Alison Angrim turned her Little House on the Prairie audition into a one-woman show that had series star and producer Michael Landon laughing hysterically.
The actress, who played Nellie Oleson on the beloved NBC historical drama series, knew she wasn’t right for the original parts she auditioned for—Laura and Mary Ingalls (eventually played by Melissa Gilbert and Melissa Sue Anderson)—but when it came to rich mean girl Nellie, she knew exactly what to do.
While speaking at the Little House on the Prairie 50th Anniversary Reunion in December, Arngrim, 63, recalled that she auditioned for “everything” when she was a kid. "So I go and audition for the part of Laura and the part of Mary, and I didn't get them. I remember saying, 'It's because I'm not a country girl,'" Arngrim told fans, per People magazine.
She was shocked when got a call to go back to Paramount to read for Little House yet again. "And I'm sitting there with my dad, sitting on stairs [because] there's no seats left at the audition,” she added. “And I start reading, and I'm like, 'Wait, what?' And I turned to my father, and I said, 'This is not a normal part. This girl's a total... she's a b----!’ My father goes, 'Wait, what?' And I start reading it for him. He's dying while I'm reading the monologue.”
Arngrim, who was 11 at the time, said her reading was for scenes from the Little House on the Prairie episode “Country Girls.” Her father, who was “laughing hysterically” over her lines, told her not to change a thing about her performance when she went into the audition room.
When Arngrim finally faced producers, she recited Nellie’s monologue just like she did for her father.
“I did the whole thing,” she shared. “They are laughing through this whole thing, so hard. Tears, elbowing each other in the ribs, and I'm like, 'Okay, I'm killing. What is happening?' And then when we're done, Michael catches his breath and goes, 'Would you do that again?' They wanted to see if it was a fluke."
Arngrim repeated a scene in which Nellie brags about all of the sets of dishes her wealthy family owned. When she left the audition room, she could hear Landon and the other producers "still laughing behind the door."
Alison Arngrim Was Hired for the Part That Day
Arngrim didn’t have to wait long to find out she scored the role on Little House. In an interview posted by Pop Goes the Culture TV, she recalled how she knew she killed her audition in front of Landon.
‘They’re like, ‘fabulous,’” she said of the producers’ final words to her as she left the audition.
“And we pretty much made it across the parking lot to the car, and they were phoning my agent,” she said. “I mean, I walk in the door and my wardrobe fitting had been scheduled. It was over. I had the job, or as my father said, ‘If the shoe fits, wear it.’”
Alison Arngrim Was Born to Play Nellie Oleson
Arngrim played the villainous Nellie for seven seasons on Little House on the Prairie in the 1970s into the early ‘80s. She later found herself typecast when auditioning for roles as loveable or "cute sexy” girls in the 1980s.
"They weren't going to give Nellie Oleson that job, ever," she explained at the 50thanniversary reunion, per People. “I was very typecast. And people agreed I could act. I remember casting directors going, 'Oh no, no, you're fine. You're very good every time,' and I'm like, 'Really? Then what's the problem, guys?'"
While she’ll always be the character fans loved to hate, Arngrim has embraced her signature role as Nellie. She even has a comedy act and wrote a memoir, fittingly titled Confessions of a Prairie B----.
Arngrim also fondly posted an Instagram throwback photo of Nellie from her very first episode of the show. “This one popped up today,” she captioned the shot. “First episode, ‘Country Girls’... already had the ‘death stare’ down!”
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