Karen Grassle

Karen Trust Grassle ɡræsliː GRASSLEE born February 25 1942 is an American actress known for her role as Caroline Ingalls in the NBC television drama series Little House on the Prairie After summers at the Stanford Contemporary Workshop playing leads and two summers at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival playing classical roles her first professional engagement was a season at the Front Street Theatre Memphis TN upon return from London While living in New York City she worked at resident and stock theatres throughout the country also appearing on PBS in original works and on networks in three soap operas She made her Broadway debut in the shortlived 1968 play The Gingham Dog Grassle played in Butterflies Are Free on Broadway as standby with Gloria Swanson Rosemary Murphy etc as well as at the Elitch Theatre in Denver Colorado in June 1972 along with Maureen OSullivan and Brandon deWilde who was killed before leaving town after the performances ended Grassle starred in the Shakespeare in the Park Cymbeline with Christopher Walken Sam Waterston and Bill Devane Grassle auditioned for the role of the mother Caroline Ingalls in the Little House on the Prairie TV series and won the part The series ran for nine seasons from 1974 to 1983 After making the pilot for Little House on the Prairie Grassle appeared in one episode of Gunsmoke titled The Wiving as Fran one of several saloon girls kidnapped Subsequently she acted in the features Harrys War a 1981 American film where she played Kathy the wife of Edward Herrmanns title character and Wyatt Earp a 1994 film starring Kevin Costner On television she starred in and cowrote the NBCTV film Battered Other TV movies include Cocaine One Mans Seduction Crisis in MidAir and Between the Darkness and the Dawn In episodic TV she starred in Hotel Love Boat and Murder She Wrote twice She also appeared on Hollywood Squares and numerous talk shows such as Dinah Merv Griffin Mike Douglas and John Davidson During this period she lobbied for federal funding for shelters for battered women and appeared in many events to support the Equal Rights Amendment After the series ended she moved to Santa Fe New Mexico and became cofounder and artistic director of Santa Fes Resource Theater Company Later she moved to Louisville Kentucky where she performed with the company of actors at Actors Theatre of Louisville Grassle continues to perform in productions in San Francisco Berkeley and Palo Alto as well as tours and productions such as Driving Miss Daisy in the starring role of Miss Daisy at the Manitoba Theatre Centre in Winnipeg Manitoba Canada in a coproduction with Rubicon Theatre and at the Riverside Center for the Performing Arts in Fredericksburg Virginia In 2008 she was awarded a prize for her performance in Cabaret at the San Francisco Playhouse Over the years she has appeared in commercials such as the promotional face for Premier Bathrooms a supplier of bathing products for the elderly and infirm