“Little House on the Prairie’” Actor Dean Butler Writes the Foreword to New Christmas “Secrets” Book

The TV Star Waxes Nostalgic in Holiday Traditions

He’s handsome, affable, talented, and one of the most legendary actors in the history of television.

His name is Dean Butler, and in the 1970s and early ’80s, he portrayed Almanzo, opposite Melissa Gilbert as Laura Ingalls, on the family TV show, Little House on the Prairie. Prairie, which was produced and directed by its star, Michael Landon (Bonanza/Highway to Heaven), was based on the famed novels of the same name that featured the adventures of the real-life Laura Ingels. The show originally aired on NBC from 1974 to 1983.

From 1986 to 1988, Butler played Jeff ‘Moondoggie’ Griffin, opposite Caryn Richman as his TV wife Francine ‘Gidget Griffin’ in The New Gidget. This series is the warm-hearted, half-hour surf-sitcom that was adapted from the original Gidget TV show starring Sally Field, which itself was a small-screen version of the classic feature films starring Sandra Dee (all of which were inspired by the original Gidget novel by Frederick Kohner).

Several episodes of Little House on the Prairie focused on Christmas and other holidays, including “Christmas at Plum Creek” (which first aired on Christmas Eve in 1974), “Blizzard” (January 3…