Melissa Anderson

Vocation

Notable

American child actress who grew into adolescence before the viewer's eyes, warming the hearts of millions with her role of blind Mary Ingalls in the beloved TV series "Little House on the Prairie." In 1980, she won an Emmy for the TV special "Which Mother is Mine?" Melissa, who spent her early years in Berkeley, CA., is the daughter of salesman James and homemaker Marion. After she was introduced to acting through a dance teacher, she was cast in her first TV role at age nine as the girl who gave Bobby Brady a kiss in the TV series "The Brady Bunch." "I was so excited to do that," she said, "The only thing better would have been doing 'The Partridge Family.'" Following her appearances on episodes of the show "Shaft," she was cast in the 1974 season in her signature role as Mary Ingalls. Mature beyond her years, she was known for always conducting herself as a "real professional." While the character Mary Ingalls endured blindness, cruel poverty, harsh winters, a miscarriage and losing a child in a fire, her TV family bonded in close-knit support. Off screen, dynamics among the show's cast were not always as supportive. "It was a happy set - but you were glad to go home at night." She rarely kept in touch with cast members after the show's cancellation in 1981, yet met them once again during the memorial service of co-star Michael Landon after his death from cancer in 1991. After her success in the "Little House" series, Anderson acted in "umpteen movies of the week." During one appearance she made on "The Love Boat," she began a relationship with Frank Sinatra Jr. (She was 17 to his 35). "It was exciting. But it was never wild. That's just not me." While acting in "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" in 1987 she met the show's executive producer and future husband Bill Sloan; they were married three years later and Anderson began turning down roles. Since that time she has evolved into the Hollywood rarity of being a well-adjusted former child star. She now works as a full-time Mom to her two children, Piper, born 1991 and Griffin, born in 1996. "I really don't feel like I'm missing anything...I love being Mrs. Sloan...It's nice not to have to work." Contentedly moving into domesticity, she raised daughter Piper and son Griffin in Topanga Canyon, CA. She takes an occasionally TV role but has no desire for the stress of full time acting. Link to Wikipedia biography