Melissa Gilbert Hated Kissing Dean Butler In ‘Little House on the Prairie’

Little House on the Prairie boasted an ensemble cast of endearing characters whose arcs audiences followed for nine seasons. One of the most emotional of all was seeing Laura Ingalls, played by Melissa Gilbert, growing up, but if there was one part Gilbert was not fond of, it was her big kiss with Dean Butler.

60-year-old Gilbert played Half Pint from 1974 to 1983; since starting her career in ‘67, she became a familiar face across several television programs. Little House eventually sees Laura fall in love with Almanzo Wilder, played by Butler, and their kiss had as much drama surrounding it as a real-life smooch.

Fans followed along as Laura Ingalls grew as a character

Season six, episode 22, “Sweet Sixteen,” saw Laura offered a temporary teaching job one town over after the schoolteacher falls victim to an accident and is unable to conduct classes herself for a few weeks. Laura rises to the occasion and then some, receiving help from Almanzo’s sister, Ms. Eliza Jane Wilder, to get her teaching certificate and handle the request with professionalism.

She also appreciatively accepts Almanzo’s offer to cover transport. Laura is a hit with the students but in Almanzo’s view, she might be too much of a hit, and so he hits a student who appeared to be laying his hands on her. In actuality, the student, dreaming of becoming a doctor, was displaying a medical technique. But the truth eventually comes out: Almanzo acted rashly because he was jealous. This impassioned reveal draws the two into a kiss that had sparks flying—including sparks of discontent for kissing Melissa.

Melissa Gilbert gives her honest opinion about kissing Dean Butler

There were a few elements at play that made the chemistry between the characters not flourish as well between the actors. Butler had almost ten years on Gilbert when they had to kiss and the age gap was felt by them both.

“I’ve often said to Melissa, ‘I wish we could have been a little closer in age when we were doing this,’” Butler told PEOPLE at the the Little House on the Prairie 50th Anniversary Cast Reunion and Festival. “But that’s not the way it really happened. Laura (Gilbert) was 10 years younger than Almanzo (Butler). But from the perspective of playing it, I thought, wouldn’t it be great if we could have [had] … a little more common ground, so we would’ve been able to play the loving side of this in perhaps a little bit more interesting way.”

It didn’t help, Butler added, that “When I met Melissa in “Back to School,” there was no sign of a woman there. She really was a little girl: bright, incredibly capable, spunky, vibrant, very extroverted.”

Melissa had objections of her own to kissing Butler. “I was hit by a perfect storm of disappointment, fear, anger, and nausea,” Gilbert revealed in her memoir, Prairie Tale: A Memoir, where she admitted to being surprised producers hadn’t recruited someone closer to her age. She marveled, “Instead, they had cast a man!”

“I didn’t want to kiss a man,” she went on. “I didn’t want to kiss anyone with stubble!”