How old was Dean Butler when he joined Little House on the Prairie? Actor opens up about being many women's "first crush"

Dean Butler was 23 years old when he made his appearance on Little House on the Prairie. He was on the show for four years and played the role of Almanzo Wilder, one of the main characters.

During an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, the 69-year-old actor recalled some of his experiences when he was met with female fans. Dean Butler said:

"A woman would come up to the table with her husband, with her children, with significant others, and tell me, 'You are my first crush in the world.' That is one of the sweetest things... It's totally benign the way they say it. It's this beautiful thing."

He continued to say:

"You get laughter from that. You get tears that come off of that. People talk about the things that were going on in their lives as they're watching the program. People get different things from different characters."

Dean Butler talks about the impact of Little House on the Prairie

Dean Butler joined the Little House on the Prairie in season 6 as Almanzo Wilder. This was one of his earliest works since he started acting in 1976. Almost five decades later, Butler spoke about how the show impacted his life and the lives of those who tuned into it.

In his words:

"We travel, we meet people, and we get to see in the eyes of people who love this, we get to see the joy that they have when they are... when they get to come together with people that they've been watching their whole lives... We watch their reflection, we watch these moments play in their heads. We get tears, we get laughter, we get funny. We get just wonderful honesty from people."

He continued to say:

"Women of all ages walk up to me. I get this from women in their 60s, and I get it from teenage girls still, which is incredibly flattering in a spectrum of the world that we live in."

On a more nostalgic note, he added:

"What they're watching is me frozen when they're watching the show. They're watching all of us frozen in time, 40 years ago. We're never gonna change... We change around those pictures, but the pictures don't change. They are responding to what they see in those pictures."

He also shared how his wife, Katherine Cannon, would say to him before his Little House on the Prairie events. She recalled:

"My wife always says to me when I go off on these weekends, she says, 'Okay, go off and be adored again this weekend.'"

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Dean Butler's role in Little House on the Prairie left a deep and lasting impression on viewers. Even after many years, fans still continue to praise Butler for his role, even calling him their "first crush."

Also read: Netflix’s Little House on the Prairie adaption locks a major casting by finding the new Laura Ingalls, find out who

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