adult years and Laura attended her wedding. Before Nellie takes off for her honeymoon, she throws the bouquet to Laura. In the episode "Come Let us Reason Together", Laura's mother Caroline helped deliver Nellie's twin babies. Arngrim left the series at the end of the seventh season. Nellie's resulting departure was explained by having her move with Percival and their twins to New York to run the family business when Percival's father falls ill; the move is made permanent when Percival's father dies. After Nellie's departure became permanent, the Olesons adopted a daughter named Nancy (played by Allison Balson), who bore a striking resemblance to Nellie, although she had a nastier and meaner disposition than Nellie. Nellie—who retained her pleasant personality seen in her later years—returned in the ninth season and met Nancy, who briefly ran away from home when she (mistakenly) believed that her adoptive parents loved Nellie more than her. When Nellie first meets Nancy and sees how she acts, she asks her parents in shock: "I know I was temperamental at her age, but I wasn't that bad... was I?" They all start to laugh, then they realize she was as bad. Compared to the book On the Banks of Plum Creek, the series presented Nellie Oleson as a much more prominent character. In the books, Nellie's family members are very minor characters, whereas the Olesons became major figures on the series, with several episodes focusing on Nellie or her family. Eventually, the "villainous duo" of mother Harriet and daughter Nellie proved to be very popular with viewers for their often evil, yet humorous, antics. Other screenings Although the character of Nellie does not appear in any of the Beyond the Prairie: The True Story of Laura Ingalls Wilder movies, Part 1 features a character, Patsy Robbins (played by Jenny Dare Paulin), who is clearly reminiscent of Nellie. In the Little House on the Prairie'' musical, Nellie Oleson was played by Sara Jean Ford and Kate Loprest. Cultural impact The sketch comedy group The Nellie Olesons took their name after the character. References External links About Alison Arngrim Child characters in television Little House on the Prairie characters