abstract
| - Grace Pearl Ingalls is the youngest child of Charles and Caroline Ingalls, and their last biological child. When Caroline first told Charles that she was pregnant, he hoped for a boy and Caroline feared how Charles would react if the child was a girl. When Grace was born, Charles was just as happy as if she had been a boy. Grace filled the baby role in the Ingalls family, which had always belonged to Carrie when she was long past that age. Grace Ingalls stayed in Walnut Grove when the Ingalls lived there and of course went with them when they left Walnut Grove. Grace loved Mary and Laura. In the episode "He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not," Grace is given a kiss by one of the little boys at Nellie and Percival's wedding. Charles picks her up and says "You are going to wait until you're 18," referring to Laura and Almanzo's upcoming wedding. A caption comes across the screen saying, "To be continued...in 15 years." Between 1978 and 1982, Brenda and Wendi Turnbaugh shared the part of Grace Ingalls. Grace is the youngest member of the Ingalls family, born in the episode "A Most Precious Gift". But Wendi and Brenda didn't start playing the part until a couple of episodes later - in an episode called "As Long As We're Together". After the success with the Greenbush Twins, who shared the part of Grace's older sister Carrie between 1974 and 1982, the producers of "Little House" were determined to find twins for the part of little Grace as well. Kent McCray, the series producer, was a close friend to Wendi & Brenda's grandmother. He told her he needed twins to play Grace, and was thrilled when she told him her daughter had twin girls! Wendi & Brenda got the part of Grace, and kept it until the entire Ingalls family (except the second-oldest daughter Laura) left Walnut Grove, and the show, in 1982. The twins loved being part of the happy Ingalls family, although they sometimes argued about who got to do what scene. Both twins were close to Michael Landon, who played their father, Charles Ingalls, in spite of the fact that he once gave them very spicy food for an episode of "Little House". The idea was to get Grace to refuse to eat the food that Pa had cooked - and boy did it work! Both twins refused to eat anything Michael offered them after that. After "Little House" Brenda and Wendi did one commercial, but then decided not to continue their acting career.
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