Alison Arngrim, we know you from the role of Nellie Oleson, which you played on Little House on the Prairie. Are you here in Fauvillers to present your show?
It’s a show about the 80s, the third one. Nostalgia for those years, the music, the advertising, the France/Belgium comparison with the USA. A completely crazy comic show. Benevolent humor takes people back to their youth.
You’re from the U.S. Why did you choose the option of traveling to small villages rather than cities?
It’s in the same spirit as Little House on the Prairie. It’s a show where you can connect with the audience. I do autograph signings and photos. It is more intimate and allows interaction with the public.
Is it difficult to live with the Little House on the Prairie label as an actress?
NO. It’s a good memory. There is a new generation that loves these episodes. I am proud to have taken part.
You had the role of the “plague” in the story, didn’t you?
(Laughs!) With this role, I threw all negative ideas overboard. Maybe that’s why I’m nice. The strange thing is that the people who hated me didn’t know me! It’s pretty crazy. Today they tell me that they love me.
An anecdote you’ve never told before?
There’s this joke from Michael Landon on set that he knew women were in love with him. They asked us to look for a frog. He put it alive in his mouth and when he wanted to say hello to the lady, the frog came out of his mouth. You can imagine the reaction.
When we surf the Internet, are articles portraying it as not very nice?
No, it’s wrong. He was very nice, even with the children. A very good director, screenwriter, director, producer and actor. He had this “childlike” side to him. He loved working with us. People were talking nonsense. A wonderful man.
Are you still in touch with Melissa Gilbert, little Laura Ingalls?
Yes, I messaged him again last night. She lives in New York, she has written a book, she has a lifestyle site for women who want to feel comfortable in their own skin. She came to the Monte Carlo Festival in June. I also keep in touch with the other actors in the series. It’s almost the 50th anniversary.
You live in Los Angeles, do you still make films?
Yes, I shot a film in Utah in September. His name is Buster Brooks, a naive young man who dreams of becoming a star and comes to Hollywood with his hen.
Why was the series “Little House on the Prairie” a success in retrospect?
There were a lot of emotions, the problems that the Ingalls family had, they were the same problems that every family had. It wasn’t like Dallas or Dynasty!
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