When most of us think about Melissa Sue Anderson, our thoughts automatically go to the Little House on the Prairie TV drama. It was a series that captured the attention of millions of people as they watched the Ingalls family live life at the turn of the 20th century.
It is also one of those shows that many of us grew up with, and we might wonder what happened to the actors after the show stopped airing. One of those actors is Melissa Sue Anderson, and you might be wondering what she is doing now.
Melissa Sue Anderson played Mary Ingalls on the television show. After the show stopped, she soon decided to leave Hollywood behind and to stay out of the spotlight.
She was born on September 26, 1962, in Berkeley, California. As a child, she would often find herself climbing a tree so she could read a book in privacy. Even though she was introverted, her clear blue eyes would get the attention of anyone who saw her.
She also did very well in school and was a child actress at a young age. She played on the Brady Bunch, Bewitched, and Millicent. Eventually, she was cast as one of the main characters on Little House on the Prairie.
She was in a starring role for the first seven seasons and for the last eight seasons, she was on as a guest role. She ended up being nominated for Best Lead Actress in a Drama Series.
She said: “I’m lucky that there even was a character to play, because in the book, there isn’t much of one. Laura [Ingalls, author of the Little House novels upon which the series was based and the story was centered] was a quite older woman when she wrote the books. She was remembering the best of her life. The characters of Ma and Mary didn’t factor in a lot. There was a lot of Laura and Pa and Laura and Jack the dog and Laura and Mr. Edwards, but there wasn’t a lot of Mary. I’m fortunate that they discovered that I could act.”
She was still dealing with the struggles of being in high school while she became a very recognizable face across the United States.
“A lot of kids at school are curious and ask inappropriate questions, like, ’How much do you make?’ That’s embarrassing. I’ll just give them a look that lets them know what I think of the question or tell them it’s none of their business.”
Some reports say that she made about $1.5 million while she was an actress. She had the following to say: “Everybody thinks actors make a lot of money. But we don’t. At least, not by the time we pay certain costs. Twenty-five of my pay goes into a trust fund. 10 percent to my agent and I spend a lot – too much – on my fan club which has 1,500 members. The initial cost people pay for belonging to the club is one thing, but we spend extra to send out letters, bulletins, Christmas cards. It’s publicity and everything, but it’s costing a lot. Plus, I pay my mom for coming to the set every day, because I’d hire someone to take me here and home anyway.”
The family on TV was also somewhat of a family in real life as well. They spent a lot of time together, but it included some family problems.
Melissa Gilbert once talked about how she felt about the actress who played Larry Ingalls. She called her ‘hateful, horrid, mean, terrible, difficult.’ She went on to say that she hated her.
Melissa Sue Anderson dated Frank Sinatra Junior in the 1980s and she said he was a big help to her during her career. She also reported that their romance was not everything that everyone thought it was.
She called him a good friend and ended up getting married to television producer Michael Sloan in 1990. They have a son named Griffin and a daughter named Piper, both of whom are grown.
The family also relocated in 2002 to Montréal and were given citizenship in 2007. That means the entire family is Canadian at this point and they really had to study before they took the test.
She wanted to spend more time with her children and not have the pressure of being in the spotlight so she stepped away for the time that her children were young. In the end, she stepped away for a very long time.
Her children have no interest in performing but she has taken on some modest television and film roles.
We appreciate getting to know her and catching up with someone who shared so much of our lives.