The actress from “Little House on the Prairie” died at the age of 89

Actress Patty Maloney, who was cherished for her part on Little House on the Prairie, died at the age of 89. The Hollywood Reporter received confirmation from her brother, Dave Myrabo, that Maloney passed away on Monday, March 31. After a string of strokes over the last few years, she was receiving hospice care in Winter Park, Florida.

Born in Perkinsville, New York, on March 17, 1936, Patricia Anne Maloney was an American actress best known for her wide range of appearances in movies and television. Maloney, who is 3 feet 11 inches (119 cm) tall, started performing on Broadway when she was just three years old.

After her father passed away when she was seven years old, she and her family moved to Winter Park, Florida, where she was brought up by her mother and stepfather.

Maloney displayed her skills in a variety of touring shows when she was younger, performing with carnivals during the summers and with the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus for a year. After completing her studies at the University of Florida, she worked as a keypunch operator before joining National Airlines in New York.

She met Chicago printer Joseph Vitek, who would later become her husband, there. Before Vitek’s tragic death from melanoma in 1968, the pair lived in Chicago after getting married in 1961.

Maloney returned to the entertainment business after her husband’s death, working with the Krofft brothers on their puppet show, “Fol-de-Rol.” She became well-known for playing Honk on “Far Out Space Nuts,” and in the 1978 “Star Wars Holiday Special,” she won over viewers as Lumpy, Chewbacca’s offspring. She also provided Darla Hood’s voice in the animated version of “The Little Rascals.”

Among her many television performances were those on “Donny & Marie,” “Charlie’s Angels,” “The Love Boat,” and “Buck Rogers in the 25th Century,” where she played the part of Tina, a robot waiter.

She appeared on “Little House on the Prairie” as Alice Bates in 1982. The Lord of the Rings (1978), Under the Rainbow (1981), The Ice Pirates (1984), and Ernest Saves Christmas (1988) are among her film credits. Maloney’s center vision was affected when she was diagnosed with age-related macular degeneration in 2010.