A whole generation of TV viewers fondly remembers Little House on the Prairie, the classic drama series about the adventures of the Ingalls family throughout the end of the 19th century. With a big cast of memorable characters and performances, it’s a show that often leaves people wondering “where are they now?”. Melissa Sue Anderson, who played Mary Ingalls on the show, was one of the actors who left showbiz behind: she recently revealed why she moved away from Hollywood and left the spotlight.
Melissa Sue Anderson was born on September 26, 1962, in Berkeley, California. Growing up, she was a shy girl who preferred reading books rather than climbing trees. But early on, people saw that the young girl with the marble-clear blue eyes had a talent for performing on stage. One of her dance teachers advised the girl’s parents to contact an agent.
Anderson, who was a straight A-student, began her career as a child actress, appearing in guests roles on sitcoms like Bewitched and The Brady Bunch, where she played Millicent, the girl who gave Bobby his first kiss. But she got her big break, and defining role, after getting cast on Little House as Mary Ingalls, one of the central characters. She starred in the first seven seasons and made guest appearances in the final eight season. Anderson also received a nomination for Best Lead Actress in a Drama Series.
“I’m lucky that there even was a character to play, because in the book, there isn’t much of one,” she tells me from her home in Montreal. “Laura [Ingalls, author of the Little House novels upon which the series was based and the story was centered] was a quite older woman when she wrote the books. She was remembering the best of her life. The characters of Ma and Mary didn’t factor in a lot. There was a lot of Laura and Pa and Laura and Jack the dog and Laura and Mr. Edwards, but there wasn’t a lot of Mary. I’m fortunate that they discovered that I could act,” Anderson told Pop Entertainment in 2010.
