Jack Lilley on ‘Little House on the Prairie’. Photo:
Peacocktv
The Little House on the Prairie family is mourning the loss of series alum Jack Lilley.
On Friday, March 21, Melissa Gilbert announced the news of Lilley’s death in an Instagram post. He was 91.
“The Little House family has lost one of our own,” Gilbert wrote, calling Lilley, “one of my favorite people on the planet.”
“He taught me how to ride a horse when I was just a wee little thing. He was so patient with me. He never said no when I would bound up to him squealing, ‘Can we go ride? Please, please, please?'”
Lilley played a variety of roles on Little House, as Gilbert noted in her tribute, and also called out his “absolute brilliance in the film Blazing Saddles.”
Jack Lilley on ‘Little House on the Prairie’. Peacocktv
Gilbert revealed she’d reconnected with him on an ABC pilot more than 20 years ago, Then Came Jones, and while she was “so bummed when it didn’t get picked up,” it brought back fond memories of Little House.
“It was all very synchronistic. Our first read through was at Paramount Studios, where we had shot Little House the first four years. It was also on Halloween, which is Michael Landon’s birthday. That day, I also found out we would be shooting at Big Sky Ranch, where we had shot Little House,” she recalled.
“My first day on set was surreal , getting my hair and makeup done, getting dressed, laced into my corset, boots etc. Such a strange deja vu. Then I walked to the set itself and before I could even focus I heard a familiar voice holler, ‘Hey Halfpint, you old rat-a–!!’ It was Jack. He was our wrangler for that pilot and by his side was Denny Allen, who had been our wrangler on Little House. In that instant, I knew I was home.”
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Gilbert said that Lilley “always felt like home to me” as she shared “love and prayers” for his family following his death.
“He lived quite a life. I am so lucky that he was my friend,” she wrote.
