Alison Arngrim turns 61! Actress reveals her AIDS activism led to meeting husband Robert Paul Schoonover
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: The child star of the very popular show, ‘Little House on the Prairie,’ is now embracing her senior citizen status. Alison Arngrim turned 61 on Wednesday, January 18. She played the character of Nellie Oleson for years on the hit NBC television show.
As per reports, Arngrim was born on January 18, 1962, in New York. She was one of the two children of Thor Arngrim and Norma MacMillan who worked as a Hollywood manager and a voice artist respectively. Norma was reportedly the voice behind Casper in the 1995 movie ‘Casper the Friendly Ghost’.
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The ‘Life Interrupted’ star shot to fame after featuring in 'Little House on the Prairie' but it also reportedly did a lot of damage to her career. It has been said that because of her hostile character in the television series, most of the audience began to think her real self mirrored her 'unlikeable' reel one, making it difficult for her to get other roles.
A few years ago, she spoke about her struggles. She reportedly shared, “I remember thinking, 'Hmm, I'm not working much.’ Instead of fighting it, I decided to grab Nellie and run with her and never look back. I turned toward the people who were still clapping the loudest for her,” while making a reference to male members of the LGBT community.
Alison Arngrim's close friend Steve Tracy got her into AIDS activism
Late actor Steve Tracy, who was Arngrim’s close friend, played the role of Percival Dalton in ‘Little House on the Prairie.’ When Tracy was diagnosed with AIDS before his death, Arngrim decided to enroll herself in “AIDS Project Los Angeles." She also signed up for hotline training which consisted of weeks-long classes with homework and a five-page final exam. "I had hated school, but now I was finally studying for a reason,” she said in the extracts from her book 'Confessions of a Prairie Bitch: How I Survived Nellie Oleson and Learned to Love Being Hated', published by The Advocate.
After passing her exams, Arngrim got the job. She has reportedly mentioned in her book how Nellie Oleson helped her to successfully complete her job. She noted, “I was sent all over Los Angeles to speak on AIDS and HIV—schools, offices, and even prisons. Many of these had turned away AIDS speakers before. They didn’t know them, they were strangers, and they worried—crazy as it was—that they’d bring AIDS with them. But they knew me. I had been in their living rooms. I wasn’t a threat. I was a TV star. I’d sign autographs, I’d quote Nellie-isms, I’d do whatever they wanted—as long as they listened to me and wised up about AIDS.”
How did Alison Arngrim meet the love of her life?
Arngrim’s activism led her to the love of her life, Robert Paul Schoonover, who was the director of the Southern California AIDS Hotline at the time. The pair tied the knot in 1993 after she divorced her first husband, Donald Mark Spencer. The marriage ceremony was reportedly a bit different from the traditional one as Arngrim chose a tuxedo for her big day, instead of a gown.
In her book, ‘Child Stars: Their Story Film,’ the actress mentioned her romance with Schoonover. She added, “I didn’t quit when Steve died, and I still haven’t. Instead, I’ve spent the past decades working with different AIDS organizations all over the country. I eventually met my soul mate, my second husband, Bob, through my activism, and I made a couple of hundred best friends along the way.”