Laura’s eventual love interest Almanzo first showed up in the show as the brother of the new school teacher in the Season 6 premiere “Back to School,” per IMDb. Dean Butler talked with Daily Planet about his time on the iconic show, and he revealed the favorite episode that he was in was Season 6’s “Sweet Sixteen,” which is about — you guessed it — Laura’s 16th birthday. Butler likes that episode because, as he recalled, “It was a huge turning point for Melissa Gilbert as Laura and it was a turning point for me in the work I was doing as Almanzo and it was a huge turning point in the series.” That turning point moment was the first kiss between Laura and Almanzo.
It was also 15-year-old Gilbert’s first kiss ever; Butler was 23, per IMDb. In a joint interview with Gilbert and Butler on Hallmark Channel’s “Home & Family” talk show, Gilbert said that before the kiss, she was “terrified” and she also pointed out that it must have been “a huge responsibility” for co-star Butler. For his part, he called Gilbert “brave” for having her first kiss be in character and on-screen. It sounds like she had to be brave because apparently in the background, Gilbert’s mother was audibly crying, per Stars In The House.
