Nellie Oleson Burns Down 'Little House On The Prairie'

By Ben Widdicombe Posted Jun 17th 2010 07:00AM

Alison Arngrim, familiar to a generation of TV viewers as the petulant Nellie Oleson of 'Little House On The Prairie,' is dishing the dirt on Walnut Grove. In her new book (released this week) and one-woman show, both called 'Confessions of a Prairie Bitch,' she tells tales and reveals who she liked (Melissa Gilbert) and who she didn't (Melissa Sue Anderson) on set.

"I tell all true stories," she told PopEater. "I talk about what it was like to be a bitch, and what it's like to be hated. What does it mean to be Nellie Oleson? It means somebody has called me a bitch to my face every day since I was 11 years old."

And were they right?

"Yes!" she said with a laugh. "Of course, I'm not really a bitch, I just played one on TV."

Alison's website doesn't make it easy to find tour dates, but the show will be in New York this Thursday through Saturday, and then moves to San Francisco and on to France, where (like Jerry Lewis) she is surprisingly popular.

"The French really love 'Little House on the Prairie,' and they love Nellie Oleson," she says. "I go to France at least twice a year for a month and perform my one-woman show in French. The show really resonated with the French for some reason, and [I learned the language because] I realized I could go back and cash in. They don't think Nellie's mean, they think she's French."

Arngrim was part of the first generation of TV actors to benefit from residual payments "in perpetuity," meaning she still gets checks from 'Little House.' "'The Waltons' don't get residuals," she says with an impish trace of Oleson smugness.

And she adds that almost without exception, the fans' favorite "Nellie moment" is the episode where she pretends to be crippled. The saintly Laura Ingalls finally breaks and pushes Nellie, in her wheelchair, into a pond. "It's the most beloved episode and it really vibrates with people," she says. "Nellie gets her come-uppance!"

But were there any real-life catfights on-set?

"One of the things that seems to shock people is that Melissa Gilbert and I are friends," she says, speaking at her book event at New York's Aspen Social Club. "We loved each other and we still love each other -- Melissa is very much like my sister. We had slumber parties. Yet, you had Melissa Sue Anderson, who played her sister, and they never went to each other's house. Melissa [Gilbert] has spoken in her book about how she did not have a very good relationship with Melissa Sue. I talk about how Melissa Sue was really the diva head cheerleader-type, the homecoming queen who we all were sort of in awe of. Melissa Sue admits in her book she did not become friends with the other girls. She said she was shy ... we think there's another word for it, and it's the one they call me."

Alison (whose tweets you can follow here) is also heavily involved with Protect.org, a child-protection advocacy group, in part because she was abused as a child. She even told Ann Curry, how she used her abuse as inspiration for Nellie. "When you live with abuse, you have a lot of rage and anger, and I had a place to actually take it and vent it as Nellie. "It's done me so much good, I can't even describe it."

Asked about her funniest fan interaction, she said she was at an autograph signing a few years ago at the LA County Fair, and a middle-aged women went red in the face when she saw her and finally blurted out "I forgive you!" before storming off.

"It was nice to be absolved after all these years," Arngrim says with a chuckle.

Tags: Alison Arngrim, little house on the prairie, melissa gilbert

Comments

(94)

Friday 18 June

By jillian

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Nellie made The Little House on the Prairie show. I never missed an episode the entire time it was on and I watched it with my girls when they were small. Great family entertaiment, excellent stories with real meaning to them, the best actors (including movie and stage actors). I loved Alison on the show and thought she was an excellent child actress. I loved Melissa as well but Nellie kept the show interesting.

By Lisa

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I thought Alison Arngrim was awesome as Nellie and I do remember when Laura pushed her in the creek but that isn't my favorite "Nellie gets hers" by any means. My absolute favorite is when her soon to be husband Percival dumps the bowl full of eggs on her as he is trying to teach her how to cook and she realizes that he loves her! I make sure I watch that episode every time,

Saturday 19 June

By brian

And then Nellie made this transformation into a nice sweet girl.

By Jane

Thank-you for showing me in the 6th grade how to deal with bullies. That show taught so many lessons. You are a great actress! Thank-you for sharing such trying young years with me!

By D

I think she was a great actress.I wish her the best of luck with her
book!!!!!

She is a great actress so great I hated her-lol. There should be more actresses like Alison Arngrim and Melissa Gilbert or so so caring of other and less like Paris Hilton who are so selfish and can't even act.

By blond2bee

I always enjoyed watching Little House On The Prairie. They were all wonderful actors/actresses. The snobs always make it fun to watch.

Tuesday 22 June

By LoveE

Next time someone calls you the B word just say Yeah I am a Babe In Total Control of Herself!! And very proud of it Thank You!!!

By Liz

Alison you did a great job in Little House. You look great!

By NPALEORELIC

Personnally, I think she did a great job of playing her selfish, snob of a character, especially for a child actor.The woman who play her mother Mr. Olsen did a great job playing her character. Even though they were fictional characters and you knew that it was merely an act per se, you still held a contempt for both of their characters. I grew up watching the show, and while predictable in it's plots and moral lessons, it was very well done and was of high quality production and all. There are very few actors who can convey an audience to get emotionally involved in their performance and these two did it well.

Oh yeah, I forgot, the new Nellie who took over for her couldn't hold a candle to her for playing the role with so much depth and believability. As a matter of fact the new Nellie was the worst actor of all the cast and detracted from the show.

By Barb

I hated Nellie, so I guess she is a good actress! I liked Melissa Gilbert on the show then, but now I can't stand her - even her voice drives me nuts! I like Sara Gilbert though - a much better actress than her sister. Melissa Sue - never heard her do an interview, but ya, she always played goody-goody Mary and she was annoyingly perfect. Liked Willie too ( who is Melissa Gilbert's brother BTW). Carrie was pointless on the show, really! But Nellie - she was great!

By wstarhopper

Allison-
I look foward to buying and reading youre book. I always loved youre wonderful blue eyes. The episode I loved best was when Nellie made cinnamon chicken for Almanzo. M y wife recently found a recipe for it on the web. I also liked the fight secne between Nellie and Laura. I understand that you got a mouthful of mud out of that. I hope you are having a wonderful life.

By Diamond

LHOTP was one of the best shows of all time. Alison did a great job, which is why she was so hated. I wish her luck in her future endeavors.

By don

As far as Melissa Sue Anderson being the stuck up cheerleader, I found out after High School that many girls thought I was stuck up during High School but actually I was so shy I could hardly bring myself to talk to a girl. So, don't judge people by the fascade that they may feel they need to put on just to get by as I did.

Has Allison Arngrim made any appearances lately?

I meant to say has Alisom Arngrim made any tv appearances lately?

It's too bad that tv actor and director Michael Landon has been long gone. He would have something to say about the garbage and profanity on tv today.

By Rhonda Guedenet

Poor baby! Move on! Not sure if your point is cathartic or just to whine.

By David

Percival aka Isaac Cohen was right...Nellie Oleson is a lot hotter than Laura Ingalls!

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