Posted 29 minutes agoSubscribe to Screen Time NewsletterCaret Down"Little House On The Prairie" Star Rachel Greenbush Looks Back On Carrie's Classic Tumble And A Cast That Felt Like FamilyRachel Greenbush breaks down the story behind the iconic opening sequence, early episodes, and the family atmosphere on set.by Andrew FirrioloBuzzFeed StaffFacebookPinterestLink If you grew up watching Little House on the Prairie, you probably remember Carrie Ingalls running down that hill and taking one of TV's most memorable tumbles. NBC / NBCUniversal / Via Getty Images Until the addition of baby Grace, Carrie was the youngest of the Ingalls family. Identical twins Rachel and Sidney Greenbush starred for eight seasons in iconic episodes like "Little Girl Lost" and "Ma's Holiday."Ahead of the cast reunion in Simi Valley, December 12-14, I chatted with Rachel about growing up on set, the iconic opening title sequence, and working with Michael Landon.
Note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Rachel's father, Billy Greenbush, had acted with Michael Landon in Bonanza. Donaldson Collection / Via Getty Images Rachel: My father is an actor, and he had a friend, Milt Kogan, who wanted to be a character actor. My dad got him an appointment with his agent.
Milt was sitting in the casting agent's office, waiting to meet with them, when a call came in to the receptionist looking for twin girls. She got off the phone and said, "I have the perfect little girl for them, but they want twins. They're insisting they want twins about three years old." Milt goes, "Well, Billy Greenbush has twin daughters that age, and he's in this office. You might give him a call and see if he's interested." They called, and my mom answered the phone. They asked her if she wanted to bring us on an interview to do a movie called Sunshine. We did the film and worked with director Joe Sargent. Michael Landon was looking for twins, and Joe referred us to Michael, saying that we were very easy to work with. My dad had been on Bonanza, so Michael already knew who my father was. So, that's how we got cast! When Carrie falls down in the opening title sequence, her shoes were on the wrong feet! NBC / NBCUniversal / Via Little House on the Prairie Rachel: It's my sister, Sidney, who fell running down the hill. Across from that hill is actually the Ingalls home, so if you were to turn the camera around, you could film Pa coming home. We were sitting underneath the oak trees by the Plum Creek, waiting for our turn to be on camera for shooting the opening scene. Richalene Kelsay, who did the woman's wardrobe, didn't like us to get our clothes dirty, but we were three years old and we had nothing to do. My mom would take our dresses off so that we wouldn't get them dirty, and then when they needed us on set, she would throw them back on. We were sitting underneath the trees, and they started calling for my sister to be on set. My mom got in this huge rush because now we're tying up production, which you don't want to do. She threw Sidney's shoes on, she threw her dress on, and ran her up the hill. What my mom didn't know was that she had put my sister's shoes on the opposite feet, and the leather on the bottom side gets very slippery. So when Sidney was running down the hill, she just got way too much momentum and toppled over! Her little legs just couldn't keep up. NBC / NBCUniversal / Via Little House on the Prairie Check out Family Guy's hilarious parody of the opening sequence: Fox / Via youtube.com Rachel: I love that Carrie is Stewie! He's like, "There's a rock, right there!!" One of Rachel's earliest Little House memories is from the episode, "Ma's Holiday." NBC / NBCUniversal / Via Little House on the Prairie: "Ma's Holiday" Rachel: Besides shooting the opening title sequence, one of my earliest memories is being nailed to the roof by Mr. Edwards. I thought it was so much fun. We grew up on a ranch, so we were already like, climbing trees, climbing logs, catching frogs, stuff like that. So for me, that was just fun to do, and they let me do it. I remember looking down at Melissa Gilbert [Laura Ingalls] thinking, "It is so much fun to be up here!"There was a little bolt that went into the roof of the house, and it had a little round part on it. They connected to that part with a safety belt. They actually put the belt around me and clipped it on the other side, and then they pulled my dress over it so that you couldn't see. But I did have a safety belt on. Rachel shares how they did the scene of Carrie falling down the well in "Little Girl Lost." NBC / NBCUniversal / Via Little House on the Prairie: "Little Girl Lost" Rachel: When Carrie's chasing the butterfly in "Little Girl Lost," they actually tied the butterfly to my dress with a piece of fishing line. Because a camera frame is so small, the butterfly was actually never out of reach for me; I had to try really hard to chase it without catching it! They dug this big hole in the ground, and t