Katherine MacGregor -- Mrs. Oleson from "Little House on the Prairie -- Dies at Age 93

I have been a longtime fan of NBC's "Little House on the Prairie" for most of my life. I grew up watching the program with my sisters and enjoyed reading Laura Ingalls Wilder's books as a child. I've even visited two of the Laura Ingalls Wilder museums (once briefly at the Walnut Grove, MN, museum, and 3-4 times at the Burr Oak, IA, museum). I've even made financial contributions periodically towards the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum in Burr Oak. 35 years later, I still watch the reruns periodically.

From 1974 to 1983, MacGregor appeared as Harriet, the wife of mild-mannered Mercantile general store owner Nels Oleson (Richard Bull), on 153 episodes of Little House on the Prairie, covering all nine seasons of the series that was set in the 1870s and '80s in Walnut Grove, Minnesota. "I look for the humor of Mrs. Oleson," she told the Santa Cruz Sentinel in 1981. "She was originally painted as just black-and-white mean. Anyone that mean has to be a fool. So I began mixing farce into it. I think the audience counts on seeing Mrs. Oleson fall on her fanny."

MacGregor's acting career virtually ended at the same time that "Little House" did, but she enjoyed a long career before taking on her greatest role. Her first television appearance was on "Love of Life" back in 1951. She appeared on several programs throughout her life, notably on "Ironside,""All in the Family,""Mannix," and "Emergency!"