What is Melissa Gilbert of “Little House on the Prairie” doing now?”
Audiences may recognize actress Melissa Gilbert from her role as Laura Ingalls in the television series Little House on the Prairie back in the ’70s and ’80s. That was back when she was just a pre-teen, but now Gilbert is all grown up at 45, and she’s signed up for more Little House — this time as the family’s mother Caroline Ingalls. Through October 10, Melissa will star in a musical version of the story, which follows a pioneer family in the 1880s, at New Jersey’s Paper Mill Playhouse. She told the New York Post, “My initial reaction was, ‘Are you crazy?'” But she trained for the singing part for two years and slowly gained confidence. Since her first Little House run, Gilbert has appeared in dozens of made-for-TV movies and served two terms as the president of the Screen Actors’ Guild. She described it as a “taxing and demoralizing and debilitating, even though there were moments of great triumph.” Melissa Gilbert was nine years old when she won her signature role, playing Laura In
Melissa Ellen Gilbert (born May 8, 1964) is an American actress, writer, and producer, primarily in movies and television. The naturally red-headed Gilbert is best known as a child actress who co-starred as Charles Ingalls’s (played by Michael Landon) second daughter, Laura Ingalls, on the dramatic television series Little House on the Prairie (1974–1984). As an adult, she has a very long list of acting, voicework, writing, producing, and directing credits. Melissa also served two terms as President of the Screen Actors Guild. On June 9, 2009 her autobiography Prairie Tale: A Memoir was released. Gilbert has continued to work regularly, mainly in television. She starred as Jean Donovan in the biopic Choices of the Heart (1983), and as Anna Sheridan in three episodes of Babylon 5 with husband Bruce Boxleitner in 1996. She is known as “The Queen of the television movies and mini-series” having starred in over 45 of them since the late 1970s. During the three months of filming for the tel
