Katherine MacGregor, the actress who portrayed Harriet Oleson for six seasons on “Little House on the Prairie” has died at the age of 93.
According to the Associated Press, MacGregor’s attorney Tony Sears said the actress died on Tuesday at the Motion Picture and Television Fund retirement community in Los Angeles.
Born Dorlee Deane McGregor, the California-born actress was best known for starring on NBC’s adaptation of the “Little House” book series by Laura Ingalls Wilder for nine seasons between 1974 and 1983. Her general store owner’s wife character Harriet Oleson was famously petty, gossipy and cruel.
Melissa Gilbert, who starred in the series as a young version of Ingalls Wilder, paid tribute to MacGregor on Instagram. She called her former co-star “outspoken and hilariously funny” and praised her ability to “play a despicable character but with so much heart.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BqKgVykgg7g/
“The thing people outside of our prairie family didn’t know, was how loving and nurturing she was with the younger cast,” Gilbert wrote. “I really loved her and I find great comfort knowing that she is at peace and, per her beliefs, her soul has moved on to its next incarnation.”