Melissa Gilbert - My "Little House" Residuals Checks Are 20 Cents

"and then I realized what really matters. And it isn't shoes"

I thought people who learned this lesson in 2020 were born in 1995 not in the 1960s...

It takes a long time for child stars to really grow up. Most never make it, glad half-pint seems to have finally, without too many scars.

I think residuals really became a thing in the 80s, not before. And who knows how much energy agents spend on child actors when negotiating.

Sadly she never had a hit show as an adult, though I liked Sweet Justice staring her and Cicely Tyson.

Landon was a tightwad. His money went to his much younger, very smart 2nd wife.

Sounds like she’s broke. Can’t that rich dyke sister of hers get her a job?

Karen Grassle has talked about Landon’s penny pinching.

it was the 3rd wife who got everything, not the 2nd.

I always thought she got a lot of money back in the day from her production company, but I guess she didn't get as much as I expected. Or else she blew through it all if she was still obsessed with amassing designer shoes well into her fifties.

I don't know whether she and her wealthy sister Sara Gilbert are all that close. All the Gilbert children are adopted, and the family sounds incredibly dysfunctional. Her brother Jonathan (who played Willie on LHotP) broke away from the rest of his family in his early 20s almost entirely. He also made quite a bit of money, in his case as a stock broker, I think.

Yeah, she sounds kind of pathetic, realizing in her 50s that she blew money on shoes and is now broke.

There was a DL thread about her upstate NY (location?) house where she lives with her 3rd husband. She's his 3rd wife. The house was OK, not ramshackle, not nice, either.

[quote] I don't know whether she and her wealthy sister Sara Gilbert are all that close.

They are close, still to this day

She’s still got the memories of having sex with Almonso

R12-While Almonso was good looking he had no sex appeal.

R10- She's married to that guy from thirtysomething Timothy Busfield. I was kind of attracted to him on that show.

I don't think she had sex with Dean "Manly" Butler, did she? She does have many memories of having sex with Rob Lowe, though. And with her ex-husband Bruce Boxleitner.

She had enormous breasts when young, so I think she had no trouble attracting sexy male celebrities who would fuck her when she was in her 20s and 30s.

She has a new book out: 'Prairie Tale', about their adventures fixing up an old house and learning to garden, keep chickens, etc. I heard her being interview by Andy Cohen, she actually sounds like a nice and fairly centered person.

She also has memories of fucking her 1st husband, Bo Brinkman...

...as do I.

[quote] she actually sounds like a nice and fairly centered person.

[bold]HA![/bold]

She'd love to hear you swallowed all that.

R15- Robe Lowe is and was a GAY boy- how much great sex could she have with that qween 👸

R18, Alison Arngrim said you were a CUNT!

Here's the DL thread on her upstate NY house with 3rd husband. The OP's link is to the NYT, paywalled for most. So, use the webpage archive to view it.

R19 well we know from the Democratic convention in Atlanta that he did have sex with females.

r21, the entire story is copied into that thread. Only the photos of their house are not accessible at that thread--and they are not much anyone would care about seeing.

R23-If they weren't celebrities people living in a house like that would be considered one of the POORS.

Melissa, no one thinks you get residuals from Little House. Also, no one cares.

She is evil. Itself.

Not many actors get that much money from residuals at all, certainly not enough to live on. That is a big misconception among many people. Cable and streaming residuals in particular can be paltry. Network TV is better and can even be very nice for a first-time repeat, but those go down and movies and tv series aren't ran too much like in the past.

Here is the link to that interview. I think she comes off in it pretty well overall. She seems content although maybe not in the best financial place. She has it better than most people in America and other parts of the world though.

[quote]. And who knows how much energy agents spend on child actors when negotiating.

THIS. I remember Mindy Cohn kind of alluded to this in a "Cast Confessions" show, as it related to Nancy McKeon's mini-strike at the beginning of the 5th Season. It was Nancy's rep who basically said that all the girls were being underpaid considering how much the show/NBC was making off of them. (26:45-28:45 in linked video)

Didn’t she have a Coke habit? The Go Go’s nicknamed her Half Gram.

There's a bar in Studio City, CA called "Residuals". I don't know whether they still do this, but for decades, its claim to fame was that if you brought in a residual check for less than $1.00, your second drink was free.

R19 Rob has been married to a woman for many years and has grown kids.

R31- Alec Baldwin has zillions of kids and he's still as queer as a thirteen dollar bill.

Back then, most actors were underpaid in comparison to how much money the shows they were on was bringing in. Michael Landon could've paid more for sure, but he was generous compared to Sherwood Schwartz. Most of the actors on his shows got little to no residuals from being on his show and some (Gilligan's Island and The Brady Bunch) of them have been in constant syndication for half a century. All of the "Little House" actors get the standard residuals.

The cast of Friends (they banded together) and the leads from other long, running hit shows that do well in syndication (think Mariska Hargitay and Ellen Pampano and others with producer credits or out of the ordinary deals) are really the ones bringing in the big buck residuals. That is a very small percentage of working actors though.

R33 From the Friends era on, I think if you manage to be in a hit show, that does very well in reruns, you do well from residuals. I remember reading about the supporting cast on Friends and it is estimated Ross and Monica's parents on the show still receive around $20,000/year. Also, Gunther's actor never revealed what he made, but I suspect it was a nice bit of change. Though he did say he only got residuals for episodes where he actually spoke.

[quote]I heard her being interview by Andy Cohen.

Did he ask her about the shit-bra?

I've been reading Karen Grassle's book. It's true... Michael Landon did not like paying his actors well. In Bonnie Bartlett's interview with the TV academy, she says the same thing.

Michael Landon wouldn’t give MG a piece of corn out of his shit.

Well, in retrospect, being such a tightwad didn't work out so well for Michael Landon. Sure, it made him millions. But he was dead just a few years after LHOTP went off the air. If anybody benefited, it was his hussy/third wife, Cindy Clerico Landon.

The makeup trailer on Little House was always a rockin' when ML and Cindy were hot and heavy.

^^They fucked outdoors on the Walnut Grove set

I heard they fucked on top of the counter at the Mercantile.

Mrs. Oleson had to shoo them off with a broom

SO according to Grassle's book, she had sex with gil gerard (major sigh!) and got gonorrhea from him? Was he a big ole himbo back in the day?...

Gil Gerard stuffed his meat in any available hole during his week on the Little House set.

I thought Cozi tv payed a dollar to air this.

Has anybody read Melissa's new book? Does she talk about the time she and Melissa Sue were caught scissoring?

[quote] SO according to Grassle's book, she had sex with gil gerard (major sigh!) and got gonorrhea from him?

No, she gave him gonorrhea (as she was sleeping around) - he thought he gave it to her. Never suspecting that it was her that was doing the cheating. Gil thought the gonorrhea had been dormant and just came up.

Hey, I got crabs! 🦀.

It was a far out time, you dig? ✌️

The real money made at Oleson's mercantile wasn't from the sale of household goods. In the backroom, Mrs. Oleson had a display of prairie dildos for women in need of satisfaction. Her most elite dildo for sale was called the "Dick Bull." This is why prairie women always had smiles on their faces.

R47.. well if gerard originally thought he gave it to her, he must have been sleeping around too yes?....

[quote] he must have been sleeping around too yes?

No, he thought it was from a previous relationship PRIOR to getting involved with Grassel

Melissa has had the privilege of playing Laura Ingalls, Anne Frank and Helen Keller. Money should be secondary to the privilege of being in such prestigious projects.

Only if you’re. Interested in residuals. - my dad wrote the music for a long run TV series in its latter years. The first decades were sold internationally and made lots of money. When my Dad signed up, the contracts regarding residuals looked really lucrative, based on the historical sales. However, everyone in the series has such great contracts that the shows were too expensive for foreign markets, who chose to buy and repeat the old series, and ignore the current series.

I remember reading West from Home, and I don't know why Melissa Gilbert never optioned it. Melissa Gilbert playing Laura Ingalls Wilder again at a World's Fair would have at a minimum won it's timeslot. And, she wouldn't have needed to bring any of the other characters back except for the now adult Rose and Dean Butler as Manley if she wanted to work him in the beginning and ending.

At one point she was worth millions.

How hard is it to live a normal life off of that? Fucking shoes. She could have had a stew going.

Not a new story for child actors.

All this talk of shoes reminds me of a story I was told by someone I knew who hung out with her one night in the 90's in NYC. He and a group of actor types were friends with whoever she was with at the time, and at some point they all went back to her place, and one of them found her bronzed baby shoes, and they stole them.

For one brief, shining moment there was Camelot…

It all seems terrible. You could buy a potato for the cost of some of those shoes.

I think she's trying to tell us that she spent it all on coke.

One wonders why she doesn’t have direct deposit and have her statements emailed to her.

Country girl. Her Ma and Pa were broke,too. Blind sister. Does she have another horse to trade? Maybe she could ask Nelly for help? She might have to grovel and kiss some Harriet Olson ass.

Based on this house, she could use a paycheck. Tasteful Friends will be upset.

[quote] There's a bar in Studio City, CA called "Residuals". I don't know whether they still do this, but for decades, its claim to fame was that if you brought in a residual check for less than $1.00, your second drink was free.

Kindly share the exact address of this institution.

Her husband need to go to the gym

She should make “Little House on the Prairie: The Next Generation” while she still can.

Melissa, for 20 cents, you can feed a starving child in Africa for a day. So, don't scoff at your residual check. Moreover, it beats my 15 cent checks.

It’s hilarious that she referred to herself as America’s Sweetheart. She really believed her own publicity.

Natalia Kinsky- Kobe Beef

Half Pint- Mystery Meat

[quote]Michael Landon wouldn’t give MG a piece of corn out of his shit.

Didn't she name her son after him lol?

I wonder if this cunt's husband will have to start a GoFundMe if she gets cancer like my husband had to.

Ma had it in her contract that she had first dibs to all the prime dick in Walnut Grove

I thought Susan Richardson from Eight Is Enough was America’s Sweetheart?

Melissa Sue is America's sweetheart!

Melissa Sue did a nude scene on Murder She Wrote. She was a slut.

How long did MG date RL?

You can buy lots of candy for twenty cents at the Oleson's!

DL should cast a gay LHOTP porn flick

What does their Upper West Side digs look like?

[quote]At one point she was worth millions. How hard is it to live a normal life off of that?

Do you have any idea what her bra budget must have been?

She's shilling another book to pay for septic tank suctioning and chicken scratch. Reason for residual bitching, story.