Melissa Gilbert has marked what would have been Michael Landon’s 90th birthday with a message about the role he played in her childhood. “You weren’t my father, but you did help raise me,” she wrote.
The 62-year-old actress shared the tribute on Instagram on October 31, alongside photographs of the pair spanning her childhood and young adulthood.
Gilbert was nine when she was cast as Laura Ingalls on Little House on the Prairie. Landon played her onscreen father, Charles “Pa” Ingalls, opposite Karen Grassle as Caroline.
Landon died of pancreatic cancer on July 1, 1991, at 54. Gilbert was 27.
Gilbert Reflects on Growing Older Without Her Television Dad
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“Ninety years. I wonder what you would think of that,” Gilbert began her Instagram message. She imagined hearing Landon’s laugh again and seeing the familiar expression in his eyes.
She credited him with teaching her to be courageous, trust herself and find humor during difficult moments. Those lessons, she wrote, extended well beyond learning how to behave professionally on a television production.
Gilbert also reflected on becoming a wife, mother and grandmother. The girl viewers remembered with braids now has silver in her hair, but she said that younger version of herself remains part of her.
She wished for another chance to reminisce about their work and talk about things they never got to say. Her message also honored Landon’s family, saying he would be proud of them. She signed it “Half-Pint,” the nickname associated with Laura.
Landon Became a Father Figure After Gilbert Lost Her Dad
Gilbert’s father, Paul, died in 1976, when she was eleven. By then, she had been working with Landon for approximately two years.
Speaking with PEOPLE at the show’s 50th-anniversary festival in March 2024, Gilbert explained that he then took on a more paternal role in her life. Their families vacationed together and spent New Year’s Eve together.
He Used His Rose Parade Pay for Cast and Crew Gifts
At the same festival, Gilbert remembered Landon using the money from his NBC Rose Parade announcing work to buy Christmas presents for the show’s cast and crew. She said the assignment required him to arrive at 3 a.m., sacrificing part of his New Year’s celebrations.
His sense of humor also helped her through work she found uncomfortable. In a separate September 2024 interview with the magazine, Gilbert recalled that neither of them enjoyed posing for still photographs.
During the shoot for its September 11, 1978 cover, Landon found a particularly silly way to make her smile: he pushed one of her pigtails up her nose. The laughter captured in the photograph followed that moment.
Landon Helped Shape ‘Little House’ Behind the Camera
Little House on the Prairie, adapted from Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books, ran for nine seasons from 1974 to 1983. Landon was a regular cast member for the first eight and also served as an executive producer, writer and director.
In that March interview, Gilbert credited his work behind the camera with bringing the cast and audience together. She believed he would have been proud to see people still gathering to celebrate the series half a century later.
His television career also included playing Little Joe Cartwright on Bonanza and creating and starring in Highway to Heaven. The Television Academy inducted him into its Hall of Fame in 1995.