Katherine `` Scottie '' MacGregor - Wikipedia Katherine `` Scottie '' MacGregor `` Catherine MacGregor '' redirects here. For the Australian military officer, see Cate McGregor. Katherine MacGregor Dorlee Deane MacGregor ( 1925 - 01 - 12 ) January 12, 1925 ( age 93 ) Glendale, California, U.S. Other names Scottie MacGregor Occupation Actress Years active 1951 -- 1983 Katherine `` Scottie '' MacGregor ( born Dorlee Deane MacGregor ; January 12, 1925, Glendale, California ) is a retired American actress, best known for her role as Harriet Oleson in Little House on the Prairie. Contents 1 Biography 2 Personal life 3 Filmography 4 References 5 External links Biography This section of a biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. ( February 2017 ) She is best known for her comedic performance as Harriet Oleson from 1974 - 83 on Little House on the Prairie. As a child, her mother moved them to Denver, Colorado, where she lived until she moved to New York as a young adult. In the 1940s she was hired by the Arthur Murray Dance Studios in New York City as a dance instructor. She studied acting under Sanford Meisner and Stella Adler. MacGregor 's favorite description of her character in Little House came in a fan letter from Minnesota in the 1970s, in which Mrs. Oleson was described as `` the touch of pepper in the sweetness of the show ''. In 1979, thanks to the popularity of Little House in Spain, MacGregor was invited to Madrid, Spain and appeared on RTVE 's 625 Lineas program. After Little House on the Prairie, she withdrew from screen productions in favor of local theater. She dedicated herself to the Hindu religion, and to teaching acting to children at the Wee Hollywood Vedanta Players, before finally retiring in the early 2000s. Beginning in the 1950s, MacGregor worked in theatre on and off Broadway in New York, and won such uncredited parts as `` a longshoreman 's mother '' ( On the Waterfront ) ; `` Alice Thorn '' ( The Traveling Executioner ) and `` Miss Boswell '' ( The Student Nurses ). She appeared in numerous episodes of various television series : Love of Life ( 1956 ), Play of the Week ( 1959 ), East Side / West Side ( 1963 ), Mannix ( 1970 -- 71 ), Emergency ! ( 1972 ), Ironside ( 1972, 1974 ), and All in the Family ( 1973 ), as well as the two 1981 `` Heroes vs. Villains '' episodes of Family Feud hosted by Richard Dawson. She had roles in the TV movies, The Death of Me Yet ( 1971 ), The Girls of Huntington House ( 1973 ), and Tell Me Where It Hurts ( 1974 ). Personal Life She was briefly married to actor Bert Remsen, one month her junior, in 1949 - 50, and to actor, director and teacher Edward G. Kaye - Martin, 14 years her junior, from August 1969 to October 1970. Filmography Year Film Role Notes 1954 On the Waterfront Longshoreman 's Mother Uncredited 1956 Love of Life Tammy Forrest # 1 Unknown episodes 1959 Play of the Week Maria Episode - `` The Power and the Glory '' 1963 East Side / West Side Grace Morrison Episode - `` Go Fight City Hall '' 1970 The Traveling Executioner Alice Thorn Uncredited 1970 Mannix Nurse Evans Episode - `` The World Between '' 1970 The Student Nurses Miss Boswell 1971 The Young Lawyers Mrs. Brady Episode - `` The Bradbury War '' 1971 The Death of Me Yet Nora Queen TV movie 1971 Mannix Nurse Episode - `` Run Till Dark '' 1972 Ironside Mrs. Pyle Episode - `` Programmed for Panic '' 1972 Emergency ! Myrna Scudder Episode - `` Musical Mania '' 1973 The Girls of Huntington House Rose Beckwith TV movie 1973 All in the Family Nurse Episode - `` Edith 's Christmas Story '' Tell Me Where It Hurts Marge TV movie Ironside Irma Episode - `` Amy Prentiss '' ( Parts 1 & 2 ) 1974 -- 1983 Little House on the Prairie Harriet Oleson 153 episodes References Jump up ^ `` Katherine MacGregor profile ''. The New York Times. Retrieved February 11, 2017. Jump up ^ Luchina Fisher ( 2011 - 08 - 26 ). `` Melissa Gilbert Files for Divorce from Bruce Boxleitner ''. ABC News. ^ Jump up to : Buck, Jerry ( 11 June 1981 ). `` Katherine MacGregor Plots Her Own Downfall ''. Greenville Daily Advocate. Associated Press. Retrieved 15 November 2017. External links Katherine `` Scottie '' MacGregor on IMDb VIAF : 27011947 LCCN : nr2004001625 SNAC : w69q5k7x This article about a United States film actor or actress born in the 1920s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Katherine_%22Scottie%22_MacGregor&oldid=818096544 '' Categories : 1925 births Actresses from the Greater Los Angeles Area American Hindus American television actresses American female dancers Dancers from California 20th - century American actresses Living people American film actor, 1920s birth stubs Hidden categories : Articles with hCards BLP articles lacking sources from February 2017 All BLP articles lacking sources All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from February 2017 Articles with unsourced statements from March 2017 Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers Wikipedia articles with SNAC - ID identifiers All stub articles Talk Contents About Wikipedia Català Deutsch Español فارسی Français Italiano Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Polski Suomi Svenska Edit links This page was last edited on 1 January 2018, at 15 : 01. 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Question: who played mrs oleson on little house on the prairie
Answer: Katherine "Scottie" MacGregor