SerpApi.Org
‘Little House on the Prairie’ first premiered in 1974 and ran for nine seasons
NEED TO KNOW
- Alison Arngrim made an appearance on Here’s What Happened Podcast w/ Weston Emery on July 9, 2026
- During the episode, the Little House on the Prairie star opened up about the surprising behind-the-scenes culture on the classic series’ set, including the crew’s heavy smoking and drinking habits
- Arngrim also shared memories of the era while explaining that the behavior, though shocking today, was considered normal at the time
Alison Arngrim is forever linked to one of television’s most memorable villains thanks to her portrayal of Nellie Oleson on Little House on the Prairie.
More than four decades after the beloved family drama wrapped, the actress continues to share behind-the-scenes memories that paint a very different picture from the wholesome world viewers saw on screen.
During an appearance on the Here’s What Happened Podcast w/ Weston Emery on July 9, Arngrim reflected on the workplace culture that surrounded the cast and crew throughout the show’s run.
She explained that the adults on set “came from an era where everybody smoked and everybody drank, like all the time.”
“There was no health food and no vegetarian options and gluten-free muffins,” Arngrim told Emery.
As Arngrim described it, the crew’s gathering place throughout the workday was the prop truck, where far more than just production supplies could be found. “The prop men were in charge of the booze and the cigarettes, as well as the candy, so everyone was hanging out at their truck,” she recalled.
The actress, now 64, made it clear that, “thank heavens,” the show’s younger cast members were never part of that atmosphere. Instead, she said many of the adults embraced habits that were common at the time, recalling that Michael Landon and members of the crew “were puffing Marlboros all over the place,” while production staff “went through a couple cases” of beer every day.
“We had to send someone out to the store, ‘cause we’re low on beer and some days it’s a two-case day, sometimes it’s a three-case day — minimum, really two and a half — we’re down to one case and production will come to a grinding halt if we ever run out of beer,” she recalled. “And I’m like, well, we can’t have that.”
Still, even with the steady flow of alcohol, Arngrim insisted the work itself never appeared to suffer. “No one was drunk on the set,” she emphasized before explaining her amazement at watching crew members handle physically demanding jobs.
“They were burning it off or something, because these guys were going on ladders and hanging lights and I’m going, ‘I know they’re living on beer,’” she said.
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
According to Arngrim, the beer supply was replenished whenever it started “running low,” and the socializing didn’t end when filming wrapped.
“The prop truck had a whole bar, and at the end of each day when they were done, they’d put up like a bar with a board on a couple of saw horses and then start really drinking,” she recalled.
Looking back, Arngrim also remembered the production’s “insane” Christmas celebrations and wrap parties as especially over-the-top, saying designated drivers were a necessity.
She admitted she never understood how crew members still had enough energy to celebrate after long filming days, adding, “Their tolerance was God knows what, because they were out of the ‘50s... where you drank, and you smoked. They did not think this was weird.”
Arngrim portrayed Nellie from 1974 to 1982, alongside costars Landon, Melissa Gilbert, Karen Grassle, Melissa Sue Anderson, Dean Butler, Sidney and Lindsay Greenbush and Matthew Labyorteaux, to name a few.
Read the original article on People
