David's Little House Star Profiles and Trivia

Lisa wrote:

LIWnut wrote:

Davetucson wrote:

She was in "Tremors" with Kevin Bacon in 1990
Played "Nancy Sterngood"

She who? I think I'm lost. Who is this?

It is a lot different seeing "period actors" in modern clothes, isn't it, Marilyn?? Plus from the side it can be hard to tell who an unnamed actress is. But the post is edited now so the "she" has a name. If you'd seen it with her name in it we ALL know you wouldn't have been lost about who it is.

She looked vaguely familiar.

Davetucson wrote:

LIWnut wrote:

Davetucson wrote:

She was in "Tremors" with Kevin Bacon in 1990
Played "Nancy Sterngood"

She who? I think I'm lost. Who is this?

Subject: Charlotte Stewart Factoid (Miss Beadle)
Lost? She played Miss Beadle in 41 episodes of Little House...School Teacher

Oh, oops!

Lisa wrote:

LIWnut wrote:

Davetucson wrote:

She was in "Tremors" with Kevin Bacon in 1990
Played "Nancy Sterngood"

She who? I think I'm lost. Who is this?

It is a lot different seeing "period actors" in modern clothes, isn't it, Marilyn?? Plus from the side it can be hard to tell who an unnamed actress is. But the post is edited now so the "she" has a name. If you'd seen it with her name in it we ALL know you wouldn't have been lost about who it is.

It didn't look like anyone familiar to me and I looked for a post to see who they were referring to. Thanks Sav...I mean Lisa. I did feel a little foolish not to recognize our dear Charlotte.
(looking for room in mouth to insert second foot)

alexczarn wrote:

Lisa wrote:

LIWnut wrote:

Davetucson wrote:

She was in "Tremors" with Kevin Bacon in 1990
Played "Nancy Sterngood"

She who? I think I'm lost. Who is this?

It is a lot different seeing "period actors" in modern clothes, isn't it, Marilyn?? Plus from the side it can be hard to tell who an unnamed actress is. But the post is edited now so the "she" has a name. If you'd seen it with her name in it we ALL know you wouldn't have been lost about who it is.

She looked vaguely familiar.

Alex, look at the eyes, it's definitely Charlotte

You've done a great deal of work Dave. Thanks! Its all been very interesting and so fun to see how much acting everyone has done BESIDES Little House. The folks that didn't act after Little House really made a footprint by doing it, because its around for generations. I'm sure the family members that you've heard from appreciate too that their loved one is being remembered for their work. Thats one of the things I've seen on Facebook. The few actors I've contacted have been so thankful to be appreciated and remembered.
Enjoy the summer! ~ Gin

Thanks for all your good work, Dave!

Fife-inator.....yes, It's a huge experience. I have had many encounters with him. LOL

Dave wrote:

Are you kidding! I got to be up close and personal with the FIFE-INATOR while doing them. What more could one ask for!

Yeah, I guess everyone feels that way when they cross paths with a legend.

Any friend of Ed Wood and Bella Lugosi is a friend of mine!

Charles Aidman was born in January of 1925 in Frankfort, Indiana.

He originally planned a career as an attorney, but was sidetracked during World War II and naval officer training at DePaul university. During a speech class the instructor, who also headed the drama department, saw Aidman as ideal for a role in an upcoming play. "I did the play and enjoyed it. It was the first play I was in, in my life...I've been acting ever since."

Among his many television credits include appearances on NBC's western series The Road West in the 1966 episode "The Lean Years". He guest starred on the Twilight Zone in the episodes "And When the Sky Was Opened" and "Little Girl Lost".

In 1963, Aidman adapted Spoon River Anthology by poet Edgar Lee Masters into a theater production that is still performed.

Aidman guest starred on The Wild Wild West in a recurring role for several episodes during the show's fourth season as Jeremy Pike, one of Jim West's substitute sidekicks. (Ross Martin, who portrayed regular sidekick Artemus Gordon in the series, was recovering from illness.)

He introduced the character Louis Willis (later known as Tom Willis), father in law to-be of Lionel Jefferson, on an episode of All In The Family. The character was played on the series The Jeffersons by Franklin Cover, who did a much different take on the character.
Later, Aidman served as one of the narrators on the 1980s Twilight Zone revival until he was fired and replaced by Robin Ward. He has also appeared in films such as Pork Chop Hill, War Hunt, Kotch, Countdown, Uncommon Valor, and Innerspace, the latter being one of his final acting appearances.

He was in over 170 productions from 1952 – 1992.
He died of cancer in Beverly Hills, California at the age of 68.

He was in one Little House episode as Sam Dobkins, Elmer’s Father
The Election - 1977

Forgot about him. Glad you found him Dave.

Leo Vincent Gordon (December 2, 1922 - December 26, 2000) was an American movie and television character actor as well as a screenplay writer and novelist. He specialized in playing brutish bad guys during more than forty years in film and television.
Gordon was born in Brooklyn, New York City on December 2, 1922. He was raised by his father in dire poverty and grew up during the Great Depression. At the outset of World War II he joined the army.

Gordon took advantage of the benefits accorded him as part of the G.I. Bill and began taking acting lessons at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. During his time at the academy, Gordon was enrolled with several future screen legends including Grace Kelly and Anne Bancroft. For a time, Jason Robards, later a two-time Academy Award winner, was Gordon's instructor. It was here that he also met his future wife, Lynn Cartwright, who would have a sporadic but lengthy career as a character actor, mainly in television. They were married in 1950 and remained together until his death a half century later. They had one child, a daughter named Tara.

Gordon started his career on the stage and worked with such stars as Edward G. Robinson and Tyrone Power. He was soon discovered by a Hollywood agent in a Los Angeles production of Darkness at Noon. Over the course of his career, he would appear in more than 170 film and television productions from the early 1950s to the mid 1990s.

Gordon was often cast to make the most of his large size, intense features, deep menacing voice, and icy stare as Gordon had radiant light blue eyes. One of his earliest films was Riot in Cell Block 11, which was filmed at San Quentin State Prison.

Other notable roles included playing a highly charged Dillinger in Siegel's Baby Face Nelson, opposite Mickey Rooney as the crazed protagonist. Gordon may be most noted for his recurring character "Big Mike McComb" on the Maverick television series from 1957 to 1960, working alongside James Garner and Jack Kelly, including an appearance in the famous "Shady Deal at Sunny Acres" episode. Garner later recalled in his videotaped interview for the Archive of American Television that Gordon purposely punched him for real in one of their first scenes together and that Garner hit him back when filming the next scene. Garner and Gordon reunited in the 1970s when Gordon appeared as a dimwitted bodyguard on four episodes of The Rockford Files. Gordon appeared in multiple roles in the 1959 TV series The Untouchables.

One of his best remembered television appearances was a spoof of High Noon, playing an ex-convict who seemingly wants revenge against Andy Taylor in the episode "High Noon in Mayberry" on The Andy Griffith Show. Perhaps Gordon's single most memorable film scene occurred in McLintock! (1963), during which John Wayne knocks him down a long mudslide after uttering the famous line "Somebody oughta belt you but I won't! I won't! The hell I won't." Another notable role was in the 1966 western The Night of the Grizzly opposite Clint Walker, one of the very few actors who could match Gordon's intense screen presence regarding physical size and strength. Gordon played bounty hunter Cass Dowdy, who would, as one character said: "...hunt anything for a price, man or animal.", but who had a soft spot for his enemy's son. Somehow, Gordon managed to make his character as sympathetic as he was frightening, and his final scene, giving his life to save the boy, is a classic.

Gordon portrayed sympathetic parts when called upon to do so, including his performances in the western Black Patch (1957), a film which he wrote, and in Roger Corman's civil rights drama The Intruder (1962), opposite a young William Shatner. He also appeared as aging wrestler Milo Stavroupolis in Little House on the Prairie.
Gordon's final role was as Wyatt Earp in a 1994 episode of the television series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. He also appeared in Maverick that same year with Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster and James Garner.

Gordon also wrote scripts for television episodes and movies, sometimes writing himself a good role. Frequently billed as "Leo V. Gordon," he wrote dozens of scripts that would later become movies or television episodes. His first successful film script, The Cry Baby Killer, featured a young and unknown Jack Nicholson. Among the most notable feature films he wrote were You Can't Win 'Em All (1970) starring Tony Curtis and Charles Bronson and Tobruk (1967) starring Rock Hudson and George Peppard and directed by Arthur Hiller, in which he appeared as Sergeant Krug. In addition to film and television scripts, Gordon also wrote several novels, including the historical Western "Powderkeg."

As a screen writer, he wrote nearly fifty scripts apiece for Bonanza and Cheyenne as well as episodes for Maverick, in which he had a recurring role during the first two seasons in episodes he did not write. In the 1970s he would frequently appear on the popular police drama Adam-12, another show he often scripted.

In contrast to his screen persona, Gordon was a quiet, thoughtful and intelligent man who generally avoided the Hollywood spotlight. He was widely regarded by his fellow actors and his directors as a well-prepared professional. In 1997, he received the "Golden Boot Award" for his many years of work in Westerns. In accepting the award, the actor simply flashed a smile for his fans and remarked "Thank God for typecasting!"
He was married to Lynn Cartwright for fifty years.

After struggling with a brief illness, Gordon died in his sleep at age 78 at his Los Angeles home from cardiac failure. He and his wife's ashes are interred at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles.

He appeared on one Little House Episode
The King Is Dead – 1979 – Milo Stavroupolis
He Played The Dyng Wrestler


Lynn Cartwright, wife of Leo Gordon for 50 years, ( was an American character actress probably best known for her performance as the older version of Geena Davis' character, Dottie Hinson, in the 1992 film A League of Their Own.

She was born Doralyn Emma Cartwright in McAlester, Oklahoma, the daughter of U.S. Congressman Wilburn Cartwright and his wife Carrie (née Staggs). Her younger sister, Wilburta (b. 1928), was an artist. She was also related to former Oklahoma Legislator Buck Cartwright and former Oklahoma Attorney General Jan-Eric Cartwright.

Her acting career spanned from 1957 to 1992 and included smaller roles in largely forgettable films such as Black Patch (1957), The Cry Baby Killer (1958), The Wasp Woman (1960), The Girls on the Beach (1965), Son of Hitler (1978) and Lovelines (1984). She was also involved with the Group Repertory Theatre in Burbank, California.

Cartwright was married to actor/writer Leo Gordon from February 14, 1950 until his death on December 26, 2000. She had a daughter, Tara, and a stepdaughter.
She died from complications of dementia in 2004, aged 76, after having suffered a fall in which she fractured her hip.

Lynn Cartwright appeared in one Little House Episode
Whatever Happened To The Class of 56? – 1980 – As Snooty Florence Garner Platz

OOOOh...Leo had those creepy blue eyes. Interesting guy.

Who was the man who played Almanzo's father in A Christmas They Never Forgot. He was on Green Acres and I know many other shows.

And that little boy who played Almanzo in that episode was absolutely ADORABLE!! Did he do any other acting?

Jerry Michael Supiran was born in March of 1973 in Arcadia, California.
He played “Young Almanzo” in one Little House Episode. The Christmas They Never Forgot
And you are sure right! He was a cute kid!

The former actor, who also appeared in episodes of "St. Elsewhere" and "Highway To Heaven," is living on the streets in California.

He told the National Enquirer, "When I was 18, I dated a stripper and she took what was left of my trust fund - then one of my advisers stole a half-million dollars from me. I've worked at different steakhouses for the last 15 years, but two years ago I was laid off from a restaurant in Henderson, Nevada, due to the economy. I haven't been able to find a job since."

He added, "I had to move back to central California, where my brother lives with his family, and while he helps me with hot meals and a shower, he doesn't have the room for me to stay there. So I either sleep at the homeless shelter I volunteer at, or under a local bridge."


He was in twenty titles from 1980 – 1989.

Small Wonder (TV series)
Jamie Lawson
– Thy Neighbor's Wife(1989)… Jamie Lawson
– See No Evil(1989)… Jamie Lawson
– The Strike(1989)… Jamie Lawson
– The Tattletale(1989)… Jamie Lawson
– Vicki Doolittle(1989)… Jamie Lawson
96 episodes »

1988Mr. Belvedere (TV series)
Anderson
– Pigskin(1988)… Anderson
1986Highway to Heaven (TV series)
Adam– Close Encounters of the Heavenly Kind(1986)
1985George Burns Comedy Week (TV series)
– Christmas Carol II the Sequel(1985)
1984St. Elsewhere (TV series)
Matthew Auschlander
– Fade to White(1984)… Matthew Auschlander
1984Obsessive Love (TV movie)
Bobby Stevens
1984Fame (TV series)
Keith Donlon
– The Home Front(1984)… Keith Donlon
1984Love Thy Neighbor (TV movie)
Joey Wilson
1984Young Hearts (TV movie)
Larry Fettis
1984Trapper John, M.D. (TV series)
Matthew Riley
– Send in the Clowns(1984)… Matthew Riley
1983Uncommon Valor
Frank at 9
1983Newhart (TV series)
Ted Ward
– Animal Attractions(1983)… Ted Ward
1983Policewoman Centerfold (TV movie)
Tommy Oaks
1983Lottery! (TV series)
– Phoenix: Blood Brothers(1983)
1983Archie Bunker's Place (TV series)
Peter McBride
– Relief Bartender(1983)… Peter McBride
1982Tales of the Gold Monkey (TV series)
Paul
– The Lady and the Tiger(1982)… Paul
1982The Adventures of Little Lord Fauntleroy (TV movie)
Little Lord Fauntleroy
1982Love, Sidney (TV series)
– Sail Away(1982)
1981Little House on the Prairie (TV series)
Young Almanzo
– A Christmas They Never Forgot(1981)… Young Almanzo
1980Galactica 1980 (TV series)
Super Scout / Superscout
– The Night the Cylons Landed: Part 1(1980)… Super Scout
– Spaceball(1980)… Super Scout
– The Super Scouts: Part 2(1980)… Super Scout
– The Super Scouts: Part 1(1980)… Superscout

As Young Almanzo

Later Years

WHOA! Loved him as young Almonzo. He did ALOT!

Tom Lester, born September 23rd, 1938 in Jackson, Mississippi  was brought up on his grandfather's farm, shucking corn, fishing, hunting, and picking cotton. He graduated from the University of Mississippi, majoring in Chemistry. He taught science and biology at a school in Purcell, Oklahoma, before moving to Hollywood. Lester spends his time between Laurel, Mississippi, and Hollywood. He speaks to youth groups and at religious gatherings at times about his faith. He's shared the stage three times with Billy Graham, and feels his notoriety from the show enables him to spread the word of God.

Owns a 250 acre timber farm in Vossburg, Mississippi. In 1997, he was selected as Mississippi's Wildlife Farmer Of The Year.
Best known by the public for his role as Eb Dawson on "Green Acres" (1965).

He was in 20 titles from 1966 – 2008
Was in one Little House Episode as Mr. Wilder (Almanzo’s Father)
A Christmas They Never Forgot - 1981
With Almanzo (There IS A Santa Claus)

On Green Acres

Ha! Funny to think that Eb majored in chemistry.

Thanks Dave, you're amazing.

Dick DeCoit was born in Concord, California. His wife is Cheryl McWilliams, also an actor.
He apperared in 30 titles from 1970 through 2011. Among them are Cannon, S.W.A.T., Maude, Barnaby Jones, JAG, and Desire and Deceit.

He was on one Little House Episode
"Meet Me At The Fair" - 1977 - As Cass McCray
Trivia Note: This entire episode was shot in Old Tucson and Patagonia, Arizona

Dick DeCoit Today