Dearest Albert, I'll Miss You

I recall the actress who protrayed Albert's disabled pen-pal, I think her first name was Suzy, stated in an interview years ago, a tree fell on her causing her disability. Very sad.

orangecake wrote:

I recall the actress who protrayed Albert's disabled pen-pal, I think her first name was Suzy, stated in an interview years ago, a tree fell on her causing her disability. Very sad.

SUZY GILSTRAP was born in 1966 and attended High School in Irvine, California. She was on a school field trip to an arboretum near Los Angeles when her life was suddenly, cruelly changed. "I was crouching by a pond, feeding the ducks, when a huge branch from a nearby eucalyptus tree fell on my back," she remembers. "When I woke up in the hospital I was really scared. I cried for my mom and dad." They told her then that she would never walk again. "Of course it was a shock," she says, "but I never really had time to get depressed about it." Within four months she was back at school, and she credits her classmates' loving support with helping her through the transition.
Her first acting role was in Zoobilee, a TV series in 1986. She appeared on Cagney and Lacey and Skyward which Ron Howard directed. She co-produced and acted in Blue Crush in 2002. She has written a book called "Suzy, An Authorized Biography" that is currently available to view on Amazon.

Wow that is sad, did she say how old she was? She was lucky to have kind classmates. That must have been one heavy branch. I hope her parents sued. What year is that pic from? I had great admiration for Christopher Reeves, Teddy Pendergast, and Curtis Mayfield too. They were also crippled in freak accidents. But they never gave up on their crafts. I respect Kirk Douglas too, who could forget his Oscar speech after his stroke. I also have deep repect for boxer Ali. Remember Geri Jewell from Facts of Life?

She was eleven years of age when she had the accident, and the pic was taken in 1980, when she was 14.

I had idea that Suzy is handicapped. Sounds like she had kind classmates to help her deal with her disability.

Davetucson wrote:

He had the sweetest disposition of them all. Just like his PA!

Down Ladies!

What cute smiles.

aww.how sad

Insp is airing this episode today! That and "Divorce, Walnut Grove Style!" Love both episodes!

That's cute!

Wow, I didn't know she's handicapped in real life. I rewatch this episode. I love the peach dress, she wore. When she gotten her picture taken.

Not my favourite episode, but good acting all round.

I have somewhat mixed feelings about this episode. I think I would be able to like it a lot more if, after professing their love for one another, we actually heard about Leslie Barton again. Albert is so in love with her that he lies and sneaks onto both the stagecoach and the train, but then we never hear him utter another word about her ever again. I know that is a lot of how episodic shows work, but it still bugs me.

One thing that is interesting to me about this episode is that it seems like Carrie has more lines in this episode than she ever had in any other episode except perhaps THE GODSISTER.

jes9 wrote:

I think the girl's name was Leslie, but I'm not sure.  The first name that popped into my head was Penelope, but that was the girl that Albert liked at first but she liked Andy instead, and then Albert dropped the greased pig on her at the fair.  Getting back to "Dearest Albert...", I believe there's a serious anachronism here, because I don't believe basketball had been invented at that time.  If it had, I doubt it had spread to Minnesota yet.

And I doubt even more that girls would be playing it, at least to the point of having a whole girls' team.

Davetucson wrote:

I may irritate some folks when I say this, but keep in mind, it is only an opinion. If Michael would have decided to really develop Carrie, I think they would have had to replace Lindsey and Sidney. Not the greatest actors in the world. I simply do not think they could have pulled it off. As sweet as they both were, I just don't think they were cut out for any heavy roles.  
Rose must have been something Gin if she could make Nancy look good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I feel like if Lindsey and Sidney only got more experience, they could have handled a bigger role in the series. Whichever one was playing Carrie when she was at the table and at the ending when Albert got the letter from Leslie, I felt she was doing a pretty good job. But I did not think the scene where Carrie wanted Pa to tell her a story was that believable. Again, though, it was like they still wanted her to be playing "Baby Carrie" rather than a growing-up Carrie. I just feel like they needed some better lines and maybe some additional acting lessons or coaching to develop more as they were growing up. From what I have seen of them in real life, though, they seem to be very sweet women. That's more important than being Emmy-award winning actresses any day.

Davetucson wrote:

orangecake wrote:

I recall the actress who protrayed Albert's disabled pen-pal, I think her first name was Suzy, stated in an interview years ago, a tree fell on her causing her disability.  Very sad.

SUZY GILSTRAP was born in 1966 and attended High School in Irvine, California. She was on a school field trip to an arboretum near Los Angeles when her life was suddenly, cruelly changed. "I was crouching by a pond, feeding the ducks, when a huge branch from a nearby eucalyptus tree fell on my back," she remembers. "When I woke up in the hospital I was really scared. I cried for my mom and dad." They told her then that she would never walk again. "Of course it was a shock," she says, "but I never really had time to get depressed about it." Within four months she was back at school, and she credits her classmates' loving support with helping her through the transition.
Her first acting role was in Zoobilee, a TV series in 1986. She appeared on Cagney and Lacey and Skyward which Ron Howard directed. She co-produced and acted in Blue Crush in 2002. She has written a book called "Suzy, An Authorized Biography" that is currently available to view on Amazon.

I had no idea that she truly was paralyzed! That is really sad that such a freak accident happened to her and changed her life like that. But the character of Leslie could have been an amazing storyline if they had her character (for some reason) move to Walnut Grove.

I did not understand how she even got to be a pen pal because I thought all the pen pals were from a class at school, but it seemed to me like Leslie was tutored at home. I don't know if even a school in Minnesota would have been set up for someone in a wheelchair to attend at that time.