Melissa Gilbert is remembering her TV dad, Michael Landon, this Halloween.
Taking to Instagram on Saturday, Oct. 31, Gilbert, 62, penned a touching tribute to the late actor – who played her onscreen father on "Little House on the Prairie" for nearly the entire run of the NBC series – on what would have been his 90th birthday.
"Ninety years. I wonder what you would think of that," Gilbert started her post. "I can almost hear your laugh, see that enchanting twinkle in your eyes, and feel your arms around me. I was just a little girl when you took my hand and changed my life forever."
Landon was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in April 1991 and died three months later, at the age of 54. Landon played Charles "Pa" Ingalls for eight seasons.
The actor
also served as executive producer, writer, and director on the show, which ended in March 1983 after nine seasons.
Melissa Gilbert honors TV dad Michael Landon's would-be 90th birthday
"I find myself thinking less about how long you’ve been gone and more about how much of you remains," Gilbert said. "The legacy of your wonderful work, but more importantly, the legacy of the beautiful family you created. Oh Mike, you would be so proud of all of them."
Gilbert, whose father died at age 11, two years after she had begun playing Laura Ingalls, credited Landon with helping raise her and teach her: "So much of who I am began with you."
The "Miracle Worker" actress also reflected on the passage of time in her post, noting that the "little girl with the braids has silver in her hair now" has become a wife, mother and grandmother.
She continued: "But she still lives inside me, and she still misses you so much. I wish we could sit together and reminisce about all the fun we had and the work we did. I wish we could say all the things we never got the chance to say."
Alongside Gilbert's ode were a handful of photographs depicting the father-daughter duo's time on the "Little House" set over the years. Gilbert signed the message with a nickname Landon gave her: "Half-Pint."
Melissa Gilbert reacts to dismissal of husband Timothy Busfield's case
Her tribute comes as Gilbert has become more active on social media after a New Mexico judge threw out the child sex-abuse case filed against her husband, Timothy Busfield, on Oct. 16.
Busfield was indicted in February on four counts of criminal sexual contact of a child stemming from alleged incidents with two minor twin boys when he was working as a director on Fox's "The Cleaning Lady." The 69-year-old actor-producer denied the allegations.
While Gilbert has not publicly commented on the judge's ruling, she posted a Shakespeare quote on Instagram Oct. 16: "So shines a good deed in a weary world." She also posted a screenshot of a New York Times article with an update on the case to her Instagram Story.
Gilbert has stood by Busfield throughout the case, pleading for her husband's innocence. The couple met in the 1980s and crossed paths frequently for decades before starting a relationship in 2012 and marrying in 2013.
In an April 6 "Good Morning America" interview, she said that the "West Wing" alum's arrest and everything that followed was "the most traumatizing experience of our lives."
"Our life, as we knew it, is done," she told host George Stephanopoulos in an interview that aired April 6. "We are grieving what we had. All of our plans, all of our dreams, all of our ideas, all of our projects − for Tim, it's done. He's canceled. Even if he's exonerated, he will always be that guy."
Gilbert has two sons from previous marriages: Dakota Brinkman, 37, and Michael Boxleitner, 31. She later married Busfield and became a stepmother to his three children.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Melissa Gilbert remembers TV dad Michael Landon with 90th birthday tribute
