Melissa Gilbert

At 59 years old, Melissa Gilbert has this physical status:

Melissa Ellen Gilbert (born May 8, 1964) is an American actress and television producer. Gilbert began acting as a child actress in the late 1960s, appearing in numerous commercials and guest starring roles on television.

Laura Ingalls Wilder, the second oldest daughter of Charles Ingalls, portrayed by Michael Landon, appeared on NBC's Little House on the Prairie from 1974 to 1984.

Gilbert appeared in several well-known television shows, including The Diary of Anne Frank and The Miracle Worker, during the run of Little House. She worked mostly in television films as an adult.

Gilbert has also performed in guest starring roles on television and has done voice work for animations such as Batman: The Animated Series as Barbara Gordon / Batgirl.

In the touring performance of Little House on the Prairie, the Musical, Gilbert appeared as Caroline "Ma" Ingalls from 2009 to 2010.

In 2012, she appeared on season 14 of the famous reality dance competition show Dancing with the Stars on ABC. Gilbert served as the President of the Screen Actors Guild from 2001 to 2005.

Prairie Tale: A Memoir, her autobiography, was published in 2009.

Gilbert wrote a short story for children named Daisy and Josephine in 2014, as well as My Prairie Cookbook: Memories and Frontier Food from My Little House to Yours.

She later pulled out due to head and neck injuries sustained in a 2012 crash.

Early life and family

Gilbert was born in Los Angeles, California, on May 8, 1964, to a newly engaged couple, Kathy Wood and David Darlington, and gave up immediately after birth. Paul Gilbert and his wife, dancer, and actress Barbara Crane, the daughter of The Honeymooners creator Harry Crane, were adopted one day later by actor and comedian Paul Gilbert and his mother. Jonathan, who co-starred on Little House on the Prairie, was adopted by the couple later.

When Gilbert was 8 years old, her parents divorced. Sara Rebecca Abeles (the actress known professionally as Sara Gilbert) was born on January 29, 1975, her mother married lawyer Harold Abeles, and together they had biological daughter Sara Rebecca Abeles (the actress known professionally as Sara Gilbert).

Paul Gilbert died on February 13, 1976, the first day on record. Melissa, an 11-year-old boy, was told he had died after a stroke, she discovered years later that he had been a VA patient who suffered with constant pain and that he had committed suicide. Barbara and Harold Abeles' marriage resulted in divorce later in life. Gilbert was raised in her adoptive mother's Jewish faith, but not have any formal religious education or conversion ceremony, according to her biography.

Personal life

Gilbert left for New York City to appear in A Shayna Maidel after her time with Rob Lowe ended. Gilbert was brought together with actor Bo Brinkman, a cousin of actor Randy Quaid and Dennis Quaid. The couple married on February 22, 1988, seven weeks after she had broken away from Lowe. Dakota Paul Brinkman, their son, was born on May 1, 1989. In 1992, the couple wedlock divorced.

Bruce Boxleitner's ex-girlfriend met him with Gilbert a week after Gilbert's divorce. When Gilbert was a youth on Battle of the Network Stars, he was her teen crush. They lived on and off for more than a year after reuniting. They were married twice, but Boxleitner ended both relationships. They married in 1995 in her mother's living room after reuniting for the third time. On October 6, 1995, Gilbert's son, Michael Garrett Boxleitner, was born. Michael Landon and Garrett Peckinpah's son, Sandy Peckinpah's son, died of meningitis at the age of 16. Gilbert was the stepmother to Boxleitner's two sons. Gilbert and Boxleitner announced on March 1, 2011, that they had broken up. Gilbert requested a divorce from Boxleitner on August 22, 2011.

Gilbert's representative confirmed her connection to actor Timothy Busfield in January 2013. They married in Howell, Michigan, from 2013 to 2018, and then to New York City late in 2018. The couple bought a cottage in Upstate New York's Catskill Mountains in 2018. Gilbert and Busfield are renovating the house and intending to live there permanently.

Following her election as a candidate for US Representative from Michigan, a spokesperson for her opponent's campaign referred to Gilbert as a "tax cheat." Gilbert owes $360,000 in federal taxes and $112,000 in California state taxes. Gilbert has argued that the tax debt is a result of a stalled playing career, the economy, and divorce. She has reached an agreement with the IRS for a repayment plan.

Gilbert has battled heroinism and heroin use, which she wrote about in her 2009 autobiography.

Gilbert had been suffering with a broken back for months while playing Caroline "Ma" Ingalls in the touring musical Little House on the Prairie. Gilbert underwent surgery on July 22, 2010, replacing a disc and fuseing a vertebra in her lower spine. The surgery was described as a complete success.

Gilbert decided to have her breast implants out of date for health reasons in January 2015.

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Career

Gilbert's earliest television appearances were in hundreds of commercials, including one for Alpo dog food starring Lorne Greene (Michael Landon's television father on Bonanza). Leslie Landon's daughter also attended school. Leslie was the first person to tell her that she had won the role of Laura Ingalls on Little House on the Prairie, beating out more than 500 child actors for the role. The pilot was shot in 1973 and was a ratings hit. Gilbert began filming the series a year ago. After her adoptive father died, Gilbert became very close to the Landon family. However, after Landon's affair with Little House's young makeup artist Cindy Clerico, a rift emerged between Michael Landon and Gilbert.

Since Little House ended during the 1983–84 season, Gilbert had no contact with Landon. Following his appearance on Johnny Carson's show The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, she was contacted by Landon's family and upon learning of his illness, she paid him a heartfelt visit. She visited Landon at his Malibu home, where he was then bedridden, and the couple spent the afternoon together. Landon died a week later. Gilbert named Michael in honor of Landon when she gave birth to her son with second husband Bruce Boxleitner on October 6, 1995.

Gilbert has continued to work regularly, mainly in television. Jean Donovan appeared in the biopic Choices of the Heart (1983) and as Anna Sheridan in three episodes of Babylon 5 with then-husband Boxleitner in 1996. She appeared on Batgirl on the 1990s Batman: The Animated Series, but Tara Strong will replace her in the series's sequel, The New Batman Adventures.

Gilbert was a member of the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6429 Hollywood Blvd in 1985, thanks to her contributions to the television industry. When her actress was introduced during the ceremony, her then-fiancé, Rob Lowe, was present with her.

In 1998, she was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. In a season four episode of Nip/Tuck, Gilbert appeared as Shari Noble, a patient attempting to recover her nipples after committing zoophilia with her dog.

Gilbert portrayed Caroline "Ma" Ingalls in the musical version of Little House on the Prairie from 2008 to 2009. Francesca Zambello produced this world premiere performance at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, as Laura Lindsay. The exhibition lasted from October 19 to October 19 and was on a US National Tour from 2009 to 2010. In June 2010, the tour came to an end at the Starlight Theatre in Kansas City, Missouri.

Gilbert appeared in an Off-Broadway, limited-run production of Geraldine Aron's 2001 one-woman play My Brilliant Divorce in March and April 2018.

Gilbert appeared on season 14 of Dancing with the Stars in March 2012. Maksim Chmerkovskiy was paired with her. She fell and struck her head on Maksim's leg during week four's performance and was admitted to a hospital. She went home to recover but she returned to compete. She was disqualified from the competition in week eight, finishing in fifth place.

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