She is the youngest person ever to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Granddaughter of Harry Crane.
Had a highly publicized relationship with Rob Lowe during the eighties and were supposedly engaged.
Sister of Sara Gilbert.
Goddaughter of Charlie Brill.
Adopted daughter of Paul Gilbert (II)' .
Sister of actor Jonathan Gilbert.
Dated Tom Cruise when both were teenagers.
In national voting completed on Friday, 2 November 2001, Melissa Gilbert was elected Screen Actors Guild President, taking the position held since November of 1999 by William Daniels, who declined to run for another term.
Was introduced to present husband, Bruce Boxleitner, by his ex-wife, Kathryn Holcomb.
Has a combined family with her husband, Bruce Boxleitner: Bruce's two sons, Sam (b. 1980) and Lee (b. 1985), her own son, Dakota Paul (b. 1 May 1989)and one son together with Bruce, Michael Garrett (b. 6 October 1995).
Gilbert was one of 500 young girls who auditioned for the role of Laura Ingalls Wilder in the TV series "Little House on the Prairie" (1974) and she was the only one whose screen test was sent to be considered at NBC Studios. It was Michael Landon's daughter Leslie Landon who told Melissa that she had won the role of Laura when the two of them stood in line at their school cafeteria.
Michael Landon Jr. took her to her senior prom in 1981.
Inducted (as a cast member of "Little House on the Prairie" (1974)) into the Hall of Great Western Performers of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in 1998.
Both her ex-spouse (Bo Brinkman) and current spouse (Bruce Boxleitner) played Confederate officers in Gods and Generals (2003).
Children: Dakota, Michael Garrett
Melissa Gilbert Detailed Biography
Actress Melissa Gilbert literally grew up before our eyes in the role of Laura Ingalls on the TV series Little House on the Prairie. A professional from the age of 3, Gilbert was ten years old when she assumed the role of Laura, and in her mid-20s when Little House branched off into a handful of TV movies in the 1980s. Outside of this series, Gilbert was the uncrowned queen of the TV remakes: She starred as young Helen Keller in 1979's The Miracle Worker, played the title role in 1980's The Diary of Anne Frank, and assumed the old Natalie Wood role in 1981's Splendor in the Grass. More recently, she has been showing up in made-for-TV biopics, e.g. Babymaker: The Dr. Cecil Jacobson Story (1993) and Against Her Will: The Carrie Buck Story (1994). Gilbert's latter-day series-TV work has included the parts of Kate Delany in Sweet Justice and Rochelle in Stand By Your Man; she has also been heard as the voice of Barbara Gordon, aka Batgirl, in the daily Batman: The Animated Series. In all of these, she has been billed under her married name of Gilbert-Brinkman (her marriage to Bo Brinkman has since dissolved). Melissa Gilbert is the sister of Sara Gilbert, who played Darlene on TV's Roseanne; her grandfather, Harry Crane, was one of the creators of the Jackie Gleason series The Honeymooners.
