Studying Time: 3 minutes
Over the course of 9 seasons and three reunion specials, Jack Lilley portrayed the charismatic stagecoach driver on Little Home on the Prairie.
On Friday, followers of the still-beloved sequence have been heartbroken to be taught that Lilley had handed away on the age of 91.
Jack Lilley in one in all his many appearances on ‘Little House on the Prairie.’ (Peacock)
Melissa Gilbert shares information of Jack Lilley’s passing
Whereas Lilley’s explanation for loss of life stays undisclosed, a minimum of one longtime buddy has eagerly shared a ravishing memory about his life.
Gilbert was simply ten years outdated when she was forged as Laura Ingalls Wilder on the hit NBC sequence. And she or he says Lilley was an vital determine all through her childhood.
“The Little House family has lost one of our own,” Gilbert wrote on Instagram right this moment, including that Lilley was “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?’” the actress wrote.
She additionally recalled Lilley’s “absolute brilliance in the film Blazing Saddles.”
Apparently, Lilley and Gilbert have been reunited years after Prairie got here to an finish, after they have been each forged within the pilot for a sequence titled Then Got here Jones.
Melissa recollects that she was “so bummed when it didn’t get picked up,” however nonetheless grateful for the expertise.
“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,” she wrote, referring to the late actor who performed her father on Little Home.
“That day, I also found out we would be shooting at Big Sky Ranch, where we had shot Little House,” she recalled.
Gilbert recollects that she had no concept that Lilley would even be on set.
Jack Lilley on the set of ‘Little House on the Prairie.’ (Peacock)
“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,” she writes.
“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.”
Gilbert concluded by explaining that Lilley “always felt like home to me” and providing “love and prayers” to his household.
“He lived quite a life. I am so lucky that he was my friend,” she added.
Jack Lilley racked up 87 performing credit over the course of his profession, most of them in Westerns.
And clearly, he touched fairly just a few lives alongside the best way.
