Karen Grassle was born on February 25th, 1944 in Berkeley, California. Karen was known as the miracle baby in her family, because before her, her mother had 4 miscarriages and had 1 baby even die. After Karen, another girl was born. At this time her father-Gene Grassle ran a gas station, and her mother ran a restaurant. When her father went into World War 2, her mother taught school. By the time Karen went to school, her father was in the real-estate business. When she joined a dancing class, her instructor told her to stay into show business. And by the time she graduated in 1960 (only 16 years old!) she was the vice president of the student body. Karen Grassle entered the University of California-Berkeley as an English major, but later added Theatre to her studies. She then went on to study in a San Francisco acting workshop, and got a scholarship and went to London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Her first New York break was the play "The Gingham Dog." She had to borrow a dollar from a friend to go to an interview for it. She changed her name to Gabriel Tree, which was the name she auditioned for "Little House" under. But Michael Landon convinced her to change it back. (I'm glad he did!) Karen Grassle beat out 47 other actresses for the part of "Ma." After Little House, she went on and did lot's of TV movies and guest appearences on different shows (some of which were during the run of LH). She was married twice, first to Leon Russom, whom she later divorced. Then to J. Alan Radford in 1982. Later she moved to Louisville, Kentucky, hoping to work in the theatre. Now she lives in Pacific Palisades, California, with an adopted daughter-Lily. You can sometimes see her on Timelife's commercials for "Little House."