NEED TO KNOW

• Alison Arngrim played Nellie Oleson on Little House on the Prairie from 1974 to 1983
• The actress, 64, tells PEOPLE about getting the role and why her family’s background in acting drew her to playing a villain
• Arngrim laughed at some of Oleson’s more sinister moments

Little House on the Prairie’s Alison Arngrim knows she ended up in a role that was meant for her.

Arngrim looked back on being cast as Nellie Oleson while catching up with PEOPLE to discuss the Little House on the Prairie cast reunion at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, taking place Sept. 11 to Sept. 13.

The actress, 64, remembers getting home from her eventful audition over 50 years ago and learning she was cast as Oleson, noting that she “was hired immediately.”

“And right away, right away I said, ‘Okay, great, great. I am the villain. I have managed to snag the villain role,’” she recalls.

The desire to be liked would lead some young stars to shy away from edgy roles, but Arngrim knew its worth right away.

“I grew up in a house full of actors. I knew what it meant to be the villain. And I always liked villains in shows. I just did. So it was a huge day for me,” she explains. “It was that kind of kismet chemistry immediately. She jumped off the page at me, and I saw it, Michael Landon saw it, and boom!”

Arngrim laughs as she continues, “Never in my wildest dreams did I think Nellie would continue to do the kind of stuff she did. I could never imagine that she was going to be so awful that she was going to pretend to be paralyzed and get pushed down a hill in a wheelchair.”

The actress is surprised and humbled by the continued love for Oleson, proud that she “still is this iconic character of mean girl awfulness, 50 years later.”

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In 2025, Arngrim opened up about bringing Oleson to life on an episode of the Little House: Fifty for 50 Podcast. She credited Victor French for helping push her in a moment when Oleson needed to be “more evil.”

Arngrim recalled, “I had been reading these horror comics that week on the set with werewolves and zombies and things. They’re very, very gory and fabulous. I was 13. And just as I’m kinda really getting into that good, like, almost the Grinch-type of evil, and then Victor said, ‘Think of your werewolf comic books!’ ” 

“And then you just see this fabulous, beautiful smile just overtake me,” she said. “And he’s like, ‘Yes. That’s it.’ ”

She credited him with helping her land the moment, noting that “he absolutely rah-rah’d, cheered me through it.”

Arngrim will appear at the Grand Ole Opry event along with Rachel and Robyn Greenbush (Carrie Ingalls); Charlotte Stewart (Miss Beadle); Dean Butler (Almanzo Wilder); Pamela Roylance (Sarah Carter); Stan Ivar (John Carter); Wendi Lou Lee (Baby Grace); Jennifer Donati (Baby Rose); and Todd Bridges (Solomon). Tickets are now available.