Prairie Homestead
Interview with Doc Baker
February, 1999
Kevin Hagen is best known for his role as Doc Baker on the ever-popular television show Little House on the Prairie. "Doc" very graciously agreed to participate in this interview. After taking questions from Little House fans, I sent them to him, and he mailed the answers back to me. I think you will enjoy reading this as much as I did!
GETTING THE PART OF DOC BAKER
Tell us about your audition for Little House (From Laura P. Sullivan, Songs and Musical Memories of Laura Ingalls Wilder)
How did you get the part of Doctor Baker? (From Aaron)
One day in the summer of 1974 my agent called and said to get out to Paramount for an interview with Mike Landon who was doing a new series. Since things had not been too good lately and I had been hanging wallpaper to pay the bills between acting jobs, I didn't expect much to come from it. Mike knew me. We had worked together on Bonanza, and had both been in our first Western years before. He was riding shotgun on a stagecoach I held up in a series called Wells Fargo. So we chatted a bit about old times. I like to say he then asked me: "Kevin..can you steer a buggy?" and I replied: "Sure Mike...as long as there's no horse attached to it." But it didn't happen that way at all. He asked me if I'd like to play the doctor in this new series, Little House on the Prairie. That it would be a re-occuring role. (that's Hollywood talk for a role they didn't want to commit themselves to for a regular series contract but would hire you each time they needed you if you were available.) Since I was ready to grab at anything at the time that looked like an acting job, I said simply: "Sure, Mike." And that was that. Took all of 5 minutes and lasted for 9 years.
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PLAYING THE PART OF DOC BAKER
Since there is no character of Dr. Baker in all the LH books, what research, if any, did he use, or did Michael Landon tell him how to play the character and has he read the LH books and if so what does he think of them - was he inspired by them. Sorry I know that's more than one question, but that's what I'm really
curious about. Also I really enjoy his web site. (From Barbara)
Was his character on LHOTP anything like the real Kevin Hagen? (From Michelle)
Did you enjoy doing the annual "plague" episodes? Who came up with all the diseases that came up on the show and how much research went into these episodes?
I went through a number of books about practicing medicine in the 1800's. Picked up alot of useful information to fill in the practical knowledge that someone like Doc Baker would have in the later years of the 19th Century. But who he was and would become was left mostly to me. Of course I had to follow the written page. But how I interpreted what was written was largely mine. Mike gave us free rein. He trusted our instincts or he wouldn't have chosen us. I know I thought alot about an uncle with whom I was very close in my growing up years. I had no father. He was an Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat man, a doctor who was kind and good, and who made house calls.
I knew nothing about the Little House books. If I had had a daughter and not a son, I might have been aware of them as something important to read to her, or to suggest that she read.
Was Doc anything like me? Absolutely. If an actor is honest he finds whatever character he is playing by searching within himself. Only then can the character be natural and believable. Of course I used all my good traits and few of the bad.
The annual "plague" episodes? Wasn't aware that was the case, but you may be right. If so there were enough ugly diseases around in those Little House years to last through alot more than 9 seasons. As I recount in my show, A Playful Dose of Prairie Wisdom, "typhus, typhoid, scarlet fever, dipheria, smallpox, on and on, ugly, foul diseases against which I was helpless." And each script went through a careful examination by researchers who made sure everything, or most everything, was historically correct. Except for Mike's hair of course and the beard that the real Charles Ingalls wore all of his adult life.
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BEING ON LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE
I would like to ask Kevin Hagen how it was like to work with Micheal Landon. (From Laura)
What was it like working with the cast of Little House? Was anyone especially fun/pleasant to work with? Do you have a favorite memory? (From Laura P. Sullivan, Songs and Musical Memories of Laura Ingalls Wilder)
I would like to ask him what his best and worst experiences were and if he keeps of with any of the cast and if so who. (From Gregg)
I would like to ask him who among the other actors he spent most time with when they made the serie. who he liked the most. (From Susanne)
Which Little House episode was your favorite? (From Aaron)
Do you still have anything from the Little House TV Series (shirts, hat ect.? (From Aaron)
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Working with Michael Landon was more like play. There was seldom any stress or ill tempers. Scripts were prepared and finalized well in advance of the first day of shooting. He was fun to be with, relaxed and confident, which made everybody in cast and crew feel the same way.
Same goes for the rest of the cast. Michael chose well. We worked side by side for 9 years and never lost the pleasure of each other's company. I suppose my favorite memory would be the first day of the first episode of the first year of the show in 1974. Just being there, meeting everyone I would be working with, and knowing somehow that this was the start of a magnificent journey, both for me and my son who was almost 4 years old at the time.
Don't have a worst experience, although come to think of it, when the Ingalls moved to the city, I wasn't sure whether I would still be in the show any longer if they stayed there. And I didn't like the feeling of being left behind. I do keep in touch with a few people from the cast. Dabbs Greer, Alison Arngrim, Karen Grassle, and Pamela Roylance. And last September there was a re-union of sorts in Sonoma, Cal. And with Little House being so strong in re-runs there is some talk about the cast doing a personal appearance tour. That would be nice.
I hob nobbed with everyone on the set. No favorites.
My favorite episode was Doc's Lady in the first season. Got to fall in love with Anne Archer, who later on did some pretty important pictures.
I have the hat I wore for all 9 years. And I have the framed documents that hung on the wall of Doc's office.
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THE LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE SETS AND SITES
Please ask Kevin Hagen where the site of Little House is, exactly. I'm going to L.A. in April and one of my goals is
to find the old set, even if any of the buildings aren't there today. (From Lisa)
Can visitors to Simi Valley, view the set of the Little House? (From Aaron)
What was the set of Little House like? (From Aaron)
To find the old set, or what's left of it, you have to find the Simi Valley Freeway and get off at the Tapo Canyon exit. Follow Tapo Canyon north till you come to a quarry on the left. It's probably still in business...maybe. Also, look for Big Sky Ranch. It operates, or did the last time I was there, in the same area as the set.
I'm not sure whether it is possible for visitors to roam around what used to be the Little House set.
What was the set like? Busy. Wagons, horses, people, caterer's outfit, cables, cameras, sound equipment, lights, reflectors, dressing rooms, dust, dirt. It was wonderful!.
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THE LAST EPISODE
Was the filming of the last episode really emotional? Because I think that was more than an act, you could tell that each actor were feeling really sad. (From Anne-Claire Dolley)
What did you and Melissa think of the idea of filming Little House: The Last Farewell? (Meaning blowing up the town) (From Aaron)
Yes, it was very emotional. And each actor would really have to speak for himself or herself. I can't do that for them. As for me, the over-riding emotion was anger. I thought it was an absurd end to a television series about people who cared about each other and their town. People who would never dynamite their homes and all they held dear just so others would never live in them. Besides, Walnut Grove was and remains a town where the Ingalls family actually lived. The series owed its existence to the books written by Laura Ingalls Wilder. It held fairly close to the essential facts of the Ingalls family history, except for this one final totally unbelievable moment.
Don't know what Melissa thought about it.
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ABOUT OTHER MEMBERS OF THE Little House on the Prairie CAST
Did Michael really let a frog jump out of his mouth? (I read somewhere that they did that once..) (From Aaron)
So how are the rest of your fellow cast members? Do you keep in contact with them much? (From Aaron)
Do you or any other Little House Cast Members have an e-mail address that we as Little House fans can write them-- like Melissa Gilbert, Dean Butler, and Matthew Laburatex? (From Aaron)
Are there any hopes for a Little House Special with the cast coming back to share memories that meant the most to them (or somthing like that)? (From Aaron)
Oh yes, Michael loved to play tricks like that on the kids. I was right there and saw it. It was early morning. He reached down to give half-pint a good morning smooch and out came the frog. He was like another little kid among all the other kids on the show. And they loved it. There was nothing phoney about it, or about his unbridled, infectious, lilting laugh, as unique to him as his fingerprint.
For years I didn't see or correspond with many of the cast, except for Dabbs Greer and Karen Grassle, with whom I traded Christmas cards and an occasional letter. I hadn't actually visited with any of the cast since Michael's burial services in 90 or 91. That ended last September when there was a Little House re-union of sorts in Sonora, California. Half-Pint, Nellie, Ma Ingalls, Carrie (in the person of Linsay and Sydney Greenbush), Albert, Stan Ivar and Pamela Roylance (the new Little House family in the New Beginning), and of course, Doc Baker. We were sorry Dabbs Greer, the Olesons and Dean Butler didn't make it, and we all shared some minutes of silent thought for those, cast and crew, who were gone. Since then we have been keeping in contact.
Just two that I'm aware of:
Allison Arngrim (Nellie) at: AmeriliRes@aol.com
Pamela Roylance (New Beginning Little House Mom): pjroylance@aol.com
There has been some talk about there being a tour of the Little House cast that is still with us and who may want to do it. Just what Aaron suggested. Sharing memories and answering questions. Haven't heard about any TV specials though.
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YOUR OTHER ROLES
What has been your favorite role to portray? (From Laura P. Sullivan, Songs and Musical Memories of Laura Ingalls Wilder)
Have you ever done any stage acting? How about directing? (From Laura P. Sullivan, Songs and Musical Memories of Laura Ingalls Wilder)
My favorite role has always been and always will be that of Ephraim Cabot in Eugene O'Neill's play, Desire Under the Elms. I did it when I was 28 on the stage of a Hollywood theater. Ephraim was a 70 year old crusty, principled, feisty patriarch.
I played him magnificently in spite of my youth and was signed by a well-known agent who saw the play. That jump-started my career. Except for Ephraim, Doc Baker is my favorite and I'm still playing him.
I did quite a few plays when I was starting out, but after getting busy in television, one now and then. I enjoyed doing plays. The long rehearsals to really develop the character, know the story, and learn the lines so well there were there without thinking about them. But they were a luxury. They didn't pay much at all, were a labor of love that couldn't pay the rent. And no. I haven't ever wanted to direct.
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WHAT ARE YOU DOING NOW?
What are your interests/goals now? Any plans? (From Laura P. Sullivan, Songs and Musical Memories of Laura Ingalls Wilder)
I would like to ask him what he's doing now. Does he ever get up to Seattle? (From Michelle)
Mr. Hagen ( Doc )...I have seen the name Earl Hagen listed in the credits for the ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW, and have always wondered if there is a connection ? (From Steph Ackerman)
I want to know (1) what Mr. Hagen's golf handicap is, and (2) about his singing career. Has he always been singing, etc.? Did he ever sing on a LH episode (I don't remember)? (From Nansie)
I'm very active really. I didn't move to Oregon to crawl into one of its caves and wait for the last stage from Dodge. (An old western saying) My goal is of course to stay alive as long as possible and still be active. I present my one-man show, A PLAYFUL DOSE OF PRAIRIE WISDOM, wherever it takes me. I'll be doing it in Walnut Grove, MN, this July, as well as in Decorah and Burr Oak, IA in June, and in Pepin, WI in September. I sing along with it. Never sing a song I don't like. I appear at various civic functions. MC at beauty pageants and other gatherings. I've been appearing lately at the Youth Correctional Facility (local jail for teen agers in trouble with the law) here in Grants Pass. And I play golf whenever the weather permits.
I went to Seattle for the first time last summer since I was 18 and was there for a day or two trying to join the Naval Air Force. Didn't make it. My teeth didn't line up right. What a change! It's a beautiful city, saw it from the famous revolving restaurant at the top of the whaddayacallit. But the traffic is as bad or worse than Los Angeles.
Earl Hagen is an old friend but we're not related. Used to play golf with him. He did the music for quite a few of the old television series.
(1) My golf handicap? For years I carried a 7 handicap. Then went to a 9 which I carried for another several years, and for the last 10 years have been mostly around an 11. One of my oldest friends and I figured we have played golf together for part of seven decades. (2) I started singing as a kid in church choir. My mother played the piano and we'd sing at home. In high school I sang in the choir and quartette, and sang for weddings and funerals. I sang for awhile in college but didn't sing again seriously until after Little House ended and I wanted to do something besides stand up and wave at Celebrity golf tournaments. I like to sing now better than I ever did, and wish I'd done it sooner. And no, I never sang in a LH episode. Suggested it a couple times but I guess Pa Ingall's violin was enough. Too bad since the 19th century prairie was alive with the sound of music. Families standing around a piano or organ singing the songs of the time.
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