All roads lead to Walnut Grove.
Bonnie Bartlett, the 95-year-old actress you’ve seen in a million things like St. Elsewhere, The Golden Girls, the movie Twins, and as Mr. Feeny’s eventual wife on Boy Meets World, recently sat in with Rider Strong and Danielle Fishel for an episode of Pod Meets World. The discussion takes listeners through the contours of her long career and that of her husband, the 98-year-old William Daniels, who played Mr. Feeney. (You knew they were married in real life, right?)
A significant turning point in Bartlett’s life came when she first met Michael Landon — the director, executive producer, and star of Little House on the Prairie.
“I didn’t work because I had the two little boys,” Bartlett explained about a time in her career when she was semi-retired.
Then her family moved from New York (where she still kept her toes wet in theater) to California, as Daniels was getting a lot of work. That’s when his agent scheduled a meeting for her with Landon.
“He said it’s just a general appointment, but as it turned out, he hired me that day,” she said. “He met me and said I’ve got a part for you.”
A couple of days later, Bartlett was filming her first episodes as Grace.
If you’ll recall, Grace Snider was a widow who worked at the post office in the Minnesota community of Walnut Grove in the late 19th century, who eventually met and fell in love with the burly mountain man Isaiah Edwards (played by Victor French). The pair married and adopted the three Sanderson orphans. Things didn’t exactly go so well for this blended family by the end, but let’s keep focused on the positive side of things for now!
Bartlett noted she never had a contract for the role (“which was fine”), implying that everyone seemed to like what she was doing enough to keep bringing her back. Grace’s first appearance was in the fourth episode of season 1, and she returned 23 more times. Corinne Camacho, however, took over the role for the character’s final appearance in season 8.
Not surprisingly, Bartlett said she “loved the part” and had nothing but good things to say about her Little House experience — Landon was “a really nice guy” and working on the show “was pure pleasure.”
Ralph Dominguez/MediaPunch via Getty
Bonnie Bartlett with one of the two Emmys she won for ‘St. Elsewhere’
She added, “Other than [CBS soap opera Love of Life], I have never been in a movie or a play or anything that I didn’t enjoy!”
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For more of Bonnie Bartlett’s appearance on Pod Meets World, check out the full podcast below.
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