It's been over four decades since the conclusion of the classic Western drama Little House on the Prairie, chronicling the lives of Laura Ingalls Wilder's family in the 1870s-90s, based on her popular book series, but the cast still has deep love for each other.
In a new interview in support of the upcoming documentary Little House Homecoming, Dean Butler, now 69, spoke with People about his love and admiration for his co-star and series lead Melissa Gilbert, who was cast on the show as Laura Ingalls at just nine and became its breakout star.
Dean played Almanzo Wilder, a member of the Wilder family introduced in the show's sixth season in 1979, who develops a romance with Laura. By season seven, the two tie the knot, welcoming a daughter named Rose by series end and also raising their niece Jenny.
"America loved Laura — Melissa Gilbert — who embodied plucky, spirited in-your-face candor," the actor told the publication, lavishing his then co-star, now 61, with praise. "When lots of young people, adults are watching this, and they love Laura, and they see her, they see her fall in this lovely way, in this lovely innocent way that she did."
He dubbed her the "whole package," noting that despite her young age, she was capable of holding her own against her seasoned co-stars at any point. "I'd put Melissa up at that age up against anybody who's ever stood in front of a camera."
Dean continued: "She's the whole package, her emotional life, the way she looked with the buck teeth and the freckles. She was so real and so irresistible because of that."
"You couldn't not love her and wanna follow whatever she was going to be doing in any story that you were watching," he gushed.
In particular, he spoke of the relationship between Laura and her father Charles Ingalls, played by one of the show's directors, Michael Landon, who passed away in 1991. He centered it as the show's main narrative, and expressed his own appreciation of being part of it as the "maturing" of Laura through her romance with Almanzo.
"The two of them are at the center of this. Laura and Pa's relationship is at the heart of what makes Little House so unforgettable," Dean noted. "The two of them were extraordinary doing this together, particularly in the early years of this, when Melissa was just this completely open book of emotion and authenticity. She was an extraordinary child actress."
Of his and Melissa's dynamic as Almanzo and Laura, he added: "That's a special thing for me to be in a really nice way attached to that, because I became the maturing of Laura," citing the shift in her "energy" as a key part of her character development as she grew up.
"She evolved beyond sitting on Pa's lap, and with the pigtails and the lovely moments that they had together. There was going to be something else. It was great to be a part of that."