Kyle Richards as Alicia (Sanderson) Edwards (seasons 2–3, guest in 6, 8).Brian Part as Carl (Sanderson) Edwards (seasons 2-3).Radames Pera as John (Sanderson, Jr.) Edwards (seasons 2-4).Karl Swenson as Lars Hanson (seasons 1–5).Charlotte Stewart as Eva Beadle Simms (seasons 1–4).Robert Alden (seasons 1–9, two post-series movies) Hiram Baker (seasons 1–9, three post-series movies) Bonnie Bartlett as Grace Snider Edwards (seasons 1–3, guest in 6).Edwards (seasons 1–3, guest in 6, 8–9, three post-series movies) Jonathan Gilbert as Willie Oleson (seasons 1–9, two post-series movies).Alison Arngrim as Nellie Oleson Dalton (seasons 1–7, guest in 9).Katherine MacGregor as Harriet Oleson (seasons 1–9).Richard Bull as Nels Oleson (seasons 1–9, three post-series movies).Matthew Labyorteaux as (young Charles Ingalls) and Albert (Quinn) Ingalls (seasons 5–8, guest in 9, one post-series movie).
Lindsay and Sidney Greenbush as Carrie Ingalls (seasons 1–8).Melissa Sue Anderson as Mary Ingalls Kendall (seasons 1–7, guest in 8).Melissa Gilbert as Laura Ingalls Wilder (seasons 1–9, three post-series movies).Karen Grassle as Caroline Quiner Ingalls (seasons 1–8, one post-series movie).Michael Landon as Charles Ingalls (seasons 1–8, guest in 9, two post-series movies).Michael Landon appeared in all but four episodes of seasons one through eight, but departed from being a regular part of the cast when the show was retooled as Little House: A New Beginning (season nine). Melissa Gilbert has the most appearances of the series, a total of 190 of the 204 episodes. Main article: List of Little House on the Prairie characters During the 1982–83 television season, with the departure of Landon and Grassle, a sequel series was broadcast with the new title Little House: A New Beginning, generally considered Season Nine for syndicated packages. The series premiered on the NBC network on September 11, 1974, and last aired on May 10, 1982. The pilot was based on Laura Ingalls Wilder's third Little House book in the series, Little House on the Prairie. The regular series was preceded by a two-hour pilot movie, which first aired on March 30, 1974. Friendly then asked Michael Landon to direct the pilot Landon agreed on the condition that he could also play Charles Ingalls. In 1972, with the encouragement of his wife and daughter, television producer and former NBC executive Ed Friendly acquired the film and television rights to Wilder’s novels from Roger Lea MacBride and engaged Blanche Hanalis to write the teleplay for a two-hour motion picture pilot. The show is an adaptation of Laura Ingalls Wilder's best-selling series of Little House books. Little House on the Prairie (later known as Little House: A New Beginning in its sequel season) is an American Western historical drama television series, starring Michael Landon, Melissa Gilbert, Karen Grassle, and Melissa Sue Anderson, about a family living on a farm in Plum Creek near Walnut Grove, Minnesota, in the 1870s, 1880s, and 1890s. Little House on the Prairie: A Look Back to Yesterday