5 minutes ago/ with a heavy heart as we report the sad news of 58-year-old actress Melissa Gilbert.

5 minutes ago/ with a heavy heart as we report the sad news of 58-year-old actress Melissa Gilbert. #melissa Melissa Ellen Gilbert (born May 8, 1964)[1][2] is an American actress, television director, producer, politician, and former president of the Screen Actors Guild. Gilbert began her career as a child actress in the late 1960s, appearing in numerous commercials and guest starring roles on television. From 1974 to 1983, she starred as Laura Ingalls Wilder, the second oldest daughter of Charles Ingalls (played by Michael Landon) on the NBC series Little House on the Prairie. During the run of Little House, Gilbert appeared in several television films, including The Diary of Anne Frank and The Miracle Worker. As an adult, she continued her career mainly in television films. Gilbert has also continued with guest starring roles on television and has completed voice work for animation such as Batman: The Animated Series as Barbara Gordon / Batgirl. From 2009 to 2010, Gilbert appeared as Caroline "Ma" Ingalls in the touring production of Little House on the Prairie, the Musical. In 2012, she was a contestant on season fourteen of the popular reality dance competition show Dancing with the Stars on ABC. Gilbert served as the President of the Screen Actors Guild from 2001 to 2005.[3] In 2009, her autobiography Prairie Tale: A Memoir, was released. In 2014, she wrote a short story for children, called Daisy and Josephine[4] as well as My Prairie Cookbook: Memories and Frontier Food from My Little House to Yours.[5] In 2016, Gilbert ran for U.S. Congress as a Democrat in Michigan's 8th congressional district and she won the Democratic primary. She later dropped out because of health issues stemming from a 2012 accident. Gilbert was born in Los Angeles, California, on May 8, 1964, to a newly engaged couple, Kathy Wood and David Darlington, and given up for adoption immediately after birth.[1] She was adopted one day later by actor and comedian Paul Gilbert[7] and his wife, dancer and actress Barbara Crane, the daughter of The Honeymooners creator Harry Crane. They later adopted a son, Jonathan, who co-starred on Little House on the Prairie.[citation needed] Gilbert's parents divorced when she was 8 years old. Her mother then married attorney Harold Abeles, and together they had biological daughter Sara Rebecca Abeles (the actress known professionally as Sara Gilbert) on January 29, 1975.[citation needed] On February 13, 1976, Paul Gilbert died. Although 11-year-old Melissa was told that he had suffered a stroke, she found out years later that he had been a VA patient who dealt with constant pain and that he had taken his own life. The marriage of Barbara and Harold Abeles later ended in divorce.[8] According to her biography, Gilbert was raised in her adoptive mother's Jewish religion,[9] but did not have any formal religious education or conversion ceremony. Gilbert's earliest television appearances were in dozens of commercials, including one for Alpo dog food with Lorne Greene (Michael Landon's television father on Bonanza). She also attended school with Landon's daughter, Leslie Landon. It was Leslie who informed her that she had won the role of Laura Ingalls on Little House on the Prairie, beating out over 500 child actresses for the part. The pilot was shot in 1973 and was a ratings success. Almost a year later, Gilbert began filming the series. Gilbert became extremely close to the Landon family after her adoptive father died. However, a rift developed between Michael Landon and Gilbert after the revelation of Landon's affair with Little House's young makeup artist, Cindy Clerico.[11] Gilbert had limited contact with Landon after Little House ended during the 1983–84 season. Seven years later, she was contacted by Landon's family and upon news of his condition, paid him a heartfelt visit following his May 9, 1991, appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson where he discussed his pancreatic cancer. She visited Landon at his Malibu home where he was, by then, bedridden, and they spent the afternoon together. Landon died one week later. When Gilbert gave birth to her son with second husband Bruce Boxleitner on October 6, 1995, they named him Michael, in honor of Landon.

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