Biography: Melissa Sue Anderson

Melissa Sue Anderson (born September 26, 1962) is an American Daytime Emmy- winning actress best known for playing Mary Ingalls on the NBC television series Little House on the Prairie, which aired from 1974 until 1983. She has been most recently seen as First Lady Megan Hollister in the 2006 television mini-series 10.5: Apocalypse.

Biography

Anderson was born in Berkeley, California. Her show business career got underway when a dance teacher urged her parents to find an agent for her. She began doing TV commercials, and soon the blond, blue-eyed girl was in demand for roles. One of those included that of Millicent, the girl who kissed Bobby and induced him to see fireworks on The Brady Bunch. At age eleven, she won her role in Little House on the Prairie ahead of hundreds of competitors. She left the series in 1982. She continued acting in television shows, such as The Equalizer, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and Murder, She Wrote.

She has been described as mild mannered and unpretentious, similar to her Mary Ingalls character. Her first publicly known romance was with actor Lorenzo Lamas, with whom she made an appearance in the film series The Love Boat in which two friends (Lorenzo and Melissa) resist the matchmaking efforts of their parents. After this short romance, she dated Frank Sinatra, Jr., who at the time was more than twice her age. She says, "It was fun, but never really wild. That's just not me."

She won an Emmy Award for her performance in Which Mother Is Mine?, an ABC Afternoon Special (1979), and was nominated for a 1978 Primetime Emmy Award for Best Leading Actress in a Drama Series for her work on Little House on the Prairie. She also secured a Spanish 'TP de Oro' Award for 'Best Foreign Actress' for Little House(1980). She was the associate producer for the next to last TV project Michael Landon made before dying: Where Pigeons Go to Die (1990).

She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1998, she was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

With husband Michael Sloan, she has two children, daughter Piper (born May 1991) and son Griffin (born 1996). Anderson and her family became Canadian citizens on July 1, 2007 (Canada Day) in Montreal.

Trivia

Currently holds the world record of 103 Krystal burgers consumed in 8 minutes, set on October 28, 2007.

In the later years of Little House On The Prairie Anderson cut her hair short and wore a brown wig for the episodes after that.

Filmography

Actress

• 10.5: Apocalypse (2006) — First Lady Megan Hollister
• 100 Greatest Teen Stars (2006) (mini) — Teen Star nº 56
• Thin Ice (2000) (TV) — Tanya Ferguson
• Partners — Cheryl Darrin
• Earthquake in New York (1998) — Dr. Marilyn Blake
• 4 Short Films About Love: Summer (1995) — Elizabeth
• Killer Lady (1995) — American Lady
• Burke's Law — Michelle Ryder
• The Greatest Adventure: Stories from the Bible (1994) — The Serpent (Satan)
• X-Men — Snowbird
  • "Phoenix Saga, Part 5: Child of Light"
  • "Repo Man"
• Dead Men Don't Die (1991) — Dulcie Niles
• Forbidden Nights (1990) — Marie Shapiro
• The Return of Sam McCloud (1989) — Colleen McCloud
• Looking Your Best (1989)
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents — Julie Fenton/Laura Donovan
• Far North (1988) — Young Nurse
• The Suicide Club (1988) — Laura Donovan on TV
• The Equalizer — Yvette Marcel
• Memories of Manon (1988) — Yvette Marcel
• Dark Mansions (1986) — Noelle Drake
• The Love Boat — Vista Ford
• Hotel — Anne Goldman
• Jungle Heat (1985) (uncredited)
• Glitter
• Murder, She Wrote — Eve Crystal
• Finder of Lost Loves (1984) — Nikki Gatos
• Goma-2 (1984) — Kukki
• Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends — Katherine 'Kitty' Pryde
• Chattanooga Choo Choo (1984) — Jennie
• First Affair (1983) — Toby King
• An Innocent Love (1982) — Molly Rush
• Little House on the Prairie — Mary Ingalls Kendall
• Advice to the Lovelorn (1981) — Maureen Tyler
• Happy Birthday to Me (1981) — Virginia 'Ginny' Wainwright
• Midnight Offerings (1981) — Vivian Sotherland
• Fantasy Island — Amy Marson
• Little House Years (1979) — Mary Ingalls
• Skatetown, U.S.A. (1979)
• A New Kind of Family — Lisa
• Which Mother Is Mine? (1979) — Alexandria 'Alex' Benton
• Survival of Dana (1979) — Dana Lee
• A Different Approach (1978)
• James at 15 (1977) — Lacey Stevens
• Beat the Turtle Drum (1977) — Kate
• The Loneliest Runner (1976) — Nancy Rizzi
• Little House on the Prairie (1974) — Mary Ingalls
• Shaft (1973) — Marshal's Daughter
• The Brady Bunch (1973) — Millicent
• Bewitched (1972) — Girl

Producer

• Where Pigeons Go to Die (1990) — associate producer

External links

• Melissa Sue Anderson at the Internet Movie Database
• Melissa Sue Anderson - Where is She Now?
• Melissa Sue Anderson Fan Page

Melissa Sue Anderson main page.