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Katherine MacGregor, ‘Little House on the Prairie' star, dead at 93

Katherine "Scottie" MacGregor, who played Harriet Oleson on "Little House on the Prairie," died Nov. 13. She was 93. (NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)

Katherine "Scottie" MacGregor, who played the villainous and gossipy Harriet Oleson on the television series "Little House on the Prairie," died Tuesday, People reported. She was 93.

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MacGregor died at the Motion Picture and Television Fund's retirement home in Woodland Hills, a spokeswoman confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter.

MacGregor played the wealthy, haughty, mean-spirited Oleson in 153 of the 205 episodes of the television series that ran from 1974 to 1982, according to the IMDb database.

According to the "Little House on the Prairie" website, Katherine "Scottie" MacGregor was born Jan. 12, 1925, as Dorlee Deane McGregor in Glendale, California. She grew up in  Fort Collins, Colorado, and was active in the drama club at the University of Denver in 1944. She graduated from Northwestern University in 1947 with a bachelor's degree.

MacGregor moved to New York in 1949 and began a distinguished career in theater, People reported. After some limited roles in television, she met Michael Landon in 1974 and landed her role as Harriet Oleson, the magazine reported.

Because Laura Ingalls’ “Little House” books barely mentioned Oleson, MacGregor crafted her own character, which played a dominant role in the series, which was set in Walnut Grove, Minnesota.

Melissa Gilbert, who starred as Ingalls on the series, paid tribute to MacGregor on Instagram and Twitter. Alison Arngrim, who played Oleson’s daughter in the series, posted a photo of the pair.