/ 28 June 2005

Little House on the Prairie cast to ride again

Cast members from Little House on the Prairie will reunite this weekend in Tombstone, a town known for its old West roots.

Melissa Gilbert, who played Laura Ingalls Wilder, is scheduled to reunite with Dean Butler (Almanzo Wilder) and Alison Arngrim (Nellie Oleson) during the Tombstone Western Film Festival that runs from Friday until July 4.

”People watched it, but they didn’t want to talk about it,” Butler told the East Valley Tribune. ”It was almost an embarrassed pleasure.”

The show, based on the books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, showed the struggles of the Ingalls family and other pioneers in Walnut Grove.

The drama ran from 1974-83.

Butler said the show’s longevity was a credit to Michael Landon, who played family patriarch Charles Ingalls.

”Michael Landon understood something about the simple aspirations of everyday people to live a happy life,” Butler said.

”It was so simple it was genius.”

The Tombstone festival will feature screenings of the cast members’ favourite episodes and question-and-answer sessions. – Sapa-AP