Little House on the Prairie brought the stories from Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books to life onscreen between 1974 and 1983. Over the course of its long run, the show starred actors including Michael Landon, Melissa Gilbert and so many more — and welcomed many guest stars who grew up to become household names, such as Shannen Doherty.
In the years since the show ended, many actors from its run have died, though their legacy on the show and beyond continues on. From Landon, whose death still impacts his onscreen daughter more than 30 years later, to Patty Maloney who died in March 2025, look back on the lives of the actors who have died since the show went off air more than 40 years ago.
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Shannen Doherty
Shannen Doherty died on July 13, 2024 after years of living with cancer.
“It is with a heavy heart that I confirm the passing of actress Shannen Doherty. On Saturday, July 13, she lost her battle with cancer after many years of fighting the disease,” Doherty’s longtime publicist Leslie Sloane confirmed in an exclusive statement to PEOPLE on Sunday, July 14.
“The devoted daughter, sister, aunt and friend was surrounded by her loved ones as well as her dog, Bowie. The family asks for their privacy at this time so they can grieve in peace,” Sloane continued of the actress who was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015.
One of Doherty’s very first roles as an actress — before she went on to star on shows like Beverly Hills, 90210 and Charmed — was Jenny Wilder on the final season of Little House.
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Michael Landon
Beloved actor Michael Landon, who played Charles Ingalls, died on July 1, 1991. The father of nine had gone public with his pancreatic cancer diagnosis just a few months earlier.
Decades later Gilbert opened up about one of the lessons she learned from Landon that stuck with her all these years later.
“There’s so much that I learned, particularly from Michael Landon. One of the things that he really instilled in us is that no one of us was any more special than anyone else who worked on the show, period, full stop,” she told PEOPLE of the late-actor.
“Nobody had trailers that were giant and were competing with one another. We all had one room on a honey wagon. He did too. Little rooms, one after another after another,” she continued. “No one got anything better than anyone else.”
On the 31st anniversary of his death, Gilbert shared that she was “aching for” the actor who she called “my mentor, my acting partner, my favorite director, father figure, friend, and boss.”
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Patty Maloney
Patty Maloney, who played Alice Bates on Little House, died on March 31, 2025 after experiencing “several” strokes over the years, her brother Dave Myrabo, told The Hollywood Reporter. She was 89.
“For a little person growing up in a big world, she did everything she wanted to do,” her brother told the outlet.
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Billy Barty
Maloney’s onscreen husband Billy Barty died in December 2000 from heart failure, ABC News reported at the time. In addition to his résumé as an actor, Barty was an advocate for others with dwarfism and founded the Little People of America organization and the Billy Barty Foundation.
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Dabbs Greer
Dabbs Greer, who played Reverand Robert Alden on Little House, died in May 2007 at 90 years old. His death came as he’d been living with both kidney and heart disease, numerous outlets confirmed at the time.
As was explained on the Little House on the Prairie Instagram page in celebration of the late-actor’s birthday, Greer’s character wasn’t a part of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books, but served more as a composite representation of Wilder’s religious influences.
“Although Reverend Alden wasn’t a character in Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books, he beautifully captured the spirit of the many kind-hearted reverends who helped guide Laura and her family through pioneer life,” the post shared.
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Victor French
Victor French not only appeared in more than 50 episodes and all three movies as Isaiah Edwards, he also directed 18 episodes as well as the films Little House: Look Back to Yesterday and Little House: Bless All the Dear Children.
Before his death in June 1989, at 54 from lung cancer, his final role was Mark Gordon on five seasons of Highway to Heaven, on which he reunited with Landon.
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Ernest Borgnine
Ernest Borgnine made a brief appearance on Little House amid his long-spanning career that dated back to the 1950s with roles in films like From Here to Eternity and Marty. Above, he’s seen just a few months before his death in July 2012 at 95 of renal failure, per The Hollywood Reporter.
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Hersha Parady
Hersha Parady, who stepped into the role of Alice Garvey during the fourth season of Little House, died in August 2023 at her son Jonathan Peverall’s home. The actress had been living with a brain tumor before her death at 78.
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Katherine MacGregor
Katherine “Scottie” MacGregor, who appeared in the majority of episodes of Little House as the villainous Harriet Oleson, died in 2018 at her home. She was 93.
Initially, MacGregor’s character was supposed to make only occasional appearances, but she was promoted to series regular after her performance was so well-received.
Following her death, Melissa Gilbert, who led the show as Laura Ingalls, reminisced about her time with MacGregor and shared: “The thing people outside of our prairie family didn’t know, was how loving and nurturing she was with the younger cast.”
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Richard Bull
When Merlin Olsen stepped into the role of Jonathan Garvey on Little House in 1977 he had already been a MVP-winning NFL player. He died in 2010 at 69 after being diagnosed with mesothelioma the previous year.
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Jack Lilley
On March 21, 2025, Gilbert shared that “one of my favorite people on the planet”, former castmate Jack Lilley, had died at 91.
“He taught me how to ride a horse when I was just a wee little thing. He was so patient with me. He never said no when I would bound up to him squealing, ‘Can we go ride? Please, please, please?’,” Gilbert wrote of the actor who played numerous roles on the series and also appeared in Blazing Saddles.
“He lived quite a life,” she added. “I am so lucky that he was my friend.”
Source: People
