Mary Ingalls Kendall
Little House on the Prairie Wiki
| Mary Ingalls Kendall | |
| Played by | Melissa Sue Anderson |
| Gender | Female |
| Debut | Pilot Movie |
| Occupation | Teacher |
Mary Ingalls Kendall is the oldest daughter of Caroline and Charles Ingalls. She had seven siblings altogether. Laura, Carrie, Charles Jr. (who died shortly after birth), and Grace were also born to Mary's parents. Albert, and later James, and Cassandra, were adopted after Mary left home. The family met Albert, a runaway who had been a ward of the state, after they moved temporarily to Winoka for financial reasons. Siblings James and Cassandra were adopted later, back in Walnut Grove, after their parents died in a tragic wagon crash. Mary was an adult at the time, and married to Adam Kendall, whom she met at a blind school in Iowa.
In her childhood growing up in Walnut Grove, Mary was an excellent student and spent most of her free time studying. When she was fifteen years old, Mary went blind. The difficulty was first noticed after a yearly checkup at the eye doctor in Mankato. After returning with new lenses in her glasses, she found her vision was still not improved. When Charles took Mary back to the doctor to find out what the problem was, the news was not good; the doctor told Charles that Mary would soon go blind.
Charles hesitated to tell her this, though he finally did, and a few days later her sight was gone. Doctor Baker suggested that they send Mary to a blind school so she could make something of her life; Charles and Caroline agreed and made plans for her to be taught at a blind school in Iowa.
After arriving at the school, Mary met her teacher, Adam Kendall. Originally she resented Adam, but began to change her opinion of him soon after. Later, Adam and Mary got married. They had one son named Adam Kendall Jr., after Mary miscarried her first child. Sadly, while Adam Kendall Jr. was still a baby, he died, along with Alice Garvey, in a fire at the blind school. The fire was unintentionally started by Mary's adopted brother, Albert Ingalls, and a friend, who were smoking in the basement of the building during a party. Mary went into a state of shock after this, and took sometime to come out of it.
Later her husband, Adam. regained his sight, and they moved to New York where Adam became a lawyer. Mary and Adam's final appearance on the show was in a Christmas episode, where they traveled into Walnut Grove just prior to a blizzard, and spent Christmas at Charles and Caroline's house.
Shortly after this, Charles, Caroline, Albert, Carrie, and their other children moved out of Walnut Grove. Laura and Almanzo Wilder and their baby, Rose, were the only remaining family members to remain in the town. Although Charles and Albert visited several times, Adam and Mary remained in New York after that.
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[edit] Book Character
Mary's book character was similar to the television show character in several ways. Just as in the show, Mary went blind from scarlet fever. In the book, Laura took a larger role in helping her sister get the money raised so that Mary could go to the blind school than in the television show (the Ingalls family did not live in Walnut Grove at this time).
In contrast to the television show character based on her, Mary Ingalls never married. She attended the blind school for a number of years, then returned home and lived with her parents until their deaths in DeSmet, South Dakota. After that, Mary moved in with her sister Carrie, who lived in the Black Hills of South Dakota. When Carrie died, Mary lived with her youngest sister, Grace, until she died at the age of 63.
[edit] Blindness
Mary Ingalls went blind when she was 15 years old. This event was covered in the two-part episode, "I'll Be Waving as You Drive Away." This event started when the Ingalls were having dinner, and Mary remarked that her eyes were tired, probably from studying so much. Charles suggested that they go see the eye doctor, since it was time for her annual check-up anyway.
At this visit the doctor told Charles that Mary needed a stronger prescription and that her eyes looked fine. Once back in Walnut Grove, Mary found that this prescription didn't help her see any better than the previous one. They re-visited the doctor, and the news was not good; Mary would soon go blind. It was because she had scarlet fever when she was younger, which weakened the muscles in her eyes.
When Charles told Mary this, she was very sad, and became bitter for a short time because she felt she was a burden to her parents. Later, they decided to send Mary to a blind school in Iowa. Mary became a teacher, just as she and her parents had always dreamed.
[edit] Marriage and Children
Mary Ingalls married Adam Kendell after meeting him a year before at the blind school in Iowa. This was covered in the episode "The Wedding". Mary later had a child, and they decided to name it Adam Kendell, Jr.. The baby later died in a fire at the Blind School (the school was located in Walnut Grove at the time) along with Alice Garvey.
The fire was caused by a lighted smoking pipe that was accidentally left in the basement by Mary's adopted brother, Albert, and his friend. After the fire was over, Mary was in shock for a good amount of time. After listening to a music box, given to her as a gift by Albert, Mary returned to normal after some help from Doctor Baker. Laura later found an old courthouse that was perfect for the blind school. A new character was added to the show, Houston.
When Mary originally met Adam, he seemed like a heartless teacher to her. Of course, Mary's saddened attitude probably contributed to this greatly. Her opinion of him changed after accepting the fact that she was blind, and she remarked that he was the best teacher in the school.
[edit] Behind the Scenes
Mary Ingalls was played by Melissa Sue Anderson throughout the series. When casting, there were about 100-200 girls who auditioned for the role.[1] Melissa Sue Anderson remarked that one day she just read a script for Michael Landon, and they also paired her with Melissa Gilbert and saw that the two worked well together. When Anderson first saw the ad, it read that they were looking for parts in a western television show. She had no idea what character she was going to play at this time. The final appearance of Mary and Adam made on the show was a Christmas special, in which they traveled to Walnut Grove for Christmas and made it to town prior to a blizzard.
In an interview with Melissa Sue Anderson, she was asked to describe Mary's character, "I think Mary was really ultimately her mother's daughter, you know she took after her mother and she wanted to be just like her and her mother at some point I believe had been a schoolteacher. And she was so much more like her, she wasn't the tom-boy that Melissa Gilbert (Laura) was, taking after Michael's (Charles) side basically. and she emulated her mother, she wanted to do well and be like her mother."[1] Melissa Gilbert also remarked that Mary was the one everyone wanted to marry and Laura was the one everybody wanted to go fishing with.[2]
Melissa Sue Anderson was also the only actor in Little House that received an Emmy nomination.[1][3]
[edit] References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Melissa Sue Andrew Interview
- ↑ "Prairie Tale", Melissa Gilbert
- ↑ Little House on the Prairie nominations
