LOS ANGELES, CA. (THECOUNT) — Katherine MacGregor, who played the antagonist character Harriet Oleson on TV’s “Little House on the Prairie,” has died at age 93.
Her representative Tony Sears says MacGregor died Tuesday at the Motion Picture and Television Fund retirement community in Los Angeles.
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While her nasty daughter, Nellie Oleson, was the character viewers most loved to hate on the NBC show that ran from 1974 to 1983, her cruel, greedy mother Harriet was just as awful. They stood in contrast to the warm, loving members of the Ingalls family who were the show’s focus, and often the Olesons’ targets. source
Her screen career consisted of tiny film roles and TV guest spots before she landed on “Little House.”
Melissa Gilbert, who played Laura Ingalls Wilder on the series, was among the first to pay tribute to the late actress, who was reportedly a devout Hindu, on social media.
“She was outspoken and hilariously funny. A truly gifted actress as she was able to play a despicable character but with so much heart. Her Harriet Oleson was the woman our fans loved to hate. A perfect antagonist,” Gilbert wrote on Instagram. “The thing people outside of our prairie family didn’t know, was how loving and nurturing she was with the younger cast.
“I really loved her and I find great comfort knowing that she is at peace and, per her beliefs, her soul has moved on to its next incarnation.”