Michael Landon (1936-1991), US actor, poses with his arms crossed and resting on his knee with a log cabin the background in a portrait issued as publicity for the US television series, 'Little House on the Prairie', circa 1974. The drama, adapted from the novels by Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867-1957), starred Landon as 'Charles Ingalls'. (Photo by Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images)
Little House on the Prairie was one of the most popular and beloved shows of its era, making stars out of many of its cast members.
One star who got her big break on the frontier classic was Shannen Doherty, who played Jenny Wilder in the show’s final season.
Recently, she opened up about her experience on Little House — and the major, lasting impact that star Michael Landon had on her career.
Doherty, 53, is better known for her later roles in shows like Beverly Hills, 90210 and Charmed, but she got her big break as an 11-year-old playing Jenny Wilder in the show’s ninth and final season, which aired from 1982 to 1983.
“I used to watch Little House on the Prairie. And I wanted to work with Michael Landon really desperately,” Doherty recalled in a 1995 interview with SPIN Magazine.
Doherty had previously guest starred in the series Father Murphy, which was created and produced by Landon, and it seems her performance impressed Landon enough to get her cast on Little House.
She played Jenny Wilder, the niece of Laura’s husband Almanzo, who comes to live with the family after her father’s death. That same season, Landon had decided to step back from his longtime role as patriarch Charles Ingalls, reportedly to focus on work behind the camera.
But even so, Doherty recalls that it was Landon who truly inspired her as an actress during her time on the show.
“I adored him. He was a mentor. He taught me so much,” Doherty recently said on her podcast, Let’s Be Clear With Shannen Doherty.
“It was really the experience on Little House that spurred that passion on for being an actor,” Doherty says. “And it was having a mentor like Michael Landon — and I don’t care what anybody else’s experience was like, I know the truth about that man, and he was just unbelievable.”
