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Karen Grassle (/ɡræsli/ GRASS-lee; born February 25, 1942) is an American actress, known for her role as Caroline Ingalls in the NBC television drama series Little House on the Prairie.
Early life
Karen Grassle was born in northern California and moved to
Ventura with her family when she was 5 years old. As a child, she studied at a
dance academy and acted in school plays. She graduated from Ventura High School
in 1959. She attended H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College (Tulane University,
1959–60) and then transferred to the University of California, Berkeley. She
graduated with a BA degree in 1965 in English and in Dramatic Art. She received
a Fulbright Fellowship to the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in
London.
Career
After summers at the Stanford Contemporary Workshop playing
leads and two summers at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival playing classical
roles, her first professional engagement was a season at the Front Street
Theatre, Memphis, Tennessee. Upon return from London. While living in New York
City, she worked at resident and stock theatres throughout the country, also
appearing on PBS in original works and on networks in three soap operas. She
made her Broadway debut in the short-lived 1968 play The Gingham Dog. Grassle played
in Butterflies Are Free on Broadway (as stand-by with Gloria Swanson, Rosemary
Murphy, etc.) as well as at the Elitch Theatre in Denver, Colorado, in June
1972, along with Maureen O'Sullivan and Brandon deWilde, who was killed before
leaving town after the performances ended. Grassle starred in the Shakespeare
in the Park production of Cymbeline with Christopher Walken, Sam Waterston, and
William Devane.
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Grassle auditioned for the role of the mother, Caroline
Ingalls, in the Little House on the Prairie TV series and won the part. The
series ran for nine seasons, from 1974 to 1983. After making the pilot for
Little House on the Prairie, Grassle appeared in one episode of Gunsmoke titled
"The Wiving" as Fran, one
of several saloon girls kidnapped. Subsequently, she acted in the feature
Harry's War, a 1981 American film where she played Kathy, the wife of Edward
Herrmann's title character, and Wyatt Earp, a 1994 film starring Kevin Costner.
On television, she starred in and co-wrote the NBC-TV film Battered. Other TV
movies include Cocaine: One Man's Seduction, Crisis in MidAir, and Between the
Darkness and the Dawn. In episodic TV, she starred in Hotel, Love Boat, and
Murder She Wrote (twice). She also appeared on Hollywood Squares and numerous
talk shows such as Dinah, Merv Griffin, Mike Douglas, and John Davidson. During
this period, she lobbied for federal funding for shelters for battered women
and appeared in many events to support the Equal Rights Amendment. (Performance
of the Year award.)
After the series ended, she moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico,
and became co-founder and artistic director of Santa Fe's Resource Theater
Company. Later, she moved to Louisville, Kentucky, where she performed with the
company of actors at Actors Theatre of Louisville.
Settling in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2006, Grassle
appeared in plays at San Francisco Playhouse, "The Ride Down Mt. Morgan;" "Cabaret."
(Outstanding Achievement Award, 2008;) TheatreWorks, Aurora Theatre, and out of
town in 5 productions of "Driving
Miss Daisy" at Manitoba Theatre Center, etc. Independent films "Lasso." 2017, "Not to Forget," 2019 s
Grassle continues to perform in productions in San Francisco, Berkeley, and
Palo Alto as well as tours and productions such as Driving Miss Daisy in the
starring role of Miss Daisy at the Manitoba Theatre Centre in Winnipeg,
Manitoba, Canada, in a co-production with Rubicon Theatre and at the Riverside
Center for the Performing Arts in Fredericksburg, Virginia. In 2008, she was awarded
a prize for her performance in Cabaret at the San Francisco Playhouse. Over the
years, she has appeared in commercials such as the promotional face for Premier
Bathrooms, a supplier of bathing products for the elderly and infirm.
In 2021, Grassle starred in the film Not to Forget (2021)
together with Academy Award winners Cloris Leachman, Louis Gossett Jr., Tatum
O'Neal, George Chakiris, and Olympia Dukakis. The film, directed by Valerio
Zanoli, aimed to raise awareness and funds for the fight against Alzheimer's
disease.
Personal life
Grassle's memoir, Bright Lights, Prairie Dust: Reflections
on Life, Loss, and Love from Little House's Ma was published on November 16, 2021,
by She Writes Press. At the date of publication, Grassle resided in the San
Francisco Bay Area with her son Zach Radford.
The book detailed her struggles with alcoholism, as well as
the troubled relationship she had with her former co-star, Michael Landon.
Grassle accused Landon of making derogatory remarks about her while on the set
of Little House, often with other members of the cast and crew present,
laughing at the comments. Grassle also claimed that her relationship with
Landon became strained after she sought a raise, which he refused to give her.
Grassle subsequently "mended
fences" with Landon before he died in 1991 from pancreatic cancer.
Filmography
1974–82 Little
House on the Prairie Caroline
Ingalls 182 episodes
1974 Gunsmoke Fran Episode:
"The Wiving"
1977 Emily, Emily Terry TV
film
1978 The
President's Mistress Donna
Morton TV film
Battered Susannah
Hawks Also writer
1979 Crisis in
Mid-air Betsy Culver TV film
The Little House Years Caroline
Ingalls TV special of Little House on the
Prairie
1981 Harry's War Kathy Feature
film
The Love Boat Paula Episode: "Maid for Each Other/Lost and Found/Then There Were Two"
1983 Cocaine: One
Man's Seduction Barbara Gant TV film
Hotel Susan Walker Episode: "Christmas"
1984 Little
House: The Last Farewell Caroline
Ingalls TV film
1985 Between the
Darkness and the Dawn Ellen Foster
Holland TV film
1987 Murder, She
Wrote Christine Stoneham Episode: "Murder in a Minor Key"
1988 Murder, She
Wrote Fay Hewitt Episode: "Harbinger of Death"
1994 Wyatt Earp Mrs. Sutherland Feature film
2012 Tales of
Everyday Magic Aunt Dorothy Feature film
My Greatest Teacher Aunt
Dorothy Feature film
2017 Lasso Lillian Feature
film
Where's Roman? Mysterious
Woman Short film
2021 Not to
Forget Melody Feature film
Awards and
nominations
1975 Western
Heritage Awards Fictional
Television Drama Little House
on the Prairie Won
1976 TP de Oro,
Spain Best Foreign Actress
(Mejor Actriz Extranjera) Little House
on the Prairie Nominated
1977 TP de Oro,
Spain Best Foreign Actress
(Mejor Actriz Extranjera) Little House
on the Prairie Won
2022 Long Key
Awards Best Actress Not to Forget Won
2022 Fort Myers
Beach Film Festival Best Acting
Performance Not to Forget Won
Book
Grassle, Karen (2021). Bright Lights, Prairie Dust:
Reflections on Life, Loss, and Love from Little House's Ma. She Writes Press.
ISBN 978-1-647-42313-1.
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