David's Little House Star Profiles and Trivia

"Equus," maybe?  Still, not to disparage Ott's talents, but how does one horse distinguish himself from another in the legitimate theater?

I don't believe I've ever typed that sentence before.

An obvious error for which I deeply apologize.......it has been corrected........

"Tony Award winner" can hardly be construed as a typo, young man.

Rob wrote:

"Tony Award winner" can hardly be construed as a typo, young man.

Listen you slimey nave! When one does over 570 bios, there are bound to be some errors! We aren't talking prayers, recipes and funny little pictures here! It's a lot of work!

Davetucson wrote:

...slimey... prayers, recipes and funny little pictures...!

Did you see that, everybody! Dave bad-mouthed praying, eating and laughing! Wow!

I missed Rob and Dave razzing! lol

I just watched "To Live With Fear" and there is a scene that had been cut with a lady in it helping Caroline do the laundry. In the credits she is listed as Cordy Clarke. Did you profile her yet Dave?

Cordy Clark was born on April 26, 1929 in Colorado, USA as Cornelia Clark. She was an actress, known for The Hills Have Eyes (1977), For Love of Ivy (1968) and Who's Minding the Mint? (1967).

She began her acting career in 1961 on “Make Room For Daddy” with Danny Thomas. She appeared on such classics as Mister Ed, The Lucy Show, Wagon Train and Divorce American Style. In 1977 she appeared on Little House and was in the horror movie The Hills Have Eyes in the same year.

Her last appearance was on Fantasy Island in 1978. She died in April of 1982 two weeks before her 53rd birthday in Los Angeles, California.

It should be noted that her character on Little House appears in a deleted scene that has been recently restored on the new DVD's.  When Caroline gets a job in the laundry at the hospital, she works for the character played by Cordy. Many thanks to Marilyn for catching this one........[

Recently, there was a Knots Landing reunion. No mention of Steve Shaw........

Steve gave two memorable performances on Little House on the Prairie. In 1977 he played Sam Delano in "Gold Country" and followed that with a touching performance in "The Odyssey" in 1979 as Dylan Whittaker. In that same year, he went on to do 81 episodes of Knots Landing as Eric Fairgate

December 5th of this year (2014) will mark the 24th anniversary of his death in a traffic accident in Los Angeles, California. He was 25 years old.

Little House fans will always remember Steve. Rest in peace............

This is a very beautiful video and touching tribute, Dave! Thank you so much for sharing.

Wendy Kay Wells, born in April 0f 1962, is both a Texas and Arizona native. It was her senior year of high school in 1979 when she had her first real acting opportunity, to work on the TV series Little House on the Prairie. She recalls, "Michael Landon was one of the coolest actors I have had the pleasure to work with!"

In 1981 she left her home town and enlisted for a hitch in US Navy. When her six-year enlistment was up, she moved to Hollywood to work in TV and film. After appearing on several sitcoms in 1987/1988 Wendy left Hollywood to serve another six years with the Navy, while serving in Japan, she was told by both locals and Navy personnel alike that she had a strong resemblance to Academy Award winning actress Sandra Bullock. As of 2011 Wendy became a Professional Sandra Bullock "Celebrity lookalike". She has since put her acting in film and TV on hold to focus on screenwriting.

From 1979 through 2011, Wendy has had 23 credits as an actress. They include Stir Crazy, Top Gun, Family Ties, Cheers, 21 Jump Street, The Facts of Life, Charles In Charge, Miami Vice and The Good Guys to name a few. She currently works under her married name of Wendy Wells – Gunkel.

She was in four back to back episodes of Little House in 1979 (Season Six).  The Preacher Takes a Wife, Annabelle, The Third Miracle and Family Tree, all as a classroom student.

Wendy Today - Looking Like Sandra Bullock...

John Miranda, who was in The Lake Kezia Monster,  passed away February 3rd. He played "Flint" the tax collector. He brought Kezia the news that Harriet had purchased the lake house. John also had a small part in Stone Soup as a farmer in one of the deleted scenes. He was 88 years old......

Sad to hear. Prayers to his family.

Sad to hear. I haven't seen that episode yet.. it sounds like it might be a good one.

SAd .

Nielsen Ratings For Little House on The Prairie

Season 1  #13

Season 2  Not in Top 30

Season 3  #16

Season 4  #7

Season 5  #14

Season 6  #16

Season 7  #10

Season 8  #25

Season 9  #29

Awards and Nominations

Larry Germain was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Any Area of Creative Technical Crafts for If I Should Wake Before I Die in 1975.

David Rose was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Music Composition for a Series for Remember Me, parts 1 and 2 in 1976.

Ted Voightlander was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography for Entertainment Programming for a Series for Remember Me, parts 1 and 2 in 1976.

Karen Grassle won a TP de Oro Award (Spain) for Best Foreign Actress in 1976.

Little House on the Prairie won a TP de Oro Award (Spain) for Best Foreign Series in 1976.

Larry Germain was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Any Area of Creative Technical Crafts for To Live With Fear, parts 1 & 2 in 1977.

Little House on the Prairie was nominated for a Golden Globe Award (USA) for Best TV-Series - Drama in 1977.

Melissa Sue Anderson was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in 1978.

Gladys Witten was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Any Area of Creative Technical Crafts for Here Come the Brides in 1978.

Larry Germain was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Any Area of Creative Technical Crafts for Here Come the Brides in 1978.

Allan Snyder was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Makeup for The Fighter in 1978.

Hank Edds was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Makeup for The Fighter in 1978.

Ted Voightlander won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Cinematography in Entertainment Programming for a Series The Fighter in 1978.

David Rose won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series for The Craftsman in 1979.

Ted Voightlander won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Cinematography for a Series in The Craftsman in 1979.

Michael Landon was nominated for a Golden Globe Award (USA) for Best TV Actor - Drama in 1979.

Ted Voightlander was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Cinematography for a Series for May We Make Them Proud in 1980.

Melissa Sue Anderson won a TP de Oro Award (Spain) for Best Foreign Actress in 1980.

Melissa Gilbert was nominated for a Young Artist Award for Best Juvenile Actress in a TV Series or Special in 1980.

Little House on the Prairie was nominated for a Young Artist Award for Best TV Series or Special Featuring Youth in 1980.

Ted Voightlander was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Cinematography for a Series for Sylvia, Parts 1 & 2 in 1981.

David Rose was nominated for an Emmy Award in Outstanding Achievement in Music Composition for a Series (Dramatic Underscore) for The Lost Ones, part 1 in 1981.

Larry Germain was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Hairstyling for To See The Light, parts 1 & 2 in 1981.

Melissa Gilbert was nominated for a Golden Globe Award (USA) for Best Performance by an Actress in a TV-Series - Drama in 1981.

Alison Arngrim was nominated for a Young Artist Award for Best Young Comedienne in 1981.

Ted Voightlander was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Cinematography for a Series for He Was Only Twelve, part 2 in 1982.

David Rose won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Music Composition for a Series (Dramatic Underscore) for He Was Only Twelve, part 2 in 1982.

Olivia Barash was nominated for a Young Artist Award for Best Young Actress in a Television Series for the Sylvia Segment in 1982.

Missy Francis was nominated for a Young Artist Award for Best Young Actress in a Television Series in 1982.

Harry L. Wolf was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Cinematography for The Wild Boy, part 1 in 1983.

Melissa Gilbert won a Young Artist Award for Best Young Actress in a Drama Series (this was tied with Jill Whelan for The Love Boat in 1977) in 1983.

Little House on the Prairie was nominated for a Young Artist Award for Best New Family Television Series in 1983.

David Friedman was nominated for a Young Artist Award for Best Young Actor in a Drama Series in 1983.

Matthew Laborteaux was nominated for a Young Artist Award for Best Young Actor in a Drama Series in 1983.

Missy Francis was nominated for a Young Artist Award for Best Young Actress in a Drama Series in 1983.

Shannen Doherty was nominated for a Young Artist Award for Best Young Actress in a Drama Series in 1983.

Sheri Strahl was nominated for Young Artist Award Best Young Actress, Guest on a Series for A Christmas They Never Forgot in 1983.

Melissa Gilbert won a Young Artist Award for Best Young Actress in a Drama Series in 1984.

David Friedman was nominated for a Young Artist Award for Best Young Actor in a Drama Series in 1984.

Matthew Labyorteaux was nominated for a Young Artist Award for Best Young Actor in a Drama Series in 1984.

Allison Balson was nominated for a Young Artist Award for Best Young Actress in a Drama Series for the Return of Nellie in 1984.

Shannen Doherty was nominated for a Young Artist Award for Best Young Actress in a Drama Series in 1984.

Alison Arngrim for Young Artist Award for Former Child Star Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002.

He had scores of credits during his long career, also appearing in 'Mister Roberts,' 'Prime Cut,' 'Norma Rae' and in four Clint Eastwood films.
Gregory Walcott, an admired actor who appeared in such memorable films as Mister Roberts, The Eiger Sanction, Norma Rae and Ed Wood’s Plan 9 From Outer Space, has died. He was 87.




Walcott, who starred as pilot Jeff Trent in Plan 9, considered one of the worst films ever made, died Friday of natural causes at his longtime Canoga Park home in Los Angeles, his son, Men in Black puppeteer Todd Mattox, confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter.

In a 1998 interview with Filmax magazine’s Dwayne Epstein, Walcott recalled being asked by a friend, fledgling producer J. Edwards Reynolds, about starring in a sci-fi film opposite Bela Lugosi. “But Ed, Bela Lugosi is dead,” he noted.

Indeed, the horror legend had died in 1956, but footage of him shot by writer-director Wood would be used in the 1959 ultra-low-budget movie.
“I refused at first,” Walcott said in the interview. “I read the script, and it was gibberish. It made no sense, but I saw Ed Reynolds as a naive, sweet man. I had done some pretty good things prior to that, so I thought I had a little credibility in Hollywood. I thought maybe my name would give the show some credibility. … The film was made surreptitiously. My agent didn’t even know I did it.”

Plan 9 has become a cult classic, but Walcott for years wanted nothing to do with it. “I had done so many great films and worked with so many great directors that I didn’t want to be identified with such a piece of trash,” he said.

In his final onscreen role, however, Walcott appeared in a cameo as a potential film backer (much like Reynolds) in Tim Burton’s 1994 biopic Ed Wood.

The burly 6-foot-4 Walcott also played a shore patrolman in Mister Roberts (1955), romanced Claudette Colbert in Texas Lady (1955), portrayed merciless drill instructors in Battle Cry (1955) and Delbert Mann’s The Outsider (1960) and was Gene Hackman’s psychopathic brother in Prime Cut (1972).

In Martin Ritt’s Norma Rae (1978), he played the police chief who hauls away Sally Field’s character during the film’s famous protest scene.

Walcott also was a favorite of Clint Eastwood who worked with the actor-director on CBS’ Rawhide and in the features Joe Kidd (1971), Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1973), The Eiger Sanction (1975) and Every Which Way But Loose (1978).

He also starred as Det. Roger Havilland on the 1961-62 NBC series 87th Precinct, based on the books by Ed McBain, and stood out as seven different characters on seven episodes of Bonanza — just one of the dozens of TV Westerns in which he appeared (Bat Masterson, Maverick, Laramie, Cheyenne, etc.).

Born Bernard Mattox, Walcott was raised in Wilson, N.C., where his father sold furniture. He served in the U.S. Army, attended Furman University on a football scholarship and in 1949 hitchhiked with just $100 in his pocket all the way to Los Angeles, where he studied acting with Ben Bard.

Legendary Western star Dale Evans introduced him to his future wife, Barbara, at a party.

Walcott landed a bit part in Red Skies of Montana (1951), starring Richard Widmark, and then appeared in Raoul Walsh’s Battle Cry (1954), which got him a contract at Warner Bros.

Walcott produced and starred as a medical missionary in the 1967 film Bill Wallace in China (1966) and had roles in such other films as Badman’s Country (1958), On the Double (1961), Captain Newman, M.D. (1963), Steven Spielberg’s The Sugarland Express (1974) and Midway (1976).

In 2003, he published a memoir, Hollywood Adventures: The Gregory Walcott Story.

I haven't seen that episode yet, but it looks like a good one. Sad that he died.

He played the Bartender in “Chicago”……………

Will MacMillan, who played the heroic leader of the band of holdouts fighting the military in George A. Romero’s 1973 epidemic thriller The Crazies, died Dec. 2 in Burbank, his family announced. He was 71.
MacMillan, who specialized in playing authority figures, also appeared in such films as The Enforcer (1976) opposite Clint Eastwood, Robert Zemeckis’ Used Cars (1980), Oliver Stone’s Salvador (1986) and Jonathan Kaplan’s Bad Girls (1994).

In Romero’s low-budget cult classic The Crazies, a military plane crashes in a small town in western Pennsylvania, releasing a biological weapon into the water supply. The virus, code-named “Trixie,” infects many of the local folks and turns them homicidal.

“It’s madness unleashed by human error!" the voice on the trailer exclaims.
MacMillan, credited as W.G. McMillan in the movie, played the firefighter David, a former Green Beret, who, with his pregnant girlfriend (Lane Carroll), battle to stay alive. The film was remade by director Breck Eisner in 2010, with Timothy Olyphant starring as David.

The veteran actor also had guest-starring stints on such TV shows as The West Wing, Matlock, Hunter, NYPD Blue, The Greatest American Hero, Little House on the Prairie and Three’s Company.

On the local stage, MacMillan co-starred in Brigadoon with Charles Durning in Pittsburgh, in 1776 with Gary Beach in Sacramento, Calif., and in The Unsinkable Molly Brown with Cathy Rigby in La Mirada, Calif.

A native of Steubenville, Ohio, MacMillan played offense and defense on the Weir High football team that won the 1960 state championship. He earned a BA from Washington & Jefferson College and a masters from Boston University.

MacMillan served as artistic director of the Psychic Repertory Theatre, which toured the country for children with special needs, from 1976-90, his family noted.

He directed and executive produced the independent film Destiny Trail (2015), which was written and produced by his daughter, Natalie, who also co-stars. His wife of 34 years, Laura, and their son, Jonathan, served as producers as well.

Character actor Stuart Nisbet was born on January 17, 1934 in Los Angeles, California. The son of Emmet and Hazel Nisbet, Stuart grew up in Bakersfield, California before eventually moving to and settling down in Glendale, California. Nisbet studied acting at both Los Angeles City College and California State University in Los Angeles. Stuart first started acting in various films and television shows in the early 1960's. Outside of acting, Nisbet was also the owner and co-founder of the casting agency Baker-Nisbet, Inc. in Hollywood, California for twenty-four years. In addition, Stuart was proud of his Scottish ancestry and served as the President of the Nesbitt/Nisbet Society of North America for many years as well as was a dedicated member of several local improvisational Hollywood comedy groups.

From 1960 through 2001, he had 173 acting credits. He worked for Michael Landon on Father Murphy, Highway to Heaven and was on one episode of Little House on The Prairie as“Jenkins” in “A New Beginning”.

Nisbet died at age 82 at USC Verdugo Hills Hospital in Glendale, California on June 23, 2016.

John Shearin was in one Liitle House Episode: He played the racist Nathan Sherman in Dark Sage.
He passed away on April 9, 2017 in Greenville North Carolina....Highly educated in the arts..


He was born on September 27, 1944 in Charlotte, NC to the late John D. Shearin Jr. and Virginia Jenkins Todd. He attended grade school in Chapel Hill, Raleigh and Pinetops, NC where he and his younger brother lived and worked on their grandparents’ tobacco farm. After high school, he enrolled in the University of South Carolina, but decided to drop out and hitchhike through the south, working as a hotel chef in Florida and an artist’s apprentice in New Orleans. Having been inspired by JFK’s inaugural address, he changed course and joined the US Army in 1965. That November, he was deployed to Vietnam where he received two Letters of Commendation serving as Specialist (SP4) under the 121st Assault Helicopter Company and on Advisory Team 59 in the 21st Infantry Division. He was then promoted to Sergeant and returned to the US at the end of 1966 to complete his service in California.

After discharge in 1968, he found a newly ignited focus on life and recognized his truest passion: theatre. He decided to enroll in The College of William & Mary where he was named Phi Beta Kappa and graduated Magna Cum Laude with a B.A. in Theatre and Speech. He then earned his M.F.A. at Penn State University before moving to New York City to begin his career as a professional actor. Between 1973 and 1990, he moved back and forth between NYC, Los Angeles, Boston and D.C., disassembling and shipping his motorcycle from one coast to the other, acting in many television shows, including “Bret Maverick,” “Hunter,” “Loving,” “M.A.S.H.,” “Matlock,” “Designing Women” and “The Young and the Restless,” while also staying heavily involved in stage theatre as a director, playwright, actor and co-founder of the acting school Playhouse West in LA. In 1989, John wrote and directed two plays, a pair of highly-acclaimed companion pieces named Sleeping Dogs/Dinky Dau that confronted the lasting violent physical and mental horrors of the Vietnam War. He described this as the most significant and meaningful work of his career.

After this capstone, John made a career shift and accepted the position of chairman at what is now the School of Theatre and Dance at East Carolina University, completing an adventurous circle back to his home in eastern NC, bringing his blossoming young family with him. In 2015, he was awarded ECU’s Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Research and Creative Activity, one of the university’s most prestigious awards. He produced hundreds of plays and musicals and touched countless lives as a director, professor, scout leader, musician, coach, community leader, friend, husband, father, son, brother and all-around family man. Through all chapters of life, he was known for his great smile and contagious laugh, his principled and charitable mind, his deeply loving soul and his devotion to helping others reach their fullest potential.

Cal Bellini a former actor, originally from Singapore died on April 9, 2017 in California. Born Khalid Ibrahim in Singapore on June 6, 1935, he was cast in roles of mostly foreigners, Native Americans, or ethnic minorities, primarily on American television between 1960 and 1986.

Using the stage name Cal Bellini his first role was as the physician Motilal Mookerji in the 1960 CBS summer series, ‘Diagnosis: Unknown’, a nine-episode program starring Patrick O'Neal as a crime-solving pathologist at a large hospital. During the 1960s, he made a few appearances on such series as ‘Flipper’, ‘Coronet Blue’, and ‘Dan August’, starring Burt Reynolds.

In 1971, he appeared as Lt. Fernando Mercado in the episode "Escape" of Raymond Burr's second series, ‘Ironside’ on NBC. From 1970-1972, he appeared in different roles in three episodes of ABC's ‘The Mod Squad’ police drama. Other roles followed on ‘The F.B.I.’ ‘Marcus Welby, M.D.’, ‘Barnaby Jones’, ‘Hawaii Five-O’, ‘The Streets of San Francisco’, ‘Cannon’, ‘Little House on the Prairie’, ‘The Rockford Files’, and ‘Kung Fu’. On ‘Young Dan'l Boone’, a four-episode CBS series in 1977, Bellini played an Indian called Red Eagle.

Bellini's film roles included those of Younger Bear in Dustin Hoffman's western, “Little Big Man” (1970), and as Cross Otter in “The Mountain Men” (1980), starring Charlton Heston and Brian Keith.

He played Run Run Li in the 1982 episode "The Warlord" of the Bruce Boxleitner adventure series ‘Bring 'Em Back Alive’, loosely based on the career of professional hunter Frank Buck. Bellini's last small screen appearance was as Tommy Lemanna in the 1986 episode “The Frankie Kahana Show”; of the NBC detective series, ‘Riptide.’


BELLINI, Cal (Khalid Ibrahim)
Born: 6/9/1935, Singapore, Malaysia
Died: 4/19/2017, California, U.S.A.

Cal Bellini’s westerns – actor:
Little Big Man – 1970 (Younger Bear)
The Cowboys (TV) – 1974 (Wa-Cha-Ka)
Kung Fu (TV) – 1974 (Haskay)
Little House on the Prairie (TV) – 1974 (brave)
Law of the Ladn (TV) – 1976 (Tom Condor)
Young Dan’l Boone (TV) – 1977 (Red Eagle)
Go West, Young Girl (TV) – 1978 (Chato)
The Mountain Men – 1980 (Cross Otter

Cal was in one episode, he played an Indian Brave in the pilot of Little House in 1974.......(Screen Left)




Pilot Credits