‘Little House’ Star Charlotte Stewart Talks Elvis, On the Run With Jim Morrison & Her Fling With Bill Murray

Imagine moving to Walnut Grove after spending your early years hanging out with Jim Morrison, the King, and even having a fling with Bill Murray. That’s exactly what happened to one prominent figure from the fictional town of Little House on the Prairie — and it was the resident good girl.

Little House on the Prairie star Charlotte Stewart, best known for playing beloved teacher Miss Beadle in the iconic frontier drama, will reunite with her former castmates for a three-day celebration December 12–14 at Strathearn Historical Park in Simi Valley, California. She last joined the cast and crew there in March 2024 for a special three-day festival marking the show’s 50th anniversary, where she openly reflected on her torrid past.

Speaking to The Sun, Stewart starred in Little House for the first four seasons and went on to have a wide and varied career in Hollywood. Perhaps most notably, she frequently worked with director David Lynch, playing Betty Briggs in the original Twin Peaks and its 2017 revival and Mary X in 1977’s Eraserhead.

Charlotte Stewart in Eraserhead; Everett Collection

She also starred alongside Elvis Presley in the 1963 movie Speedway, playing a waitress who serves the legendary singer.

“When I did Speedway with Elvis, I was married at the time to Tim Considine. Elvis had just gotten married to Priscilla,” Stewart told The Sun. “And me, silly me, thinking, ‘Oh, we’re both newlyweds. I think I’m just going to invite them over for supper. Then the second thought was, ‘What are you thinking? This is Elvis.’ So, no, [but] he was very sweet.”

She remembered one moment on set when Presley “held her hand” and talked to her about his mother, Gladys, and “what it was like when he was in the Army and [how] they wouldn’t let him go see her when she was ill.”

“I was in high school in the ’60s when Elvis was big. I never imagined that I would be on the set with him, holding my hand and telling me about his mother,” she stated.

Stewart also opened up about her love life. The Young and the Restless alum has been married three times, but also had some memorable flings during her single years.

“Oh my God. Bill Murray, that was a fling,” she said. “I was single, you know… You can ask me about Jim Morrison. I had a really good, romantic, lovely life.”

Remembering her relationship with the Doors frontman, Stewart shared, “We were friends. We were drinking buddies back in the ’70s. So he called me up one day, and he said, ‘I got to get out of town.’ And I said, ‘OK.’”

“He picked me up, and he didn’t even know where he wanted to go. So we just drove up Highway 1,” she continued. “I took him to San Simeon, the Hearst Castle. We went to Cambria. We spent four days on the road and came back to Los Angeles. He dropped me off, and I never saw him again. Within six months, he was dead.”

She added, “We were best friends with benefits. He was a good friend, and I miss him terribly. And I’m sorry he had such a really hard ending.”

In 2025, she further expanded on her relationship with Morrison with Fox News Digital: “He was quite a drinker, and often he needed to be driven home. So I would take him to my house because he trusted me.”

“I didn’t want him to be my boyfriend,” she insisted. “I didn’t want to marry him. All I wanted was to be his friend. He drank like I drank at that time. So we became trusted friends. He could count on me.”

Courtesy of Everett Collection

She even helped him escape the law once, when he was wanted on felony charges in Florida for lewd behavior. “You have to remember, this was a very serious offense in Florida,” said Stewart. “He was facing trial. So he came up to me and said, ‘I gotta get out of town. You want to go?’ I said, ‘Sure.’ We jumped in the car, and he didn’t know where he wanted to go, so I directed him up Highway 1, which follows the Pacific Ocean all the way to Washington and Oregon. We just drove, stopping at bars along the way and staying overnight at motels.”

“He trusted me at the worst time in his life,” said Stewart. “He was facing jail for a long time. He trusted me to just be with him and be a friend.”

Morrison died of heart failure in July 1971 at just 27 years old.

After working with experimental directors and hanging with high-profile rockers, Stewart was ready for the quiet of Walnut Grove. The veteran actress recalled her audition for Little House, where she showed up in a tie-dye T-shirt and jeans.

“I walked in, and there was Michael Landon [the producer], and I thought to myself, ‘Oh my God, this is really big,’” she shared, “So they said, ‘Are you ready to read?’ And I looked at the producer who was sitting behind this big desk with all these executives around him, and I said, ‘May I sit behind your desk?’”

“So he got up and moved, and I went around and sat in his chair and all the men were kind of [talking], and I went, ‘Quiet!’” she continued. “I don’t think you do that to studio executives. I don’t know why I did that; it just came out of me. And I got the part.”

These days, Stewart is enjoying her retirement. “I’ve never been healthier or happier in my whole life,” she said. “I love meeting fans because 50 years ago, most of them were just little tiny children, and [Little House] created such an impression.”

“I have never had children, by choice,” she revealed. “I just didn’t think I would be a good mother. I chose my career first, and I’m not sorry about that. My sister had seven children, so that was enough… I’m very good with them. It just wasn’t my calling.”

Stewart now resides in Napa, California, where she spends her time working in her studio. “I continue to make my tote bags with pictures from Little House on the Prairie,” she shared.

“I walk every day, even though it’s just around the neighborhood, but I make sure I get out and walk. I eat healthy. My husband cooks everything. I don’t cook at all,” she added. “I’ve been married for 11 years now, and we’re very much in love. We have so much fun together.”