Katherine MacGregor, the actress best known for her role as Harriet Oleson in the iconic television series Little House on the Prairie, has died in California at the age of 93.
A stage and screen veteran, MacGregor portrayed the meddling, snobby Harriet in Little House on the Prairie from 1974 to 1983, forming a classic screen partnership with co-star Richard Bull, who played Harriet's husband, the kindly Nels. Bull passed away in 2014.
MacGregor said she found her favourite description of Harriet in a letter from a fan, which said the character was "the touch of pepper in the sweetness of the show".
In a 1981 newspaper interview, MacGregor said she had looked for the humour in Harriet as a way to poke fun at her.
"She was originally painted as just black-and-white mean," she told the Santa Cruz Sentinel.
"Anyone that mean has to be a fool. So I began mixing farce into it."
Paying tribute on Instagram, MacGregor's Little House on the Prairie co-star Melissa Gilbert wrote: "This woman taught me so much... about acting... vintage jewelry... life.
"She was outspoken and hilariously funny. A truly gifted actress as she was able to play a despicable character but with so much heart. Her Harriet Oleson was the woman our fans loved to hate. A perfect antagonist.
"The thing people outside of our prairie family didn't know, was how loving and nurturing she was with the younger cast."
