'Little House': Where are they now?
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the beloved TV series debut on NBC. "Little House on the Prairie" ran from 1974 to 1984 and retains a huge fan base to this day. Die-hard "Little House" fans call themselves Bonnetheads and even show up at festivals in, well, bonnets -- and full prairie attire. Check out this slideshow to see what the residents of Walnut Grove are up to today, and find out what "The Mindy Project" and "Little House" have in common. 
Happy 50th birthday, Melissa Gilbert! Half-Pint may have hit the half-century mark, but the actress played the feisty, kind-hearted Laura Ingalls from the age of 9-19.To this day, Gilbert knows how to drive a stagecoach, a skill she mastered during the series. In recent years, Gilbert competed on "Dancing with the Stars" and authored a children's book. Gilbert married actor Timothy Busfield last year. The couple resides in rural Michigan. 
Michael Landon played the role of "Pa" with so much swagger that it's hard to believe the real Charles Ingalls actually looked like this. Born Eugene Maurice Orowitz in Queens, New York, on Halloween 1936, he changed his name to Michael Landon when he became an actor. Landon starred in the film "I Was a Teenage Werewolf" and TV's "Bonanza" prior to "Little House" on which he was also an executive producer, director and writer. Landon died of cancer in 1991 at age 54. Fun Fact: Landon made the decision to blow up the town of Walnut Grove in the series finale because he didn't want the set recycled into a trashy movie set. 
Karen Grassle, now 72, played family matriarch Caroline "Ma" Ingalls. At a recent "Little House" cast reunion on "The Today Show," Grassle teared up, noting that she hadn't seen her three TV daughters since Michael Landon's 1991 funeral. She currently resides in the San Francisco Bay area. 
Melissa Sue Anderson's character, Mary Ingalls, arguably suffered the most hardship of all the "Little House" characters. Not an easy feat, considering the series tagline easily could have been:"Get Doc Baker!" Poor Mary was stricken blind at a young age and later lost her baby in a fire. Today, Anderson, 51, lives in Montreal with her husband, son, and daughter. 
Twin sisters Lindsay (pictured) and Sidney Greenbush were 4 years old when they began sharing the role of Carrie Ingalls. The twins, now 43, retired from acting as preteens. 
Although Alison Arngrim's "Little House" character, nasty Nellie Oleson was constantly at odds with Gilbert's character, Laura, in real life the two women are best friends. Arngrim turned her Nellie anecdotes into a stand-up routine and released her memoir, "Confessions of a Prairie Bitch: How I Survived Nellie Oleson and Learned to Love Being Hated" in 2010. Arngim,52, works closely with child advocacy causes. She also became an AIDS activist after "Little House" co-star Steve Tracy died of complications from AIDS in 1986. Today, she is working on a benefit production of "The Vagina Monologues" in Los Angeles that runs later this month. 
Jonathan Gilbert, Melissa Gilbert's brother, played Willie Oleson, Nellie's trouble-making brother. Gilbert left acting after "Little House" and later earned his MBA in finance. According to Melissa Gilbert, Jonathan, 45, is a stockbroker in New York City. 
Character actor Richard Bull played Nels Oleson -- Oleson's Mercantile proprietor and long-suffering husband of Harriet Oleson. He died in February at the age of 89. 
Canadian actor Dean Butler played Almanzo Wilder, the man who won Laura's heart. She called him "Manly," he called her "Beth." Butler, 57, serves as the narrator on the "Little House" documentaries featured in the new HD and Blu-ray releases timed to the 40th anniversary. Butler is married to actress Katherine Cannon, who played Donna Martin's overly-critical mother, Felice, on "Beverly Hills 90210." 
Linwood Boomer played Mary Ingalls' blind school teacher-turned-love interest (and later, husband) Adam Kendall. Boomer went on to create the TV series "Malcolm in the Middle." Boomer, who as a child was in his school's gifted program, was the inspiration for the Malcolm character. Today, Boomer, 58, is a consulting producer on Fox's "The Mindy Project." 
Matthew Labyorteaux played adopted son Albert Ingalls. He most recently appeared with his "Little House" cast mates on "Today Show" and "Extra" reunions. Today, Labyorteaux, 47, does voice acting for commercials, video games, and animated series. 
Charlotte Stewart, who played impossibly lovely schoolmarm Miss Beadle, is also famous for her work with director David Lynch in the 1977 film "Eraserhead" and the TV series "Twin Peaks." Stewart, 73, is currently retired and residing in Napa, California. 
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