Hersha Parady, ‘Little House on the Prairie’ Actress, Dies at 78

Hersha Paradis, whose three-season stint as Walnut Grove School teacher Alice Garvey on Little House on the Prairie resulted in an unforgettable,

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dark ending for fans of the beloved NBC drama, has died. She was 78 years old.

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She told The Hollywood Reporter that Paradis died Wednesday at the home of her son, Jonathan Peverell, in Norfolk, Virginia.

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She was battling a brain tumor and had set up a GoFundMe page to help with the expenses.

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Paradis and former NFL star Marilyn Olsen were introduced in September 1977 during the season-four opening episode,

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"Castoffs", as wife and husband Alice and Jonathan Garvey in the Michael Landon-produced Little House on the Prairie.

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In the sixth season installment "May We Make Them Proud", which aired as a two-hour episode during the sweep ratings period in February 1980,

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Alice runs into the School for the Blind, which is on fire, to save some of the children inside.

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Including the newborn son of Mary and Adam (Melissa Sue Anderson, Lynwood Boomer).

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Alice finds the baby and tries to break the upstairs bedroom window to escape, but both die in the fire.

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Some viewers thought that Paradi had used the doll that stood in for the infant as a "suffering ram".

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