By Mallory Mattingly
LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE actress Melora Hardin made a bold claim about the late Michael Landon, who portrayed Laura Ingalls Wilder’s father, Charles “Pa” Ingalls.
“Michael Landon made everyone feel safe,” Hardin, who played Belinda, told Fox News Digital. “He trusted in us, and we trusted in him. He was protective of us. And I think that was one of the most important lessons I learned early on [in Hollywood] — surround yourself with the people who make you feel safe.”
“I’ve always said that acting and making movies and TV are one of the greatest team sports around,” she added. “And I believe Michael Landon was my first example of that. I learned from him right away. And it just felt amazing to be around people who made you feel safe to be a fool in front of, to fail in front of. As a performer, especially that young, it felt good to not feel constantly judged or challenged. If you feel safe, then you can do great work.”
Hardin had already been working “for a long time already” before joining LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE.
“I worked with people who weren’t quite as nice as he was,” she said of Landon. “We had school on the set, and it was just so much fun to have other kids in school with you, working with you.”
“A lot of times I would be doing a movie or something, and I’d be the only [kid] in the room,” she explained. “I’d be the only one in the classroom with the set teacher. And it was such a joy to have other kids when you got to be in class with them and then work with them. That was joyful. We would also play games. It was a really fun way to be a child, to be a child actor. It was certainly a highlight.”
Hardin recalled that from the first time she met Landon, he was “so warm.”
“He worked great with kids,” she declared. “He really knew how to make us feel comfortable. He would let us do our thing. He wasn’t a meddling director. He was very joyful.”
Related: LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE Star Recalls Losing ‘Father Figure’ Michael Landon
Hardin continued: “He had a longtime relationship with his crew and he surrounded people he really trusted. So it was seamless. He was just joyful. I never felt he was stressed. Maybe he was [working behind the scenes], but I never felt it as a kid. He just seemed to be having a great time…Everybody seemed to be smiling in my world as a young kid.”
In 1991, Landon died after a hard-fought battle with pancreatic cancer, which is “when abnormal cells in the pancreas grow and divide out of control and form a tumor,” according to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network.
July 1, 2025, will mark 34 years since his death, and his family continues to keep his memory alive.
“We keep Dad’s memory alive by celebrating his best qualities and incorporating them into our lives,” Landon’s daughter Leslie wrote. “My Dad was very loving and affectionate; he had an amazing sense of humor and laughter was always a priority in our home. He dedicated time to better the lives of others and was never too busy to help those in need. He was a storyteller and loved adventure.”
While Landon didn’t get to see the lasting impact he had on his young costars, they continue to feel his influence on them to this day.
Read Next: LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE’s Michael Landon: ‘God Sees to It’
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