Cast just before his 23rd birthday, Dean Butler joined Little House on the Prairie halfway through its run, gaining instant celebrity and fans' enduring affection. Ironically, when the late, great Michael Landon remarked that Little House would outlive everyone involved in making it, Butler deemed it unlikely. Yet for four decades and counting, Butler has been defined in the public eye as Almanzo Wilder-a role he views as the great gift of his life. Butler had been cast as a romantic lead before, but as the eventual husband of Laura 'Half-pint' Ingalls-and the man who would share actress Melissa Gilbert's first real-life romantic kiss-Butler landed as a central figure for the show's devoted fans. Now, with wit and candour, Butler recounts his passage through the Prairie, sharing stories and anecdotes of the remarkable cast who were his on-screen family. But that was merely the beginning of a diverse career that includes Broadway runs and roles on two other classic shows-Moondoggie in The New Gidget and Buffy's ne'er-do-well father, Hank, in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Coming of age during a golden era of entertainment, today Butler enjoys success and fulfillment as a director and producer-notably of NBC Gol's Feherty-while remaining deeply loyal to Little House. The warmth, heart, and decency that fans fell in love with on Little House echo through this uplifting memoir, a story, in Butler's words, about 'good luck, good television, and the very good-if gloriously imperfect-people who made it so.'
