Little House on the Prairie star Dean Butler is now unrecognizable more than four decades after the show came to an end.
Butler, now 69, was skyrocketed into the spotlight after he was cast as Almanzo Wilder in the western drama, which ran from 1974 un 1983.
He appeared in the final four seasons of the show and the three post-series TV movies.
His handsome smile, sparkling eyes and famous side-swept locks stole the hearts of millions of young girls.
But now, 42 years after Little House ended, he looks very different than he did in the series.
Last week, he took to Instagram to share a video of himself decorating for holidays, and he revealed that he had added a tribute to the beloved show to his Christmas decor.
He showed a small toy version of the Little House featured in the series, which he placed in front of his tree.
Before Little House, Butler starred in the show The Streets of San Francisco and the 1978 TV movie Forever.
Little House on the Prairie star Dean Butler is now unrecognizable more than four decades after the show came to an end. He’s seen in the show
His handsome smile, sparkling eyes and famous side-swept locks stole the hearts of millions of young girls. But now, 42 years after Little House ended, he looks very different
But it was his role in Little House on the Prairie that really propelled him into massive fame.
After that, he went on to star in The New Gidget, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Murder, She Wrote, Who’s the Boss?, The Love Boat and Desert Hearts.
He also starred in a slew of Broadway shows like Into the Woods and West Side Story.
In more recent years he has focused on work behind the camera, delving into directing and producing.
He worked on a series of entertainment, sports, and documentary programming including Feherty on the Gold Channel.
He also produced two documentaries about Little House, called Little House on the Prairie: The Legacy of Laura Ingalls Wilder and Almanzo Wilder: Life Before Laura.
As for his personal life, he’s married to actress Katherine Cannon.
He recently reflected on the immense attention he received thanks to Little House to People, revealing he often gets comments from women who say he was their ‘first crush’ when he attends conventions and events honoring the show.
Butler, now 69, was skyrocketed into the spotlight after he was cast as Almanzo Wilder in the western drama, which ran from 1974 un 1983
Last week, he took to Instagram to share a video of himself decorating for holidays, and he revealed that he had added a tribute to the beloved show to his Christmas decor
‘A woman would come up to the table with her husband, with her children, with significant others, and tell me, “You are my first crush in the world,”‘ he revealed.
‘That is one of the sweetest things. It’s totally benign the way they say it. It’s this beautiful thing.
‘Women of all ages walk up to me. I get this from women in their 60s, and I get it from teenage girls still, which is incredibly flattering in a spectrum of the world that we live in.’
He couldn’t be more proud of his participation in the series, and is honored that it’s still beloved all these years later.
‘We travel, we meet people, and we get to see in the eyes of people who love [the show],’ he gushed of attending Little House conventions.
‘We get to see the joy that they have when they are… when they get to come together with people that they’ve been watching their whole lives.
‘We watch their reflection, we watch these moments play in their heads. We get tears, we get laughter … we get just wonderful honesty from people.’
