Almanzo Wilder - in The Media - Television Series

Television Series

In 1979, Dean Butler auditioned for (and won) the role of Almanzo Wilder. His character was added to the series at the start of the 1979-1980 season, and at first was a recurring character. As in real life, Almanzo grew up with his siblings in New York state, and his traits as a hard-working farmer and carpenter and horse lover were made integral parts of the television character. Unlike the books, however, his move out West (with his sister, Eliza Jane) ended in Walnut Grove, not the Dakota Territory. In the television series, the Ingalls family remained for several years in Walnut Grove, and – unlike their real-life first encounter in DeSmet, South Dakota – it is in Walnut Grove where 15-year-old Laura Ingalls and Almanzo Wilder, 25, meet for the first time.

Laura and her television rival, Nellie Olesen, both are immediately smitten by the handsome, young Almanzo. (Eliza Jane, meanwhile, began teaching at Walnut Grove School, taking over for Alice Garvey, who became a full-time housewife.) Both Laura and Nellie begin competing for Almanzo's attention and love. Nellie, also 10 years younger than Almanzo and a recent graduate of Walnut Grove School, had just been given a restaurant and hotel to manage, and the only reason Nellie decides to go along with this scheme is so she can cook dinner for Almanzo and impress him. Since Nellie can't cook, her mother gets Laura to agree to cook Almanzo's favorite meal, cinnamon chicken ... but as a joke substitutes Cajun pepper for the cinnamon, giving Almanzo quite a surprise and driving Almanzo away from the heartbroken, clueless Nellie. Nellie later learns about Laura's dirty trick and gets revenge by giving her inaccurate material for a test to allow her to obtain her teaching certificate, leading to the two getting into a memorable mud fight; afterward, Almanzo breaks up the fight and takes Laura to his house to get cleaned up. Laura's father, Charles hears Harriet Olesen's account of the fight and – letting fatherly instincts take over – rushes over to Almanzo's house to get Laura; when he sees her dressed in his robe, Charles assumes the worst and beats him up ... but then Laura explains that the situation was platonic and nothing else had occurred.

Almanzo tries courting several other women, but his mind is set on Laura. Finally, in the late sixth-season episode "Sweet Sixteen," Almanzo sees Laura as more than a "little friend." When Laura gets her teaching certificate, Almanzo drives her to and from her job; at her 16th birthday party, Laura – called "Beth" for the first time – and Almanzo share their first romantic kiss and receives from him a special gift: a scarf, a traditional courting gift of the 1800s. Charles is initially uncomfortable with Almanzo, sensing that he is preying on a teen-aged girl, but several key events – nursing a horse back to health after Almanzo's troublemaking brother, Perley Day, had made it ill; his taking several jobs to buy a building for the School for the Blind, potentially sacrificing his health – makes Charles realize that Almanzo is a hard-working, God-fearing, responsible young man who will take care of his little "Half-Pint." After initially telling him he has to wait until Laura's 18th birthday to marry him, Charles eventually relents and allows the two to marry. In the seventh-season opener, Almanzo and Laura are wed at the School for the Blind in Sleepy Eye, Minnesota. The wedding takes place after Almanzo's struggle to purchase a farm from a stubborn landowner who refuses him access to a creek, and Almanzo's own stubbornness over what Laura's role should be: that of a housewife, or as a teacher (Eliza Jane gets him to relent).

The young marriage of Almanzo and Laura has its typical struggles, but is seriously tested for the first time in the Season 8 episode "Days of Sunshine, Days of Sorrow." Almanzo, recovering from diphtheria and already worried about the condition of his crops and the effects of an economic downturn, panics when a strong hailstorm strikes the Walnut Grove area. He runs outside to try to do something, but falls numb. It is revealed he had suffered a mild stroke, and the good prognosis is nullified by Almanzo's bitter attitude and refusal to go to therapy. Eliza Jane learns of Almanzo's illness and rushes to Walnut Grove to coddle her brother; she even tries to get him a "less stressful job" in Minneapolis; Laura eventually stands up for her husband and tells Eliza Jane to back off. In the meantime, Laura gives birth to the couple's daughter, Rose, but this does little to perk Almanzo's spirits. Then, a devastating tornado ravages the Walnut Grove area, destroying the Wilders' homestead; Laura is injured while trying to retreat to the basement, but recovers. Then, while returning to the homestead to clean up what she thinks is slight damage, she discovers that everything is in rubble and has an emotional breakdown. Almanzo sees her anger and finally realizes his own bitter, resentful attitude has rubbed off on others; he swallows his own pride and decides to rebuild the farmstead. (It is also implied he decides to commit to his therapy, as he is able to walk again, although his recovery is not depicted in this episode.) Also during Season 8, Almanzo meets Laura's childhood friend, Isaiah Edwards for the first time; the two become close friends, and Almanzo assists Mr. Edwards in recovering from alcoholism.

During the series final season – by now, the show is called Little House: A New Beginning – Almanzo and Laura take in their niece, Jenny Wilder, after Almanzo's brother and her father, Royal, is revealed to be suffering from a terminal heart condition, which ultimately kills him. As in real life, two also have a second child, a boy who is unnamed before he dies suddenly; the story is played out in "A Child With No Name." Near the end of the season, Laura and Almanzo take over a boarding house.

Almanzo and Laura remain in Walnut Grove through the remainder of the series, and are last seen as central characters in "Bless All the Dear Children," a Christmas movie centered on a young woman kidnapping Rose, and the efforts to find her. The two also appear in the final sequel movie, "The Last Farewell."