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Karen Grassle‌

Gender

Female

Birthday

calendar1942-02-25

Popularity

star15.7

Karen Grassle

Berkeley, California, USA

Karen Grassle

Berkeley, California, USA

Gender

Female

Birthday

calendar1942-02-25

Popularity

star15.7

Biography

Karen Trust Grassle (/ɡræsliː/ GRASS-LEE; born February 25, 1942) is an American actress, known for her role as Caroline Ingalls in the NBC television drama series Little House on the Prairie. After summers at the Stanford Contemporary Workshop playing leads and two summers at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival playing classical roles, her first professional engagement was a season at the Front Street Theatre, Memphis, TN. upon return from London. While living in New York City, she worked at resident and stock theatres throughout the country, also appearing on PBS in original works and on networks in three soap operas. She made her Broadway debut in the short-lived 1968 play The Gingham Dog. Grassle played in Butterflies Are Free on Broadway (as stand-by with Gloria Swanson, Rosemary Murphy, etc.) as well as at the Elitch Theatre in Denver, Colorado, in June 1972, along with Maureen O'Sullivan and Brandon deWilde, who was killed before leaving town after the performances ended. Grassle starred in the Shakespeare in the Park "Cymbeline." with Christopher Walken, Sam Waterston, and Bill Devane. Grassle auditioned for the role of the mother, Caroline Ingalls, in the Little House on the Prairie TV series and won the part. The series ran for nine seasons, from 1974 to 1983. After making the pilot for Little House on the Prairie, Grassle appeared in one episode of Gunsmoke titled "The Wiving" as Fran, one of several saloon girls kidnapped. Subsequently, she acted in the features Harry's War, a 1981 American film where she played Kathy, the wife of Edward Herrmann's title character, and Wyatt Earp, a 1994 film starring Kevin Costner. On television, she starred in and co-wrote the NBC-TV film Battered. Other TV movies include Cocaine: One Man's Seduction, Crisis in MidAir, and Between the Darkness and the Dawn. In episodic TV, she starred in Hotel, Love Boat, and Murder She Wrote (twice.) She also appeared on Hollywood Squares and numerous talk shows such as Dinah, Merv Griffin, Mike Douglas, and John Davidson. During this period, she lobbied for federal funding for shelters for battered women and appeared in many events to support the Equal Rights Amendment. After the series ended, she moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico and became co-founder and artistic director of Santa Fe’s Resource Theater Company. Later she moved to Louisville, Kentucky, where she performed with the company of actors at Actors Theatre of Louisville. Grassle continues to perform in productions in San Francisco, Berkeley, and Palo Alto as well as tours and productions such as Driving Miss Daisy in the starring role of Miss Daisy at the Manitoba Theatre Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada in a co-production with Rubicon Theatre and at the Riverside Center for the Performing Arts in Fredericksburg, Virginia. In 2008, she was awarded a prize for her performance in Cabaret at the San Francisco Playhouse. Over the years, she has appeared in commercials such as the promotional face for Premier Bathrooms, a supplier of bathing products for the elderly and infirm.

Movie Credits

Cocaine: One Man's Seduction

Cocaine: One Man's Seduction‌
star7.0
calendar 1983

Harry's War

Harry's War‌
star5.2
calendar 1981

Between the Darkness and the Dawn

Between the Darkness and the Dawn‌
star6.2
calendar 1985

Little House on the Prairie

Little House on the Prairie‌
star8.3
calendar 1974

Tales of Everyday Magic

Tales of Everyday Magic‌
star0.0
calendar 2012

Crisis in Mid-Air

Crisis in Mid-Air‌
star6.0
calendar 1979

The President's Mistress

The President's Mistress‌
star6.7
calendar 1978

Little House on the Prairie: A Merry Ingalls Christmas

Little House on the Prairie: A Merry Ingalls Christmas‌
star8.4
calendar 2014

Battered

Battered‌
star0.0
calendar 1978

Lasso

Lasso‌
star6.6
calendar 2017

Little House: The Last Farewell

Little House: The Last Farewell‌
star7.1
calendar 1984

Wyatt Earp

Wyatt Earp‌
star6.8
calendar 1994

The Little House Years

The Little House Years‌
star7.0
calendar 1979

Where's Roman?

Where's Roman?‌
star0.0
calendar 2017

Not to Forget

Not to Forget‌
star6.7
calendar 2021

Tv Credits

Murder, She Wrote

Murder, She Wrote‌
star7.6
calendar 1984

Little House on the Prairie

Little House on the Prairie‌
star8.0
calendar 1974

Hotel

Hotel‌
star6.7
calendar 1982

Gunsmoke

Gunsmoke‌
star6.5
calendar 1955

Hallmark Hall of Fame

Hallmark Hall of Fame‌
star8.8
calendar 1951

The Love Boat

The Love Boat‌
star6.3
calendar 1977

Murder, She Wrote

Murder, She Wrote‌
star7.6
calendar 1984

The Mike Douglas Show

The Mike Douglas Show‌
star4.8
calendar 1961