‘Little House on the Prairie’: What Is Karen Grassle Doing Now?
Little House on the Prairie star Karen Grassle is best known for playing Caroline Ingalls on the NBC series. What is Grassle doing now? Here’s what we know.
Karen Grassle’s movies and TV shows
One of Grassle’s early acting roles was in a 1951 episode of Love of Life. After that, she appeared in a 1969 episode of New York Television Theatre. In 1974, Grassle played Fran in an episode of Gunsmoke titled “The Wiving.”
Grassle made her film debut in the 1981 movie Harry’s War, in which she played Kathy. She has also appeared in many TV movies. Some of her TV movie appearances include roles in Emily, Emily; Battered; and Between the Darkness and Dawn. She has also appeared in Wyatt Earp, Harry’s War, and The President’s Mistress.
What is Karen Grassle doing now?
Grassle continued her acting career after Little House on the Prairie ended. In 1983, she starred in the TV movie Cocaine: One Man’s Addiction. The following year, she briefly reprised her role as Caroline Ingalls in Little House: The Last Farewell. A few years later, in 1987 and 1988, she appeared in two episodes of Murder, She Wrote. Her recent acting roles include appearances in Where’s Roman? (2012), Lasso (2017), and Not to Forget (2021).
In 2021, Grassle released her autobiography, Bright Lights, Prairie Dust: Reflections on Life, Loss, and Love from Little House’s Ma. The book discusses what life was really like behind the scenes of the hit NBC show. Lately, she has been focusing on her new role as an author and keeping the memory of Little House on the Prairie alive.
Karen Grassle didn’t think her ‘Little House on the Prairie’ character was interesting
Grassle had to audition a few times for the part. At first, she worried about what the casting directors would think of her. However, she tells Cozi TV she later made up her mind that if it was meant to be, she would get the part.
After a few auditions, Grassle was notified she would be playing Caroline. She describes getting this news as “a great Christmas present.”
Grassle’s character was a big part of Little House on the Prairie. Since she played Laura Ingalls’ mother, she was one of the stars of the show. However, Grassle confesses in her book that she didn’t find the Caroline Ingalls character interesting when she first read the script.
For starters, Grassle was instructed to wear a dress and arrive makeup-free to her audition for the role of Ma Ingalls. After she was offered the role, she read the script for one of the first episodes. She thought Caroline was “not sexy” and “not at all shiny.” Grassle said the Caroline character was “a bit of a drag” on the Charles Ingalls character.
Grassle was worried about her new role. She was concerned that playing Caroline Ingalls could hinder her if she decided to pursue other roles. “It didn’t seem exactly a star-making part nor a character who would generate lots of spell-binding roles in other projects,” wrote Grassle.
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