Melissa Gilbert

Melissa Gilbert was one of 500 young girls who auditioned for the role of Laura Ingalls Wilder in the TV series "Little House on the Prairie" and she was the only one whose screen test was sent to be considered by NBC. It was Michael Landon's daughter Lesliewho told Melissa that she had won the role of Laura when the two of them stood in line at their school cafeteria.
Landon had a unique way of inspiring child actors and actresses to cry when required for a scene. Gilbert described how he would work himself up emotionally, face her with his eyes full of tears and ask her, "Do you know how much I love you?" to which she would get all teary and emotional in response.
Dean Butler (who played Gilbert's love interest/husband Almanzo on the show) remarked that the first on-screen kiss between him and Gilbert was so nerve-racking for everyone that there were chaperones on the set to make sure nothing unseemly was going on. From the sidelines, Melissa's mother Barbara was wailing "My baby!" so much, that she had to be consoled.
Throughout the series, when the Ingalls sat down to eat, they were eating Dinty Moore Beef Stew, regardless of whether it was meant to be rabbit, squirrel, or other prairie meat fare.