Oh! Cross Duel and Star Wars: The Old Republic. He also voiced a character in Mulan and appeared in two episodes of the original Night Court on NBC in 1989.
Kevin Hagen (Dr. Hiram “Doc” Baker)
Hagen is best known for playing the town doctor, “Doc” Baker,” on Little House on the Prairie. During Little House, Hagen also had roles in other TV shows including M*A*S*H and Quincy, M.E., in which he also played a doctor.
In 1990, Hagen had a role in the movie The Ambulance. The actor passed away in 2004 at the age of 77 following a battle with esophageal cancer.
Victor French (Isaiah Edwards)
French played Mr. Edwards, the rugged frontiersman who became a faithful friend to the Ingalls family, and continued to play the role in the series’ many spinoff TV movies. Outside of the Walnut Grove universe, French starred in Highway to Heaven as Mark Gordon, alongside his Little House co-star Michael Landon.
French died in 1989 at the age of 54 from lung cancer.
Dean Butler (Almanzo James Wilder)
When Butler was 22, the actor landed the role of Almanzo Wilder on Season 6 of Little House, a farmer who eventually married Laura Ingalls. After Little House, Butler appeared in many TV series including Who’s The Boss?, The Love Boat, JAG, Murder She Wrote, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Nowadays, Butler, 68, has taken a more prominent role behind the camera as a producer, writer, and director. During the 2018 Winter Games, he was a producer for NBC Olympics and also worked on David Feherty’s golf program on NBC Sports, according to his LinkedIn profile. In 2024, he produced the Little House on the Prairie 50th Anniversary cast reunion event and released a memoir titled Prairie Man, My Little House Life and Beyond.
Watch Little House on the Prairie on Peacock.
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