DEAN BUTLER - I'm VERY GRATEFUL

The Little House on the Prairie alum looks back with a new memoir

- Fortune Benatar

In 1979, Dean Butler joined the cast of Little House on the Prairie as Almanzo Wilder, love interest (and future husband) of Melissa Gilbert’s Laura Ingalls — and his world has never been the same. “Every great thing in my life has a Little House connection to it,” Dean tells Closer. “It’s an incredible gift.”

The actor’s first memoir, Prairie Man: My Little House Life & Beyond, was released on June 25 — just in time to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Little House’s television premiere. “What’s interesting about writing something like this is, as you start the process you step into an area, and that opens another door and then another door,” Dean, 68, says. “Things that you haven’t thought about for years suddenly come into focus. To be able to circle back to this very special time in my life through the book makes me feel very grateful.”

How did your upbringing shape the person your are today?

I come from a large, multigenerational family. My family came to California before the Gold Rush, so I’m a fifth-generation Californian. There’s a strong agricultural farming component in my family. I grew up in a country environment in South Bay San Francisco, riding horses. There was no hot water, there was no electricity. We played games at night by coal oil lamps, heating water on the stove for baths twice a week. It was very much a Little House life.

You were 23 when you were cast on the show. How did it happen?

I went and read for Michael [Landon], and he basically offered me the part. It was a pretty momentous four or five days. I celebrated my 23rd birthday, I graduated from the University of the Pacific, and two days later I was on the set of Little House starting this five-year run of a show that would literally impact the rest of my life.

You met your wife Katherine on the set.