‘Little House on the Prairie’ Star Charlotte Stewart Recalls Telling Michael Landon to ‘Shut Up’ at Audition

Michelle Stein August 13, 2026, 11:54 am

Charlotte Stewart, Michael Landon, in 'Little House on the Prairie' — NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images/Everett Collection

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Charlotte Stewart recounted telling Michael Landon to “shut up” during her audition for Little House on the Prairie.
She attended the audition without knowing much about the project, arriving in casual attire.
The original Little House on the Prairie series aired from 1974 to 1983 and can be streamed on Peacock.

Little House on the Prairie star Charlotte Stewart recalled telling Michael Landon to “shut up” during her audition.

During the August 11 episode of The Patrick LabyorSheaux podcast, the actress dished on how she landed the role of Miss Beadle in the original historical drama series. Stewart, 85, explained that she snagged the audition through her agent — but didn’t really understand what the project was.

“I got an interview for Paramount Studios for something called Little House. I didn’t pay much attention to it,” she told host Patrick Labyorteaux (who played Andy Garvey in LHOTP). “And I arrived as I always did to an interview, in my jeans and a tie-dyed T-shirt. The dialogue was very short. I was a teacher, and these two little girls were coming to school for the first time, and that’s all it was.”

Stewart continued, “I walk in, and it’s 12 men in folding chairs and Michael Landon. I was shocked, speechless, because that’s the first time anybody said it was a Michael Landon thing.”

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After describing Landon as “so handsome” and “very outgoing,” Stewart detailed her unexpected move at the LHOTP audition.

“I saw the producer sitting at his big desk, and he said, ‘Are you ready to read?’ And I said, ‘May I sit at your desk?’ And he got up and moved, and I walked all the way down to the end of the room. And all the men are going, ‘What is she?…’ You know, and I went, ‘Quiet!'”

That’s when Stewart confessed, “I can’t believe I told Michael Landon to shut up on my interview. So, I got the part.”

The original Little House on the Prairie series aired for nine seasons from 1974 to 1983. In addition to Stewart and Landon, it starred Melissa Gilbert, Karen Grassle, Melissa Sue Anderson, Rachel Lindsay Greenbush, Sidney Robyn Greenbush, Victor French, Katherine MacGregor, Richard Bull, Jonathan Gilbert, Kevin Hagen, Alison Arngrim, and Dean Butler, among others.