‘Little House on the Prairie’ Star Charlotte Stewart Recalled Making a ‘Complete A**’ of Herself With Henry Fonda
Charlotte Stewart had an impressive list of TV and film credits before landing her role as Eva Beadle on Little House on the Prairie in 1974. Getting a part in the film The Cheyenne Social Club alongside Hollywood legends Jimmy Stewart and Henry Fonda, the Little House alum remembered an incident she’d rather forget with one of her very famous co-stars.
Charlotte Stewart got a role in a 1970 western comedy
Stewart was an aspiring actor in the 1960s and 70s and remembered her role in a major motion picture. The film was directed by movie legend Gene Kelly and starred Fonda and the It’s a Wonderful Life star.
“I played a saloon girl,” Stewart wrote in her memoir, Little House in the Hollywood Hills: A Bad Girl’s Guide to Becoming Miss Beadle, Mary X, and Me. “My first scene was to enter through the swing-doors with food on a tray for Stewart and Fonda.”
The western film had a comedic tone, and the Little House alum was thrilled to be a part of an all-star cast.
“The scenes I was in were all with the guys in the saloon, a bunch of old time cowboy actors from the early days,” Stewart explained. “Between set ups they’d sit around and swap stories about shooting Westerns all the way back to the days of silent flickers. What a hoot to hang out with those guys. Gene was a joy to work with too.”
‘Little House’ alum tried to ‘warm up’ to Henry Fonda
While Stewart relished being around the acting icons, she admitted she didn’t have much time with her co-stars off-camera.
“It was a kick to work with legends like Jimmy Stewart and Henry Fonda,” she shared. “Though beyond shooting our scenes together we didn’t exactly hang out and practice our dance moves.”
Stewart made an attempt to get acquainted with the 12 Angry Men star, who opted to keep interactions very professional.
“Henry Fonda was a pretty keep-to-himself guy,” the Little House star remarked. “I always called him Mr. Fonda, which he preferred to anything less formal. I did try to warm up to him at the cast party when I pulled him into a stairwell and asked if he had any weed.”
Henry Fonda ‘stalked off’ from his conversation with Charlotte Stewart
Once Stewart posed her question to Fonda, she knew they probably didn’t have a friendship in the future.
“This made him grumpier than usual,” she wrote of their conversation. “He stalked off saying, ‘I think it’s my son you want to talk to.'”
In a 2016 interview, Stewart recalled the embarrassing snafu and revealed she just wanted to be perceived as a cool actor.
“I made a complete a** of myself with Henry Fonda,” she told Pop Culture Classics. “I don’t know why I did that. In with the in crowd, I thought maybe it would be a hip thing to do.”
Stewart added, “I realized what a dope I had made of myself. Quite a rude thing to do.”
