‘Little House On The Prairie’ Cast Describes Filming In The ‘70s: “We Had Cigarettes And Beer”

Throughout the entirety of its history, the entertainment industry has evolved from top to bottom, adding laws and subtracting restrictions. The very culture of filming and recuperating on set has evolved drastically too, and the Little House on the Prairie cast members have vivid memories of just how different filming was in the ‘70s as opposed to now, sinful treats and all.

The cast reunited on June 15, at the Monte-Carlo Television Festival in Monaco in preparation for the NBC Western historical drama’s milestone 50th anniversary in September. During this gathering, they reminisced about the fun, free atmosphere that hung over the set that’s about as different from today as it gets.

The cast of ‘Little House on the Prairie’ shares how different the set was in the ‘70s compared to today

Smoking, snacking, and drinking abound filming Little House on the Prairie in the ‘70s. “Michael was smoking. We were smoking around the kids,” admitted Karen Grassle, who played Caroline Quiner Ingalls opposite Michael Landon’s Charles Ingalls.

No one raised any concerns. There was no reason to, in everyone else’s opinion. “And no one thought that was strange then, at all,” added actress Alison Arngrim, who played “Nasty” Nellie Oleson. In fact, admitted Grassle, the cast members committed some “sacrilege” by putting their cigarettes out on the ground around where they filmed.

“It was the 1970s,” explained Arngrim. It was a different world. “You go to a set now, and the craft services where they have the snacks and the food, there’s organic food, there’s gluten-free options. We had donuts and coffee, big sugary donuts and lots of strong coffee.”

Even with all these freedoms and treats, the set was tame and respectful

Grassle points to the carefree mentality that persisted throughout Bonanza, another hit Western heavily featuring Landon. But there was always civility and calmness, she insisted, a sentiment Arngrim agreed with wholeheartedly. In fact, Arngrim said, I always felt our crew was very protective of us children.”

Matthew Labyorteaux felt the same way. “They were protective,” he agreed, “they were caring and nurturing, they catered to young actors to give them a safe place to do their best.”

Though, Arngrim noted, some of the older child actors were exposed to some of the goodies that would not appear on sets today but be totally normal in the ‘70s. “We had junk food and we had cigarettes and beer,” she said, adding, “That’s just how people lived in the ’70s. So it was very normal for us growing up.” Even so, Arngrim “always felt very protected” on the set of Little House on the Prairie.

Once the child actors went home at 4 p.m., Grassle shared, “there was a much looser atmosphere on the set and there was a very respectful, very… it didn’t need monitoring,” adding, “[It was just] polite, there wasn’t cursing. There was a real respect for the fact that we had children all around us. And I was really glad about that.”