2002 - Appeared on the "Memorable TV Moms" version of "Weakest Link" (2001), along with June Lockhart ("Lassie" (1954), "Lost in Space" (1965)), JoMarie Payton ("Family Matters" (1989)), Pat Crowley ("Please Don't Eat the Daisies" (1965)), Janet Hubert ("The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" (1990)), Alley Mills ("The Wonder Years" (1988)), Carol Potter ("Beverly Hills, 90210" (1990)) and Beverly Garland ("My Three Sons" (1960)). Potter won.
Inducted (as a cast member of "Little House on the Prairie" (1974)) into the Hall of Great Western Performers of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in 1998.
Won the role of Caroline Ingalls in "Little House on the Prairie" (1974) out of 47 other actresses who also auditioned.
After "Little House on the Prairie" (1974) ended, she was featured as a guest star on various television shows and toured the country performing in numerous plays. Later on, she moved to Louisville, Kentucky, to continue her work in the theater. She was the co-founder and artistic director of Santa Fe's Resource Theatre Company and starred in "Wit" at the Arizona Theater Company.
Her first New York break was the play "The Gingham Tree." She had to borrow a dollar from a friend to go to the audition!
Her father, Gene Grassle, ran a gas station and her mother managed a restaurant.
She was known as the miracle baby in her family because, previous to her birth, her mother had 4 miscarriages.
In the late 1960s - hoping to boost her career, briefly changed her professional name to Kay Dillinger, claiming to be the illegitimate offspring of the notorious 1930s bank robber (who died ten years before she was born!).
When she came to LA in 1973 for a never-completed movie project, she was calling herself "Gabriel Tree", and it was under this name that she beat out 47 other actresses for the role of "Caroline Ingalls" in the long-running TV drama "Little House on the Prairie" (1974) (co-star Michael Landon convinced her to revert back to her given name of Karen Grassle).
(2005) She now lives in Pacific Palisades, California, with her adopted daughter, Lily.
(January 2009) Appearing in a commercial for "Premier" bathrooms.
Pictures from Zunshine.com, Happy Watching
15 фев 2011
