Karen Grassle is reflecting on her years in Walnut Grove, Minnesota.
The 83-year-old actress, best known for playing Caroline “Ma” Ingalls opposite Michael Landon’s Charles “Pa” Ingalls on Little House on the Prairie, has revealed that their relationship off camera was far from smooth. According to Grassle, tensions escalated during the show’s second season after Landon — who also served as an executive producer — refused to grant her a requested pay raise.
Karen Grassle attends the 63rd Monte-Carlo Television Festival on June 15, 2024.
“I ran myself into the ground with resentment and anger, hurt feelings, and sheer exhaustion,” Grassle told People in December.
In her 2021 memoir, Bright Lights, Prairie Dust: Reflections on Life, Loss, and Love from Little House’s Ma, the actress described her discomfort with Michael Landon’s sexist jokes on set and alleged that he often mocked her. The Emmy-winning series, which aired for nine seasons from 1974 to 1983, also starred Alison Arngrim as Nellie Oleson.
Karen Grassle and Michael Landon appear together in a 1984 episode of Little House on the Prairie.
Speaking with People last month, Grassle, 83, described Landon as “absolutely a force of nature” who could be “very strong-willed,” noting that he wore many hats on the series as its director, producer, star, and writer.
Alison Arngrim, who played Nellie Oleson, also weighed in on the tension between Grassle and Landon, who died of pancreatic cancer at age 54 in 1991. “I did see that if somebody else was really strong-willed [like Landon] … they would absolutely butt heads, heels would be dug in,” Arngrim said.
Following her departure from the show in Season 8, Grassle ultimately distanced herself from Little House on the Prairie.
