AlloCiné met some of the cast of Little House on the Prairie at the 2024 Monte-Carlo Television Festival, including Melissa Sue Anderson (Marie) who spoke about her experience…
Fifty years ago, the American public met the Ingalls, a family of pioneer farmers who came to settle in Minnesota. A series broadcast multiple times on television around the world, Little House on the Prairie has seen many generations grow up.
On the occasion of this exceptional event and for the first time in Europe, the actors met to interact with their fans. And the appointment was given at the Monte-Carlo Television Festival, for the 63rd edition.
Monte-Carlo Television Festival 2024: Morgan Freeman meets his French voice, NCIS and Little House on the Prairie in the spotlight…
On this occasion, AlloCiné had the chance to meet Melissa Sue Anderson, the interpreter of Marie Ingalls. Now aged 61, the actress has lost none of her mischief and her smile immediately takes us back to Walnut Grove…
“I had a basketball for my face!”
She was only 12 years old when she was chosen to play Marie, the eldest of the Ingalls, a particularly studious girl, unlike her sister Laura (Melissa Gilbert), who was rather inclined to get into mischief. Melissa Sue Anderson returned to our microphone on this day that changed her life:
“I got a call from my agent saying I got the role. I do not believe it ! She also said to me: is it okay for you to lose a few pounds for this role? I obviously said yes. I later learned that they found me too healthy to play a pioneer. It was, I had a very round face… I lost those pounds but it made me anxious for years for those reasons.
M6
I kept saying I had a basketball for a face. But I’ve learned to love it with age because it actually makes you young (laughs). A few years later, I discussed this subject with Michael Landon (Charles Ingalls, editor’s note). I was 16 at the time. He told me that he had never heard of this story of losing kilos and was even shocked…
Michael was one of two executive producers on Little House on the Prairie. This request obviously came from Ed Friendly, who then left the series for different artistic positions…”
If Melissa Sue Anderson lived with this stress during the first four years of filming, the young actress still continued to play Marie with the same desire. She finally left the series in 1981, two years before the end of Little House on the Prairie. And 50 years later, she revealed to us that she still hasn’t watched the last episode…
