Character Picture Album

A photo album of recurring/important characters and their actors.

In television (and film), the hours that children can work are strictly controlled. At one time, it was common to employ sets of identical twins thus effectively doubling the available acting time for one role without breaking any rules. In LHOP several sets of twins were used. Rachel Lindsay Greenbush and Sidney Greenbush jointly played the role of Carrie Ingalls. For simplicity, they appeared under the single conflated pseudonym of "Lindsay Sidney Greenbush".

Here are the Greenbush twins out of their period costumes. Obviously, they were hardly ever on screen together at the same time. However, the fantasy episode The Godsister, much of which was set in Carrie's dreams, allowed them both to appear at once. Their brother, Clay, also appeared from time to time in the series as a non-speaking extra.
The twins' father was actor Billy Greenbush.

Another set of twins were Wendi and Brenda Turnbaugh, who jointly played Grace Ingalls. Grace never aged sufficiently to be given her own episodes – being mostly seen around the supper table glued into her high chair – but she was given a few words to say on a couple of occasions. Nowadays, Wendi writes books and delivers inspirational talks about her battle with brain cancer.

When one of the twins on the show started getting tired or cranky, Landon would call out, "Break out the other twin!" and the pair would be swapped over.
The Turnbaugh twins were cast through their grandparents being friends with producer, Kent McCray.

Both the Greenbush and Turnbaugh twins still regularly attend Little House conventions and get-togethers.

The final two pairs of twins used on the show both played Rose Wilder, the daughter of Laura and Almanzo. Initially, for Seasons 8 and 9 and the first of the concluding triad of telemovies, the baby Rose was played by Jennifer and Sarah Coleman (who weren't even identical twins, but nobody seemed to notice!) For the concluding two telemovies, a growth spurt was needed for dramatic purposes (particularly for Bless All The Dear Children) so the part was recast and Michelle and Jennifer Steffin took over and are shown in the photo above.

Twins weren't the only family members working on Little House. The most famous acting relatives on the show were undoubtedly the Gilberts. Jonathan Gilbert had merely tagged along at his sister Melissa's audition for the pilot movie and found himself unexpectedly cast as Nellie Oleson's mischievous little brother, Willie, when the show came to series. Jonathan stayed until the end of LHOP's run but then gave up acting completely.

Melissa and Jonathan Gilbert at a swanky function accompanied by Alison Arngrim (Nellie).

Another two siblings on the show were Patrick Laborteaux (left) and Matthew Laborteaux (right). Matthew played Albert, a street urchin taken into the Ingalls fold when they briefly moved to Winoka. Prior to this he had appeared in two episodes playing a young Charles Ingalls in flashbacks. Patrick played Andy, son of Jonathan Garvey, a friend of the Ingalls.
In the photo between the brothers is Alison Arngrim (Nellie Oleson).

Apart from seeing how the boys "stack up" (no comment), this article also reveals that their real surname is "Labyorteaux". The simplification was presumably for reasons of pronunciation.

Of course, showrunner Michael Landon could get his offspring into the show fairly easily. At the back left is Leslie Landon who played four guest roles before becoming a regular as schoolteacher Etta Plum in the ninth season. Her brother, Michael Jnr, appeared in an early episode as a school pupil. Shawna, seated right, is the little girl who runs into the Tucson Carnegie Library at the end of The Little House Years (footage also used in the later Once Upon A Time).

Hal Burton was Michael Landon's main stunt double on both Little House and the earlier Bonanza. He said, of Landon: "On most shows, at Christmas they give you a bottle of booze. Michael gave $1000 gifts. On Father Murphy, he gave everybody gold coins, TV sets and stereos."

Recurring Characters Grid

Below is a link to a matrix of the appearances of all recurring characters in the show. (Let me know if you find any mistakes – email address is below).

Characters are down the side; episodes are across the top (with episode numbers). Each season is given a different color. The header row/column is repeated every so often for convenience.

Key:
  - appears (in new footage).
U - appears (in new footage) but is uncredited.
M - marginal appearance only (voice-over, back of head, long-shot etc.)
N - marginal appearance only but is uncredited.
C - credited but does not appear (in new footage).

WARNING: EXTREMELY LARGE IMAGE! – may not work well on lightweight devices (e.g. phones). Desktop or laptop is recommended.