WHATEVER HAPPENED TO: Alison Arngrim (1993, 2000 & 2010 People Magazine)

[catlover79]

http://www.people.com/people/article...106246,00.html

WHEN BRATTY NELLIE OLESON CAME TO Walnut Grove, Minn., in August 1992 for a Welcome Home Nellie picnic, it was on one condition. "I said, 'I'll stick my feet in Plum Creek,' " recalls Alison Arngrim, 31, who played Nellie for seven seasons on Little House on the Prairie (set in Walnut Grove), " 'but I have to be able to speak about AIDS.' " She did so—and also raised money that day for a Minneapolis AIDS hospice.

AIDS education has become Arngrim's life mission ever since her close friend and Little House costar, Steve Tracy—who played her husband, Percival Dalton—died of the disease in 1986 at 34. Alison, who has seldom acted since leaving Little House, volunteers with AIDS Project Los Angeles and Tuesday's Child, a pediatric AIDS organization, and assists four HIV-positive "godchildren." She also tours the country giving safe-sex talks in schools, churches and prisons. "Some of my biggest fans are in prison," says Arngrim.

Arngrim was born into show business; both her manager father Thor and mother Norma MacMillan are actors. The day after Little House debuted in 1974, one of her classmates at Bancroft Junior High in Hollywood yelled playfully, "You bitch!" "I took a bow," says Alison, then 12. "I was doomed."

In her new guise, maybe destined. The soon-to-be-divorced Arngrim is even dating a comrade from the AIDS front, Robert Schoonover, 44, the former head of the Southern California AIDS Hotline. And while she's eager to return to acting, the rewards of her current job are as clear to her as Plum Creek. "Nellie got to come home and help fight AIDS," she says. "Percival would be proud."

http://www.people.com/people/article...130596,00.html

http://www.people.com/people/article...130596,00.html

Picks and Pans Review: Catching Up with ... Alison Arngrim

She played mean girl Nellie Oleson on Little House on the Prairie, but in Confessions of a Prairie Bitch, Arngrim says she was anything but.

SO YOU DIDN'T REALLY TORMENT YOUR PEERS?

I was the kid who got beat up! I was pathologically shy, with a speech impediment.

HOW DID YOU ACT SO CONVINCINGLY EVIL?

I was abused as a child, so I had a lot of pain and rage. It was an outlet to play Nellie.

WERE THOSE RINGLETS REAL?

It was the most uncomfortable wig ever invented. I used to pass out.

WAS IT HARD TO SHAKE THE NELLIE PERSONA?

Yes! When my husband called his family and said he was marrying the actress who played Nellie Oleson, it was like the line went dead-silence.

IF YOU WEREN'T THE LITTLE HOUSE MEAN GIRL, WHO WAS?

Well, Melissa Sue Anderson, who played Mary, didn't want anything to do with Melissa Gilbert and me. But we're now friends on Facebook.

[Marvo301]

Very interesting articles. Even though I already knew most of that information from having read Alison's book.

[catlover79]

The book is now in paperback, so I bought it. With a new book, I usually take it out of the library and if I really like it - I'll wait until it goes to paperback before buying it. I have had the pleasure of meeting Alison at the Tombstone Western Film Festival in 2005 and witnessing the panel with the wigs she had with Allison Balson. I was delighted that she mentioned it in the book!!!

[Marvo301]

Originally Posted by catlover79

The book is now in paperback, so I bought it. With a new book, I usually take it out of the library and if I really like it - I'll wait until it goes to paperback before buying it. I have had the pleasure of meeting Alison at the Tombstone Western Film Festival in 2005 and witnessing the panel with the wigs she had with Allison Balson. I was delighted that she mentioned it in the book!!!

I have a hardcover edition of the book that I bought at Value Village for $2! I envy you having had the opportunity to meet Alison. After reading her book I'd like to meet her someday.