‘Little House on the Prairie’: Dean Butler Says Age Difference With Melissa Gilbert Mattered, ‘She Was Just a Little Girl’
In later seasons of Little House on the Prairie, Laura Ingalls, played by Melissa Gilbert, fell in love with and married Almanzo Wilder, played by Dean Butler. To stay true to the book series, the television series cast Butler, who was significantly older than Gilbert. However, the actor said that despite casting remaining true to the book series, the large age difference with Gilbert mattered. He claimed, “She was just a little girl.”
Dean Butler addressed his large age gap with Melissa Gilbert
In an interview with Fox News to discuss his book Prairie Man in 2024, actor Dean Butler, who played Almanzo Wilder in the latter seasons of Little House on the Prairie, addressed his large age gap with Melissa Gilbert. He reportedly gave Gilbert her first kiss in real life and on camera.
“You just couldn’t do it today,” Butler admitted. “There would be way too much blowback.”
“It’s remarkable that we didn’t get more blowback than we did. But I think it was handled so tastefully that people forgot about the age difference.”
The actor continued, “I think the audience had been watching Melissa for years and loved her incredibly. They wanted to see when she, so honestly and innocently, declared her love for this young man.”
“She fell in love from the first time she laid eyes on him. The audience was prepared to go right along with that.”
Gilbert was 15 during the time of Laura Ingalls’ on-screen courtship. Butler was 23.
“She was really a little girl,” Butler concluded. “But she was very sophisticated in the ways of the industry.”
“As an actress, she was very skilled. But as a young woman, she was very inexperienced. And I think that it was much harder for her than it was for me.”
Laura Ingalls and Almanzo Wilder’s relationship was detailed in ‘These Happy Golden Years’
There was a noticeable age gap between Almanzo Wilder and Laura Ingalls Wilder, both in real life and in the Little House books. Almanzo was born in 1857, while Laura was born in 1867, making him 10 years older than her.
This gap is reflected in the Little House series, particularly in These Happy Golden Years, where Almanzo begins courting Laura when she is around 15 or 16 years old, and he is in his mid-20s. At the time, such an age difference was not uncommon, especially in frontier communities where young women often married older men who had already established a livelihood.
Almanzo’s patience and persistence in courting Laura, despite her initial insistence that she wasn’t interested in marriage, were a key part of their love story. They eventually married in 1885, when Laura was 18 and Almanzo was 28.
While some modern readers find the age difference surprising, Laura portrayed their relationship as respectful and based on mutual admiration. Almanzo’s kindness, determination, and support played a big role in their enduring partnership.
Will the couple be featured in the upcoming ‘Little House’ reboot?
The upcoming Little House on the Prairie reboot will air on Netflix. A press site for the streaming service reveals what fans can expect.
“A transformed adaptation of Wilder’s semi-autobiographical books, the new Little House on the Prairie is part family drama, part epic survival tale, and part origin story of the American West. The series will offer a kaleidoscopic view of the struggles and triumphs of those who shaped the frontier,” the statement explains.
Thus far, none of the original actors will return for the reboot series. Nor has there been a release date for the reimagined version of Little House of the Prairie.
Since its original publication in the 1930s, The Little House book series has sold more than 73 million copies in more than 100 countries, and have been translated into at least 27 languages said Netflix. The 1970s series saw an uptick in viewership, with 13.25 billion minutes of viewing in 2024.
