LITTLE House on the Prairie star Charlotte Stewart has opened up about her wild days in Hollywood and her love for the show, which is marking its 50th anniversary this year.
The actress, now 83, played the beloved teacher Miss Beadle in the American Western historical drama which became a TV phenomenon in the 1970s.
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She joined the cast and crew for a special 3-day festival in Simi Valley over the weekend to mark the show’s milestone.
Recalling how she got the role, she told The U.S. Sun that she went to her audition for the part wearing a tie-dye T-shirt and jeans as she was a hippie, while other women wore Western clothing.
“I walked in, and there was Michael Landon [the producer], and I thought to myself, ‘Oh my God, this is really big.’
“So they said, ‘Are you ready to read?’ And I looked at the producer who was sitting behind this big desk with all these executives around him and I said, ‘May I sit behind your desk?’
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“So he got up and moved and I went around and sat in his chair and all the men were kind of [talking] and I went, ‘Quiet!’
“I don’t think you do that to studio executives. I don’t know why I did that, it just came out of me. And I got the part.”
Charlotte had a fulfilling career in TV and film and even starred alongside Elvis Presley in the 1963 movie Speedway as Lori, a blonde waitress who serves the star.
Presley plays Steve Grayson in the film, a Nascar driver who feels compelled to bail friends out of financial hardship.
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ON SET WITH ELVIS
Talking about her time on set with the superstar, Charlotte recalled, “When I did Speedway with Elvis, I was married at the time to Tim Considine. And Elvis had just gotten married to Priscilla.
“And me, silly me, thinking, ‘Oh, we’re both newlyweds. I think I’m just going to invite them over for supper.’
“And then the second thought was, ‘What are you thinking? This is Elvis.’ So, no, [but] he was very sweet.
“He brought a chair over. He held my hand and he told me about his mother, Gladys. About what it was like when he was in the Army and [how] they wouldn’t let him go see her when she was ill.
“I was in high school in the 60s when Elvis was big. I never imagined that I would be on the set with him, holding my hand and telling me about his mother.”
She said he was at his “peak” when shooting the movie, before his battle with drug addiction and death from a heart attack at the age of 42 in 1977.
“I was a witness just as we all were. I was broken-hearted only because he was such a good person,” Charlotte said.
“All those people were pulling him from every direction [managers]. It was really unfortunate.
“It happens to a lot of people. Thank God I was never big enough to be pulled in every direction.”
SINGLE YEARS
Charlotte has been married three times and had plenty of fun in Hollywood during her single years, including brief romances with actor Bill Murray and the late Doors frontman, Jim Morrison.
“Oh my God. Bill Murray, that was a fling,” she said.
“I was single you know.. you can ask me about Jim Morrison. I had a really good, romantic, lovely life.”
Asked for her views on Morrison, she said it was during a difficult time in his life when he was arrested in Miami, Florida, for allegedly exposing himself to the audience during a concert.
During the show, he went on long rants that worried and annoyed the crowd.
Charlotte said, “We were friends. We were drinking buddies, back in the 70s.
“So he called me up one day and he said, ‘I got to get out of town.’ And I said, ‘OK.’
“He picked me up and he didn’t even know where he wanted to go. So we just drove up Highway One.
“I took him to San Simeon, the Hearst Castle. We went to Cambria. We spent four days on the road and came back to Los Angeles.
“He dropped me off and I never saw him again. Within six months he was dead.
“We were best friends with benefits. He was a good friend and I miss him terribly. And I’m sorry he had such a really hard ending.”
Morrison died in July 1971 from heart failure. He was just 27 years old.
QUIET RETIREMENT
Charlotte said she enjoyed her time in Hollywood, but knew when it was time to quit acting.
“I quit when I was 65, I’m 83 now. And I’ve never been healthier or happier in my whole life.
“I love meeting fans because 50 years ago, most of them were just little tiny children and it [the show] created such an impression.
“I have never had children, by choice.
“I just didn’t think I would be a good mother. I chose my career first, and I’m not sorry about that. My sister had seven children, so that was enough.
“I have my family around me, all the holidays, all my nieces and nephews. I’m wonderful with kids. I’m very good with them. It just wasn’t my calling.
“I live in the most beautiful little town called Napa, California. It’s wine country and it’s quiet, and I work every day in my studio.
“I continue to make my tote bags with pictures from Little House on the Prairie.
“I walk every day, even though it’s just around the neighborhood, but I make sure I get out and walk. I eat healthy. My husband cooks everything. I don’t cook at all.
“I’ve been married for 11 years now, and we’re very much in love. We have so much fun together.”
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