- il y a 14 ans
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00:00...
00:16Mélissa Sue Anderson est surtout connue pour son rôle inoubliable de Marie Ingalls dans La Petite Maison dans la Prairie.
00:23Depuis le téléfilm pilote en 1974 jusqu'à aujourd'hui, Mélissa fait partie de nos vies.
00:31Elle n'avait certainement pas imaginé, ni même rêvé, que la série connaîtrait encore un tel succès plus de 30
00:38années après sa création.
00:41Depuis 1990, Mélissa Anderson a privilégié sa vie de famille et n'est apparue que très rarement à la télévision.
00:48Elle a beaucoup manqué à ses admirateurs.
00:53Mélissa, merci de partager avec nous quelques-uns de vos souvenirs.
00:57Oh, it's my pleasure, thank you.
00:59Parlons d'abord de votre audition pour La Petite Maison.
01:02Était-ce précisément pour le rôle de Marie Ingalls?
01:04Well, actually, in the very beginning, I didn't even know what I was auditioning for.
01:12It was a period western, they said.
01:15And then they explained to me it was going to be a pilot, hopefully a series, based on this series
01:22of books, Little House on the Prairie.
01:23And then I got very excited because I was the right age, I had read the books.
01:28So, and then I realized it was for Mary.
01:30It would have, you know, I knew that had to have been who the character, you know, I would play.
01:35And they then, and I think they had at least 200 girls for each role at that point, at least
01:45Laura and Mary.
01:46And then they narrowed that down to 10 or so, to meet with Michael Landon and read for him.
01:55And then they narrowed that down a little bit more, and we had screen tests.
02:01And went and, I think I did scenes with Melissa Gilbert.
02:07And I think they actually paired us up with different, it's hard to remember now,
02:13but they had some Marys with different Loras and some Loras with different Marys and like that.
02:19And we did the film tests of that.
02:25And then it was, it seemed like a long time later, it was at least a week before we heard
02:31anything.
02:32And I didn't feel that it went, I thought it went well, but I didn't feel like maybe I had
02:40gotten it
02:41because I left and they were still doing other Loras and other Marys.
02:46And I thought, well, one of them will, probably.
02:50But it all worked out. I think they liked my blue eyes.
02:53They thought I was very Mary with the blue eyes.
02:57So I was happy. It was fine. It was great.
03:02Ils ont dû réaliser que Melissa Gilbert et vous formeriez une belle équipe.
03:07Yes, yes, I think so.
03:09Vous souvenez-vous de votre première rencontre avec Melissa et avec Michael London?
03:14Well, Melissa, I think we met during that audition period.
03:19And that was interesting too.
03:21We were all, all the girls, 10, 12 of us for each role.
03:26We all had to go to school together because it was during the school year.
03:31So there was a school teacher on the set and we all had to go to school in between our
03:37auditions.
03:39And so we all kind of knew each other and got together and, you know,
03:44and some of us had already known each other.
03:46And then with Michael, I met him before the screen test, which was when I just read for him.
03:55And it was late in the day.
03:56It was about 5 o'clock when I had my meeting with him.
04:01And I was his last meeting.
04:04And he walked my mother and I down the stairs.
04:07We were going the wrong way, of course.
04:08And he shows us the correct way out of the building and we're talking and everything.
04:13And I remember saying that I loved the, and not knowing what would eventually happen to me,
04:20my character on Little House, but I said to him,
04:22I loved the episode of Bonanza when he went blind.
04:26You know, there was that one episode where he went blind and then he got his sight back.
04:30But I said, but my mom put me to bed in the middle of it
04:33because I wasn't allowed to normally to even watch Bonanza, I don't think.
04:38But that particular one I really wanted to see, but I had to go to bed halfway through it.
04:43And he had fun with that.
04:45He said, what?
04:46You put her to bed in the middle of my great show?
04:48And he went on and on and showed me his grade.
04:51He had this terrific car that I've loved ever since.
04:54He had a Jaguar E-Type 12 with a long front.
04:58It was really cool.
04:59And it was fun.
05:00It was definitely fun.
05:18Auparavant, vous aviez surtout fait des publicités.
05:39Oui, vous embrassiez le petit Bobby.
05:49Ah, mais je vais vous le trouver.
05:52Ah, if you could find that, that would be great.
05:56And then after that came Little House.
05:59Ça a dû vraiment vous changer de passer d'un spot télé de 30 secondes
06:03à un téléfilm de deux heures tourné à l'extérieur?
06:07It was.
06:08It was.
06:08I had never filmed.
06:11I think I'd done one commercial on a beach once.
06:15But otherwise, no, I'd never been out of a studio.
06:20And so we did do a lot of it on location.
06:23And the weather, you know, we were in Stockton, California.
06:26That rains and rains.
06:27And it was winter.
06:28Rains and rains and rains.
06:30Our big equipment trucks sunk to the axles and the rain.
06:34I mean, it was cold.
06:35It was cold.
06:37And it was still very exciting, I have to say.
06:40You know, that the excitement, you know, made it all worth it.
06:45But it was, yeah, it was different.
06:47It was hard.
06:49But overall, a very great learning experience.
06:51And I was happy to do it.
06:53And it was fun.
06:58Quelques mois plus tard, la série est lancée et vous découvrez Simi Valley, où en bâti le village de Wanodgrove.
07:06Un souvenir précis?
07:08Well, we had a problem with that, too.
07:11In the beginning, they had made a deal in a place called Woodland Hills, California, in the valley,
07:19that would have been a lot closer in to Hollywood.
07:23It wouldn't have been quite so far as Simi Valley was to go.
07:27But it wasn't quite as much land.
07:30And they had a big neighbor problem.
07:33The neighbors said no, absolutely not.
07:35So that was changed.
07:37And then Simi Valley being farther out, there was less going on, less construction, less new construction going up and
07:46all that.
07:47So it ultimately worked out for the best that that happened.
07:51And my greatest concern was that I'd had asthma as a kid for, well, many years.
08:00And I certainly was on allergy shots for seven and a half years.
08:04And I was concerned that the grass and the pollen and the winds out there and that my allergies would
08:13be terrible.
08:15But Michael Landon liked to say it was psychosomatic, that I was happy now and it went away.
08:20So that's what he said.
08:22There's also the, you know, the school of thought that the allergy shots for seven and a half years worked.
08:29And, you know, and I didn't need them anymore.
08:33So I wasn't affected, which was very good.
08:36Il paraît que vos problèmes d'asthme sont indirectement à l'origine de votre carrière d'actrice.
08:41My asthma doctors at that time believed in developing the lungs, doing anything sports-oriented that would develop the lungs.
08:53So I was on a swim team and I ice skated and I danced and I, and, and it, and
09:01it turned out to be a dancing teacher that I had that, that thought I had potential as an actress.
09:07And I should try that out.
09:08And about a year or so went by of him saying, you know, mentioning those things to my mother.
09:15And I kind of overheard that and I thought it was an interesting idea, which was odd for me because
09:21I was quite shy.
09:23So I don't know why I thought it was interesting, but I did.
09:26And it, you know, it, it all worked out.
09:28It turned out to be a, a niche for me at that time where I felt like I could really
09:34fit in.
09:36I can't.
09:36I got to start my new job in the morning.
09:39Where are you working?
09:41Delivery.
09:44Est-ce vrai que votre surnom sur le tournage était Missy?
09:48Missy, yes, because there were the two Melissa's and it was a little bit confusing.
09:53So I said I would go to Missy.
09:56That was easy for me because my name being Melissa as a toddler and a baby, I couldn't say Melissa.
10:06I could say Missa.
10:07So then Missa shortened to Miss and that's what everybody called, you know, my kids go to the pediatrician when
10:15they were little and the pediatrician would say what does mommy call daddy and what does daddy call mommy?
10:22And they'd say Miss, you know, and so Missy was the easy way of distinguishing between the two of us.
10:31Vous préfériez ce surnom à celui de Laura, demi-portion.
10:35Yes, I did.
10:36I did, actually.
10:38Comment décririez-vous le personnage de Marie?
10:42I think Mary was really ultimately, you know, her mother's daughter.
10:48You know, she took after her mother and she wanted to be just like her mother.
10:53And her mother at some point, I believe, had been a schoolteacher.
10:56And she was so much more like her.
11:02She wasn't the tomboy that Melissa Gilbert was, you know, taking after Michael's side, basically.
11:10And she emulated her mother.
11:14You know, she wanted to do well and be like her mother.
11:20Revenons sur quelques moments inoubliables de la petite maison.
11:24À la fin du premier épisode, Laura et Marie se précipitent pour aider Charles après sa chute.
11:30Right, and he had his broken ribs and all that, yes.
11:33Bientôt suivi par les habitants du village.
11:35It was smart at that time to bring them in and show them in that light where then you know
11:41that those are the good guys all the way through.
11:44And that people do help each other and in those times when people really do need help.
11:50Their crop goes bad and they need, you know, someone to come in and help them.
11:55That there will be people there to help.
11:58And it's set up right away who all the nice guys were and who the bad guys were, you know.
12:04En parlant de méchants, vous souvenez-vous de votre rencontre avec Nelly, la peste dans les paysannes?
12:11Country girls.
12:12Et des robes bleues que Caroline avait faites pour vous.
12:16Right, right.
12:17She makes them for us because she knows our clothes are too short and don't fit and we're teased about
12:25that.
12:25Country girls.
12:26Nelly Olsen always says, oh, it's the country girls and all that, yeah.
12:30It was interesting working with Allison who played Nelly because she was so shy.
12:37She couldn't look at you and deliver her lines.
12:41The director, Bill Claxton, on that show had a terrible time, you know, getting her to actually look and say
12:50her lines.
12:51And she grew, you know.
12:53She got it eventually.
12:54But she was just so shy and so scared.
12:59Mainly, maybe she wasn't so shy.
13:01It was just she was so scared.
13:02She was petrified, I think.
13:05But she, you know, she became the little kid you love to hate.
13:09So she did a great job with it, you know.
13:14Vous souvenez-vous de Johnny Johnson?
13:17Yes, yes.
13:18Yeah, Mitch Vogel.
13:20My mother remembered him better than I did because I guess he was at one point on Bonanza as well.
13:28And she was very excited.
13:30Oh, cute, Mitch Vogel, you get to work with Mitch Vogel.
13:34And he was very nice.
13:37And it was a fun show, very fun show for me.
13:43Est-ce que M. Edwards était un bon babysitter?
13:46Well, that was a fun show when he came.
13:49He was a very serious actor.
13:52And it's funny to work with people like that, that are so serious and professional about the work,
14:02but yet are so zany and can come up with such goofy, funny things that he did.
14:08So it made it even more fun, and you never really knew what he'd do next.
14:17And we had lots of fun with it.
14:18I mean, we were able to kind of go with it.
14:21It made it a lighter kind of fun show for us.
14:27Et puis il y a aussi la mémorable scène avec Carrie sur le toit.
14:30Yes, that's right.
14:31The little girl goes up on the roof and he nails her dress so she won't fall.
14:36Yeah, right.
14:36That's right.
14:41La récompense, où vous vouliez gagner un dictionnaire, est l'un des épisodes majeurs de la première saison.
14:46Avez-vous eu du plaisir à le faire?
14:48I loved it.
14:50Yeah, I think that was my first episode that was mine, that I could really...
14:56It was difficult for me because they didn't really know how deep I was as an actress,
15:03how much I could do, because they never really gave me anything to do.
15:09And I think as I won over their confidence, they realized I had a lot more to me that could
15:17come out.
15:19So they wrote that, and I was extremely happy with it, and I felt like I did a very good
15:27job, and I think they loved it.
15:29And it was true to the character, how important her studying was to her, and that she really wanted to
15:36win this, and then all the calamity, you know, situations that happened, unfortunately, during it.
15:42But it turned out very well, and I was quite happy with it.
15:48Le message était intéressant aussi.
15:51Quel enfant rêverait de gagner un dictionnaire de nos jours?
15:54Yes, I mean, I think they wanted to show that things that are taken for granted, you know, with most
16:04children, you know, they have a dictionary.
16:06They, you know, and they don't particularly care that much about school, necessarily.
16:14They really wanted to show that in these times, kids who did want to become teachers or move on and,
16:24you know, something like that for them who could never afford it was like getting, you know, an iPod now,
16:32you know.
16:32I mean, it was just, it was that important to them.
16:35And, and it makes, it makes kids, even some kids that watch it now, you know, look back and say,
16:42and, and that's the interesting part of it, you know, look back and say, look at how hard life was
16:46then, you know, look at what they had to do.
16:48Look at the washing, look at the, you know, and things that are so taken for granted, that was part
16:54of Michael Lannan's, you know, philosophy.
16:56I think that, you know, things that we take so much for granted were, were, were just so appreciated at
17:05that time.
17:07Parlez-nous de Madame Whipple, la couturière.
17:10Je trouve qu'il y avait une belle relation entre Marie et elle.
17:13Oh yes, she was a little, little old lady even then.
17:19And, and she, I think she had a habit of speaking quickly and then that became a thing with me
17:26where I would then go home and try to sell my parents on, can I get this job, this extra
17:33job?
17:33I can do it.
17:34I can keep up with my schoolwork.
17:35I can do this.
17:36I can do that to, to make the extra money.
17:38And I would then take on her, and even faster, the way, the way she, she talked.
17:44So I, there, there were funny, funny scenes where I would say, and she, and she sewed me how I
17:51could show.
17:52I mean, she showed me how I could sew and da, da, da, da, da, and I, da, da, da.
17:54And I really, really, really, really, really wanted the job.
17:57And, uh, uh, it brought out another side again, um, and, and, and, and, and, and showed that, you know,
18:07families at, at times had to pull together.
18:10Everybody had to work.
18:11Everybody had to pull their share, do their share.
18:20The glasses, I want my son to watch that because he, he had to get glasses last year for school,
18:29uh, just to see the blackboard.
18:31He couldn't see the, the chalkboard across the room.
18:34Uh, and, um, it didn't bother him.
18:36He was perfectly fine with his glasses.
18:38So I didn't push him seeing it.
18:40Uh, but I've, since then, it, little houses come up a little bit.
18:44And I said, you know, you really should watch that, um, uh, Griff, you know, that, what some mean kids
18:51do to kids that, that are different or that have to have glasses or, you know, that luckily didn't happen
18:57to you.
18:58But, you know, just shows you another side of, you know, why we would never want you to treat someone
19:05like that.
19:06And, um, yeah, I should watch that.
19:10So he, he will soon, I think.
19:12My daughter's watched more than my son.
19:15And I think he would probably watch it more now, now that he's a little older.
19:19Alors, que dit votre fille?
19:21She, she likes it, you know, she, she likes the whole story.
19:25She likes, I think she's got that still, even though she's 14 now.
19:30I know when she was about 12 and she was watching them a lot.
19:33She was watching them on the Country Music Channel at 8 o'clock or something.
19:36they play here and she was watching them almost every night and she really enjoyed the, the, the pioneer aspect,
19:44the, the kind of, the same feeling that I had from reading the books, you know, that, that, that lifestyle
19:50and how difficult it would be and look what they had to do.
19:54and the look at those clothes, the bonnets and the, you know, and all that stuff.
19:58and, uh, I, I, I think she appreciates all the differences that we've come so far, you know, there, there
20:07weren't even telephones then, you know, for, for quite a while and, um, so she, she, she likes that and,
20:14and, and she likes seeing me.
20:16Uh, yeah, you know, mom young, yeah.
20:21Is she a little bit of you?
20:22Not yet, I think I make fun of me before she does.
20:25I beat her to it so she can't, anytime I've, I've been in the room with her when she's watched
20:30and I have, like, some horrible hairstyle, I say, well, we, we can move on anytime you want.
20:37But she's like, no, mom, I like it, I want to see it.
20:41But, uh, yeah, she, she, she, she's, she's enjoyed it, you know, and it's, and it's, and,
20:46you're getting, I think, from her, a real, true, viewer's point of view because she doesn't have any aspirations of
20:54acting, she, she doesn't want to be an actress at all, so she's just watching it as a, as a
21:00viewer and, and, and taking it in and enjoying it, she really likes it.
21:07La fin de la deuxième saison marque le début de votre relation avec John Junior.
21:12Était-ce difficile à ce tout jeune âge d'avoir une relation d'amour à l'écran ?
21:17Yeah, it was, I, I wasn't, um, enamored.
21:22I think he was more ready to, to dive in and do a great job, and I tried really hard,
21:31but, but it was hard.
21:33At that age, to be, to be, to be, portraying someone that's almost interested in marrying someone at the, at
21:4215 or 14 was, 14, I think, was, um, was difficult.
21:48Dans l'orgueil du village, Marie et Laura avouent qu'elles sont jalouses l'une de l'autre.
21:54Dans la vraie vie, existait-il une certaine jalousie entre Melissa Gilbert et vous ?
21:58I don't think so.
22:01I guess I got kind of jealous, you being so smart and all.
22:06You know what I mean?
22:08Yeah.
22:10I get jealous too sometimes.
22:13You do?
22:14Sure I do.
22:16Of me?
22:18I'm not the man on the moon.
22:20Well, why would you be jealous of me?
22:22I think if there ever was, it would have been strictly professionally that, that, that, that I would have, I
22:32wished I had more to do, like she did, because no one knew I could act as well as I
22:40could if they didn't give me more to do.
22:42So maybe there, and also, uh, once I started getting some really good episodes, she was still playing the little
22:53girl more, and I think maybe she wished she had more of those kinds of episodes.
22:59Um, so there may have been, at those times, but not really at all.
23:18I think he just said to me, uh, one day, would you like to do this? There's a perfect part
23:25for you. I'd like you to play my first girlfriend, Nancy Rizzi, and, you know, you'd be perfect for it.
23:31And I said, sure. Yeah, I was thrilled. I was, I, I was very happy that he asked me, that,
23:36that, that, that he would go ahead and take me from Little House and let me, because, play a completely
23:42different role, um, because there were always problems, uh, about things like that, uh, where they wouldn't want us to
23:52be seen outside of our characters a lot of the time.
23:56We had to be very careful about everything had to be okayed. All the movies that I did had to
24:01be okayed with the network, um, so, so that they wouldn't feel they were losing their, their Mary Ingalls to
24:11some other character that wouldn't, you know, that might be a bad character.
24:18Revenons à La Petite Maison. En fait, comment décririez-vous la série?
24:23We were always a family show, and, and it, it always seems to be families sitting around watching. They always
24:31did. And, you know, they, you know, they'd, you know, they'd cry together and they'd, you know, they could get
24:37their, really, their whole family would, it wouldn't just be, you know, the guys off, you know, watching football and,
24:46and the girls watching Little House. It would be the whole family. And they'd almost all be crying, you know.
24:52Est-ce que vous pleuriez en regardant la série?
24:55No. No. I, I, I used to, my friends used to drive them nuts. My two best friends were the
25:02presidents or vice presidents of my fan club at the time. And, and I remember we watched, um, I'll be
25:11waiting as you drive away, which was the two-part episode where I went blind.
25:15And they were so mad at me because every time some, you know, really horribly upsetting scene would, would, would,
25:25would, would come on, I would say, I remember that. And I'd start to laugh and they'd be, you know,
25:33and they're crying.
25:35But that's how, sort of, I handled it. And it's also, you know, it's also different when you're, you know,
25:40you're watching it, you kind of feel embarrassed anyway. But, but no, I, I usually didn't cry, but, but I
25:48know other people did.
25:50Des personnages historiques ont été inclus dans la série, comme Franck et Jessie James dans Une Décision Difficile.
25:56Mm-hmm. I liked that one. I always liked the, uh, the rugged Western quality when that was brought in,
26:04as opposed to the pioneer thing.
26:07I liked the Western stuff, so, uh, yes, I liked that. I definitely liked that. And, uh, and that was
26:16interesting because it was, um, Matthew Perry's father, John Bennett Perry.
26:22And, and at that time, he was known for his cologne commercials. He had that big Old Spice or something.
26:29He was the Old Spice man. And he was so handsome. And, uh, and they were both great, great people.
26:35Really, really, really, really nice.
26:37I mean, not that you were in the war, but...
26:37Because I spent a lot of time with them tied up and all that. And they were very nice.
26:42And then there was the episode of the fight with the big ballon.
26:45Um, yeah, the, uh, I was really interested in going in the hot air balloon. They had it tethered, so
26:51we couldn't go.
26:52Too far. But, uh, but we realized that our, our parts in our hair were all sunburned because the heat
27:01from the, from the flame of the, you know, the balloon was so hot.
27:10Uh, but it was, again, you know, you wanted, you wanted to be able to cut off the tether and
27:15just go, because it was pretty neat, you know, to go even up however high we went in the, in
27:20the hot air balloon.
27:21And it was pretty fun.
27:23L'autre de vos épisodes les plus marquants est sans aucun doute la rumeur avec la terrible Mademoiselle Pille.
27:29It wasn't my favorite, um, performance of mine.
27:33Thousands of words in the Bible.
27:36Read us some of those words you live by.
27:39Why don't you read us the Exodus?
27:40I can't stand what I did in that.
27:43I thought I, I thought I was over the top.
27:46I thought I just went, whew, whew, whew, way too far, way too far.
27:50Uh, maybe it was fine because you usually didn't see me do that.
27:54You usually didn't see me lose my cool that way.
27:57But I, I thought I was, I thought I was dreadful in that.
28:02But, but, you know, it was, it was different, it was fun.
28:08L'adieu est probablement l'épisode le plus célèbre de la série.
28:13Qu'avez-vous ressenti quand Michael Landon vous a appris que Marie allait devenir aveugle?
28:18I'm going to be fine.
28:20I thought they were going to write me out.
28:22I thought that'll be it.
28:23I'll go blind and poof, I'll be gone, you know.
28:27Then what will I do?
28:28And he said, trust me, it'll be great.
28:30It'll be the greatest thing that's ever happened.
28:32Trust me.
28:33So I have to then wait.
28:35That, that, that was at the end of the fourth.
28:40Yeah, so that, so this, I think he told me that at the end of the third season.
28:45And I had to then wait and wait and wait and wait to find out what was really going to
28:51happen.
28:51And he was right.
28:53I mean, it made it great.
28:54There were, and those shows in particular were terrific.
28:58And they brought our ratings up.
28:59We were number two the first week and number one the second week of the two-part episodes.
29:03That was, you know, spectacular for Little House.
29:07And, and then it was good for about a year after that, I think.
29:13And then it started to get, maybe even a year or two, even the sixth season wasn't, wasn't bad.
29:19But after that, they had to, they were running out of ideas where to, where to use me, how to
29:25use me.
29:26And they didn't want the audience to forget that I existed.
29:30They, you know, they, so they would put me in scenes that I didn't really belong in.
29:35You know, like watching a football game.
29:40And I thought, I shouldn't be here.
29:42You know, this character is really a stretch.
29:46And, and they, they had to do it.
29:48They, they wanted the audience to know I was still alive.
29:50I was still there.
29:51But that's when I made the decision that I really should pull away because I, I didn't want to be
29:59just used as, you know, a, a prop sort of in the room to let people know that, yeah, she's
30:08still there.
30:09Because, because it wasn't, it wasn't real to me anymore.
30:12But in the beginning, it was great.
30:16Vous avez dû apprendre à jouer une aveugle.
30:18Right, I did.
30:19I went to the foundation for the junior blind and spent time with them.
30:23And then they had a technician on the set to, to, to, to remind me, to, for, for, for also
30:33for things that would come up, things that they would have me do in the scene that might not have
30:39been covered with my lessons with them.
30:41And they, they, they were there to say, oh, this is how it would happen.
30:45This is how she would do this.
30:47This is, this is how certain things are done.
30:50And I had to learn to walk with a cane and, and how to write the Braille, how to, how
30:58to look like you're reading the Braille correctly.
31:00Oh, writing, I think we wrote, I wrote with a ruler to keep it straight.
31:05And, you know, there, there were lots of little technical things to learn.
31:10And, and once you learn them, you don't forget.
31:12And as a matter of fact, I remember I used to work, I'd finish Little House.
31:16We'd finish like in the end of February and I'd be off working on a TV movie, one or two
31:22of them on the hiatus in between before we went back to Little House.
31:27And I caught myself a couple of times in the first rehearsals of, of whatever TV movie it was, being
31:34blind.
31:35Luckily, no one else noticed.
31:37But I had this, like, dazed look in my eyes and I would go, wait a minute, I can look
31:42at them.
31:43You know, I'm not blind anymore.
31:45But luckily, no one else noticed it.
31:47It was embarrassing.
31:49Etiez-vous inquiète de connaître celui qui allait jouer votre mari?
31:52I think I read with him.
31:56They had me come up to the office and read with, I think it was him and one other guy.
32:03And I was glad they chose him.
32:06He, he, he, he had, he was different.
32:09He had a little, I don't know, something different, a little bit extra charisma.
32:14He wasn't, he, he was good looking but not spectacularly good looking and I thought he was perfect for it.
32:21And, and as it turns out, you know, now he's this, you know, big executive producer.
32:27He went on to Third Rock from the Sun and actually before that he was on Night Court
32:32and then he went to Third Rock from the Sun and then Malcolm in the Middle, yeah.
32:38And, and still supposedly, I haven't seen him in years but a great guy.
32:43He's a terrific guy.
32:44And, and his humor, I remember at the time when we were shooting, was absolutely off the wall.
32:50I mean, he was just so goofy and nutty.
32:53So it worked, obviously things work out perfectly.
32:56That's what he should be doing.
32:57He should be writing these zany comedies, you know.
33:01Avez-vous eu des réactions de personnes aveugles?
33:03Yes, I had many, many blind people write to me and they'd write interesting letters that they would watch me.
33:13And they used the word watch.
33:16They wouldn't miss it and they thought that my performance was excellent.
33:20And, and I guess they were, they were getting the nuances of the, the, the shuffling the feet when you
33:28don't know how to walk yet correctly as a blind person.
33:31And the cane thing and the, they were hearing all that stuff.
33:34And, and, and I also got letters from people saying, how nice of the producers to write you, to write
33:41your blindness into your character.
33:43They thought I was really blind.
33:45It had an impact certainly on, on people.
33:50And, I, I believe I'm the only character, or at least at that time, I was the only series regular
33:57that something catastrophic like that happened that wasn't reversed.
34:04You know, like when Michael Landon went blind, he had his head on a rock and got his sight back.
34:09But, you know, that didn't happen to me.
34:13So, it was blind from then on.
34:15Et vous êtes la seule actrice de La Petite Maison à avoir été nominée aux Emmy Awards.
34:20Yes, and it was, it was, you know, incredibly gratifying and exciting.
34:28And, the nomination is plenty.
34:32It was so exciting.
34:33And, to be in that company, and, and to get the added publicity for myself and for the show, was,
34:41was terrific.
34:41So, when people say the nomination is enough, it really is.
34:47Durant la diffusion de la série, aimiez-vous être reconnue par les gens dans la rue?
34:52Overall, yeah, yeah.
34:54It was a little difficult when I was, you know, 12, 13, 14, 15, and I'd go maybe to the
35:06shopping mall with my friends, and we'd be followed by kids.
35:10Now, though, it'd be worse.
35:11You'd be followed by paparazzi now.
35:13But, in those days, it was just kids that would follow, and they wouldn't ever say anything.
35:19They would just follow us wherever we went.
35:21And, it would have been nice had they wanted to say, like, hi, you know, could I have your autograph,
35:27or something.
35:28But, they just wanted to follow you.
35:31And, that, when you're, you know, for me, when I was with my other friends, was embarrassing to me.
35:37Because, you know, it was just supposed to be a regular outing with your friends.
35:41So, I didn't mind it when people would just be up front and say, hi, it's nice to meet you.
35:47And, I could say the same, and, and, and that was great.
35:50But, when people didn't say anything, and just, just kind of creeped around you, that, that, that was, that was
35:57a little annoying.
35:59I, I went to Disneyland once with my friends, and, and a lady pulled me out of line, and said,
36:05you have to meet my friends.
36:06And, and just pulled me all the way to the bathroom, and, and I had to meet all of her
36:11friends in the bathroom.
36:12And, and that was kind of dangerous, because my friends didn't know what had happened to me.
36:16Suddenly, I'm gone, and I'm, you know.
36:18So, it's, you know, people do funny things.
36:21They mean well, you know, and, and, and, and, you know, usually it's no problem.
36:28You're accommodating, it's part of the job, and, and it, and it's fine.
36:32But, but, but it was just the most difficult problem, Lee, in those teenage years,
36:37where you want a little, want to have a little bit of freedom,
36:39and you f, always feel like you're being watched.
36:47Hmm, I don't look happy.
36:51Johnny Cash.
36:52I was going to say that.
36:54Also, the hat.
36:56I hated this hat.
36:57And, um, I called it my frisbee hat.
37:00Um, I think that's what it is.
37:02I think I find the reverend's, the rev, the, the real reverend's watch in his pocket or something.
37:09Something like that.
37:10I don't mind if you don't.
37:11Yep.
37:12Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash and, and their son, John Carter Cash was, um,
37:18they were on the set.
37:19They, they signed their, their book, uh, Man in Black.
37:23His book, Man in Black, to us.
37:25It was great.
37:26Very, very nice people.
37:30I think this is when he, for some reason, he's going through the muck,
37:37and, and everyone was teasing him that he didn't get his hair wet.
37:44He didn't, he never got his hair must.
37:46He didn't like that.
37:48Parlez-nous un peu de Michael London.
37:51Um, well, he was a great, uh, you know, creative, obviously, man.
37:59And, uh, and he wanted to do things that the whole family could sit and watch together,
38:05which he accomplished.
38:07And, uh, he took great pride and control over our show.
38:13Listen to all the other sounds.
38:14Um, he was very controlling.
38:16I remember that time he went away with Mr.
38:18But, it was his baby.
38:20So, you, you had, you just respected that, uh, of him.
38:24May I miss you so.
38:24And, um, and at the same time, he was very warm and very, he truly cared about us.
38:31Um, so, all in all, I mean, he was a wonderful, wonderful man, really.
38:41Very, you know, I always had a very good relationship with him.
38:45And standing up here tonight, speaking to you, he's given me that strength.
38:54And we are going home.
39:02Oh, with, uh, Mike Jr.
39:04Now, that was cute.
39:06He, um, we were in This Not Here, but, but when we went to see him,
39:10Sonora, at one point, to shoot something, Mike brought the family.
39:14And, um, Mike Jr., developed a crush on me at that point.
39:19So, we were, we were like this.
39:20We, we, you know.
39:21Thanks for nominating me.
39:22Oh, that's all right.
39:23It was just nice, being a boy and all.
39:25And, uh, and Michael Sr. had to say, you know, my son has a great big crush on you.
39:29And I said, well, I kind of gathered that.
39:31But we're having a very good time.
39:32We, you know, run around and do stuff.
39:36And, see, he, he was a very nice kid.
39:40Pouvez-vous nous parler de Mathieu Laborteau?
39:42Oh, yeah, he was a wonderful kid.
39:45Brilliant kid.
39:46I guess he was originally, um, autistic.
39:50And he, you know, overcame that.
39:52And, uh, and he was, he was a truly gifted actor.
39:57Great little actor.
39:59Uh, and, um, and I thought he was great when he came to the show and he played the first
40:04time and played Michael as, as a boy.
40:06He was perfect for that.
40:09Uh, and, yeah, what a talented actor.
40:11And then, you know, his brother, Patrick, was on our show as well for a while.
40:15And then he's in, um, JAG, you know, all grown up.
40:19We don't have any money.
40:21I don't know if this is before or after I tripped over the, um, the, uh, wire flower
40:27and, and got whiplash.
40:30Yeah, we were running down this steep hill.
40:33And at the time, the hill was barely green.
40:36It still had a lot of brown in it.
40:37You know, it's kind of green.
40:39But there were no flowers.
40:41They were going to plant flowers.
40:43But at this time, when they, when we shot the titles, there were no flowers.
40:47So they stuck in artificial flowers.
40:51And I tripped over one and went flat and, like, right over on my neck.
40:56And I, and I got whiplash.
40:58But, so I don't know if that was happy before I fell or trying to look happy after I fell.
41:04You'll notice the beginning episodes, everything was much browner.
41:07And then as our sprinkler systems and everything, you know, kicked in, everything got greener.
41:14You've had another adventure with Jimmy McNichol.
41:17He was a wild kid.
41:18We were in school.
41:20And he was guest starring that week.
41:23And, um, and he was difficult, you know.
41:25He was maybe at a bad age, I don't know.
41:28And he was kind of wild.
41:29And he, he said, Melissa, and I was still working on something.
41:33So I was trying to finish it.
41:34And I said, just one second.
41:36And I, just as I looked up, he was trying to get my attention again.
41:40And he threw the pencil at me.
41:42And it hit me in the eye.
41:43And he got in so much trouble.
41:46Oh.
41:47Because, you know, that could have been a big bad thing.
41:50And, you know, boy was he in trouble.
41:52I felt bad for him after that.
41:54He was in trouble.
41:56Oh, yeah.
41:56This is the one that was on recently.
41:59My daughter and I were flipping the channels.
42:01And there I was packed in ice.
42:03And I couldn't remember why.
42:06Oh, yeah.
42:06I'm sick.
42:07But I don't remember.
42:08What did I have?
42:09C'était l'épisode de l'hôpital où vous tombiez à cause d'un cheval.
42:13Ça marquait le début des épreuves de Marie.
42:16D'ailleurs, que pensez-vous de tous ces malheurs de Marie?
42:21I thought it was a bit overdone.
42:24Yeah, everything bad did happen to me.
42:27I mean, I've lost track.
42:28And, you know, baby died in the fire.
42:31I don't know.
42:32There were bad things that happened to me.
42:35Yeah.
42:37Maybe they thought I was the most sympathetic or something.
42:40And people would really feel it if it happened to me.
42:44I don't know.
42:45But I was kind of wishing it wouldn't happen quite so often to me.
42:49Avez-vous envié Adam quand il a recouvré la vue?
42:52Yes, I think so.
42:53Est-ce que vous espériez revoir pour avoir un plus grand rôle?
42:56Um, no, I knew I never would.
42:59But then when they did it for him, I was hoping what would happen is that they would continue his
43:06part in the show.
43:07because then he could go off and become a lawyer or whatever, and come back to the town and be
43:15part of everything.
43:17But they didn't use...
43:19Then I felt very guilty when I left, because I didn't want Linwood out of work just because of me.
43:25So that didn't work out the way I would have hoped.
43:28I mean, he did have his sight back.
43:30They could have used him more.
43:33Et vos cheveux, vous les aviez coupés, ce chignon?
43:37Yeah, it was awful.
43:39Yeah, I never should have done it, because it looked so bad when they put the wig on and stuff.
43:46Ugh.
43:47Yeah, I cut my hair, and then they had to, you know, finagle away.
43:53A lot of people did that.
43:54I mean, Charlotte Stewart had short hair, and a lot of people had short hair.
43:59But their stuff looked better than mine.
44:01Mine was...
44:02Ugh.
44:03So it was my own fault.
44:05I cut my hair, and that's what I got.
44:08Après La Petite Maison, vous avez continué à tourner pendant 10 ans.
44:12Avez-vous un rôle favori de cette période?
44:15Actually, The Equalizer.
44:17I had a recurring role on The Equalizer, and I really liked that.
44:21Yeah, that was great.
44:24I love New York.
44:28I loved the show itself.
44:31I loved spy stuff, and I don't know.
44:34It was just very exciting for me.
44:37Et puis, vous avez rencontré votre futur mari, le producteur Michael Sloan, dans Alfred Disco Présente.
44:43It was Thanksgiving, and I flew up the following day, and...
44:50We had a read-through or something with the cast, and then they did something that most people don't do.
44:58The producers invited me out to dinner, and I was, like, shocked, pleasantly surprised.
45:03So we went out to dinner and kind of, you know, had fun and got to know each other, and,
45:09you know,
45:11I appreciated the fact that everyone was so nice and included me, even though the guest stars changed every week
45:21with the show.
45:22You know, included me as if I was part of their family, you know, group.
45:28And so that's sort of how, you know, that's how we met, and I respected him as...
45:32The reason I did the part in the first place on Hitchcock was because it was written by Michael, who
45:38had created The Equalizer.
45:39And I had never met him on The Equalizer because he created it and then moved on to other projects.
45:46But his name, you know, being associated with The Equalizer, I thought, well, I'll definitely do this Alfred Hitchcock.
45:52I'm sure it would be, you know, good.
45:54Mais pourquoi avez-vous arrêté la télévision?
45:57Well, um, because, uh, really, because I slowed down a little because I was planning our wedding, and then, and
46:05then, uh, we were having our daughter, uh, and, and I really wanted to be, because Michael still travels, uh,
46:16in his job, I, I didn't want to travel anymore.
46:19I did, I wanted to be able to be home, have at least one of us home, uh, with her,
46:25and, and selfishly speaking, I, I didn't want to miss out on anything.
46:29I wanted to be there, and, uh, but, but I also wanted her to not have to be, you know,
46:37Melissa Anderson's daughter, you know, like, I remember Michael Landon's kids going to Magic Mountain.
46:44I went with them one day, with Michael, and, you know, every five minutes, you know, he's having to sign
46:50autographs, and he's having to talk to people, and his kids are being paid absolutely no attention.
46:57And it seems to me that when you have kids, the kids are the ones that should be getting the
47:01attention.
47:02You know, oh, aren't you cute? Look at you. What's your name? Da-da-da-da-da.
47:06And to have a parent there that completely overshadows that, it's just such an unnatural thing, I think.
47:13And I didn't want it to be like that. And so it worked out perfectly, I think.
47:18Le métier d'actrice doit quand même vous manquer.
47:21Sometimes I do. I'm also not a good, I, I, I, I shouldn't say that.
47:26I, I, I'm a good multitasker when it comes to doing things for the kids and at home, and I,
47:33I can handle all that.
47:34I'm not so good when I have to pack to go somewhere to do something and then pack my kids'
47:43lunches and worry about them
47:45and write lists of lunches and dinners and this and that, and, and be somewhere else and be thinking about
47:52them.
47:52And I, I, I just think, I can't, I'm not one of those people that can do too many things
47:57at once like that.
47:58Some, some actors can do it. Some can go, go away and rely and trust on other people that everything
48:04will be fine, they'll be taken care of.
48:06But I, I, I guess I'm too much of a perfectionist or something.
48:11I think now that they're getting a little older, I can step back in just a, you know, a little
48:15bit.
48:16Peut-on espérer vous revoir à la télé ou au cinéma?
48:19Yes, I think so. You know, I just did this.
48:22It's a 10.5 Apocalypse that they shot for NBC in, in Montreal, actually.
48:30And I play the, the first lady of the United States.
48:35So I will be, that will be seen, I guess, aired in the fall.
48:41So it's a big four-hour mini-series.
48:44So that's kind of nice and it was a fun, small, but very, very warm and good role for me.
48:54So that was perfect.
48:55Une dernière question?
48:57Plus de 30 ans après, que représente pour vous cette expérience dans la petite maison?
49:02Oh, it was a great experience for me.
49:05I learned an awful lot.
49:08And, you know, I have only really good memories of it.
49:16It's a shame there's not more family-oriented shows available now.
49:24There's so many reality shows.
49:26I mean, that's all we see.
49:31It's a shame.
49:32I think there's a market for it.
49:34I think people would love to see more family shows.
49:40And I'm proud of it.
49:41I'm proud to have been a part of it.
49:43It's, you know, I don't have to hide it away from my kids and say,
49:47no, it's rated R, you can't see it.
49:49And, you know, it's something to be proud of.
49:53So, you know, and then that's a tribute really to Mike Landon
49:57because it was really his dream and it all, you know,
50:02it's meant so much to so many people.
50:04So that's a very nice thing.
50:06Merci beaucoup, Mélissa.
50:07Thank you very much.
50:23Thank you.
50:55Thank you.
51:19Thank you.
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