Melissa Sue Anderson

American-Canadian actress

Melissa Sue Anderson
Anderson as Mary Ingalls in Little House on the Prairie, 1974
Born	(1962-09-26) September 26, 1962 (age 56) Berkeley, California, U.S.
Residence	Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Citizenship	American, Canadian
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1972–present
Spouse(s)	Michael Sloan (m. 1990)
Children	2

Melissa Sue Anderson (born September 26, 1962) is an American-Canadian actress. She began her career as a child actress after appearing in several commercials in Los Angeles. Anderson is known for her role as Mary Ingalls on the NBC drama series Little House on the Prairie, on which she starred from 1974 until 1981. She is also known for her film roles, including Vivian in Midnight Offerings (1981), Ginny in the slasher film Happy Birthday to Me (1981), and Alex in the ABC Afterschool Special, Which Mother Is Mine? (1979).

Anderson became a naturalized citizen of Canada in 2007. In 2010, she published The Way I See It: A Look Back at My Life on Little House, an autobiographical account of her years acting on Little House on the Prairie.

Contents

• 
  1 Early life
  


• 
  2 Career
  


• 
  3 Other ventures
  


• 
  4 Personal life
  


• 
  5 Filmography
  
  
  
  • 
    5.1 Television
    
  
  
  • 
    5.2 Film
    
  
  
  
  


• 
  6 References
  


• 
  7 Further reading
  


• 
  8 External links
  

Early life

Anderson was born September 26, 1962, in Berkeley, California,^[1] the second of two daughters, to James and Marion Anderson.^[2] Her sister, Maureen, is twelve years her senior.^[2] When she was seven years old, Anderson's family relocated from the San Francisco Bay Area to Los Angeles.^[2] Her parents divorced when she was thirteen years old, and she was raised Roman Catholic by her mother.^[2] As a young child, Anderson appeared in commercials for Mattel and Sears.^[2]

Career

Anderson's show business career began when a dance teacher urged her parents to find an agent for her. After appearing in commercials, she was soon in demand for television roles. Her first came in a 1972 episode of Bewitched titled "Tabitha's First Day of School". Another memorable early role was as Millicent, a girl who kissed Bobby on The Brady Bunch. She also appeared in an episode of Shaft the same year.^[2]

At the age of eleven, Anderson landed the role of Mary Ingalls on Little House on the Prairie. She would go on to star on the series for eight seasons beginning in 1974, and leaving after season seven; later appearing in two episodes of season eight in late 1981. The wig she wore in later episodes was made from Yak hair.^[3]

Anderson with Lance Kerwin in the television film, James at 15 (1977)

In 1976, Michael Landon asked Anderson if she would appear in his autobiographical film The Loneliest Runner. Anderson agreed to play Nancy Rizzi, the first girlfriend of John Curtis (based on Landon and played by Lance Kerwin), saying she was very thrilled to have been asked. In 1977, she once again co-starred as the love interest opposite Lance Kerwin in the television film James at 15.

She was nominated for a 1978 Primetime Emmy Award for Best Leading Actress in a Drama Series for her work on Little House on the Prairie and won the Emmy Award for her performance in Which Mother Is Mine?, which aired as an ABC Afterschool Special in 1979. Also in 1979, she played the title role of Dana Lee Gilbert, a North Dakota transfer student to Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley in CBS's television film Survival of Dana.

In 1980, Anderson earned a 'TP de Oro' Award (considered to be Spain's most prestigious award for television) for 'Best Foreign Actress' for her role in Little House on the Prairie. This followed a successful visit to Spain in 1979 to appear as a guest on RTVE's program, 625 Lineas. In 1981, she earned a Young Artist Award nomination for her performance in the Canadian slasher film Happy Birthday to Me.^[4] After leaving Little House, she continued acting in television series like The Equalizer, Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1980s), CHiPs and Murder, She Wrote, and was the associate producer for the next to last television project Michael Landon made before dying: Where Pigeons Go to Die (1990).^[5]

In 1998, she was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. In 1999, she starred alongside Heather Langenkamp in the short lived television series Partners. In 2014, Anderson had an uncredited appearance as Stosh's mother in the neo-noir mystery comedy-drama film Veronica Mars (2014).^[6]

Other ventures

In 2010, Anderson released her autobiography titled The Way I See It: A Look Back at My Life on Little House.^[6] The book, which is primarily based on her life during her years as a child star on Little House on the Prairie, contains behind-the-scenes stories and anecdotes about the show itself, its stars, guest stars, and crew members. The autobiography also covers her pre- and post-Little House career, her side-projects during the Little House years and how her personal life was affected by her career.

Personal life

Anderson married television writer and producer Michael Sloan (The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, The Equalizer and others) in 1990.^[7] The couple have two children, daughter Piper (b. 1991) and son Griffin (b. 1996).^[8] The family moved to Montreal in 2002 and became naturalized Canadians on Canada Day in 2007.^[8][9]

Filmography

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1972	Bewitched	Girl	Episode: "Tabitha's First Day of School"
1973	The Brady Bunch	Millicent	Episode: "Never Too Young"
1973	Shaft	Cathy Muder (uncredited)	Episode: "The Enforcers"
1974–81	Little House on the Prairie	Mary Ingalls	Main role
1976	The Loneliest Runner	Nancy Rizzi	Movie
1977	James at 15	Lacey Stevens	Episode: "Pilot"
1977	ABC Afterschool Special	Kate	Episode: "Very Good Friends"
1978	The Hanna-Barbera Happy Hour	Director of the musical	Episode #2
1978–80, 1986	The Love Boat	Jennifer 'Chubs' Smith / Cindy Jerome / Cathy Cummings / Dana Colton	4 episodes
1979	Survival of Dana	Dana Lee Gilbert	Movie
1979	ABC Afterschool Special	Alexandria 'Alex' Benton	Episode: "Which Mother Is Mine?"
1979	A New Kind of Family	Lisa	Episode: "The Overcharge"
1979	Little House Years	Mary Ingalls	Movie
1979	CHiPs	Herself	Episode: "Roller Disco" (Part 2)
1980	Fantasy Island	Amy Marson	Episode: "Rogues to Riches/Stark Terror"
1980	Insight	Mary Beth	Episode: "Princess"
1981	Midnight Offerings	Vivian Sotherland	Movie
1981	Advice to the Lovelorn	Maureen Tyler	Movie
1982	An Innocent Love	Molly Rush	Movie
1982/83	Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends	Katherine 'Kitty' Pryde / Sprite (voice)	Episodes: "The Origin of Iceman", "The X-Men Adventure"
1983	First Affair	Toby King	Movie
1984	Finder of Lost Loves	Nikki Gatos	Episode: "Pilot"
1984	Murder, She Wrote	Eve Crystal	Episode: "Hooray for Homicide"
1984	Glitter	Elizabeth	Episode: "A Minor Miracle"
1984/85	Hotel	Cassie Ray / Anne Goldman	Episodes: "Lifelines", "Imperfect Union"
1986	Dark Mansions	Noelle Drake	Movie
1987–88	The Equalizer	Yvette Marcel	4 episodes
1988/89	The New Alfred Hitchcock Presents	Laura Donovan / Julie Fenton	Episodes: "VCR – Very Careful Rape", "Murder in Mind"
1989	Memories of Manon	Yvette Marcel	Movie
1989	The Return of Sam McCloud	Colleen McCloud	Movie
1993/94	X-Men	Snowbird (voice)	Episodes: "Repo Man", "Phoenix Saga, Part 5: Child of Light"
1994	Burke's Law	Michelle Ryder	Episode: "Who Killed Alexander the Great?"
1998	Earthquake in New York	Dr. Marilyn Blake	Movie
1999	Partners	Cheryl Darrin	3 episodes
2000	Thin Ice	Tanya Ferguson	Movie
2006	10.5: Apocalypse	First Lady Megan Hollister	Miniseries
2007	Marco Polo	Mother	Voice role (uncredited)[citation needed]

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1981	Happy Birthday to Me	Virginia Wainwright
1983	First Affair	Toby King
1984	Goma-2	Kukki	Uncredited[citation needed]
1984	Chattanooga Choo Choo	Jennie
1988	The Suicide Club	Laura Donovan on TV
1988	Far North	Young Nurse
1989	Looking Your Best
1990	Dead Men Don't Die	Dulcie Niles
1991	Manuel
1994	Animated Stories from the Bible: Music Video – Volume 1	Snake	Video; voice role
1995	Killer Lady	American Lady
2006	Crazy Eights	Hospital Patient	Uncredited[citation needed]
2010	Marker 187		Short film
2014	Veronica Mars	Stosh's Mother	Uncredited[6]
2018	The Con Is On

References

1. 
   ^ Lynch, Tom (2002). Screen World 2002. Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 321. ISBN 978-1-557-83598-7..mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"""""""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration{color:#555}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration span{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/12px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output code.cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#33aa33;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-right{padding-right:0.2em}
   


2. 
   ^ ^abcdef Gritten, David (June 1, 1981). "With Dates Like Sinatra Junior Melissa Sue Anderson Is Outgrowing Her 'little House'". People. Retrieved February 11, 2018.
   


3. 
   ^ "Yak Hair, Would You Dare? The Hair Extension That Is Taking Over The Internet".
   


4. 
   ^ "3rd Youth In Film Awards". YoungArtistAwards.org. Retrieved March 31, 2011.
   


5. 
   ^ Hill, Michael E. (January 28, 1990). "Michael Landon". The Washington Post. Retrieved February 10, 2018.
   


6. 
   ^ ^abc Potts, Kimberly (October 15, 2015). "'Little House on the Prairie' Cast: Where Are They Now?". Yahoo! Entertainment. Retrieved March 16, 2018.
   


7. 
   ^ Ho, Rodney (November 1, 2016). "Interview with Melissa Sue Anderson, Mary on 'Little House on the Prairie'". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved November 24, 2017.
   


8. 
   ^ ^ab Biography.com Editors (July 15, 2016). "Melissa Sue Anderson". Biography.com. A&E Television Networks. Retrieved November 24, 2017.CS1 maint: Extra text: authors list (link)
   


9. 
   ^ Magder, Jason; Hashmi, Sikander (July 2, 2007). "Big day for newest Canadians: Citizenship Ceremonies 'Multicultural village' shows off diversity". Montreal Gazette. Retrieved November 24, 2017.
   

Further reading

• Dye, David. Child and Youth Actors: Filmography of Their Entire Careers, 1914-1985. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 1988, p. 5-6.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Melissa Sue Anderson.

• 
  Melissa Sue Anderson on IMDb


• 
  Melissa Sue Anderson interview on YouTube
  

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