Katherine MacGregor, Mrs. Oleson on 'Little House on the Prairie,' dead at 93

Katherine MacGregor, who played petty, gossiping mother Harriet Oleson on TV's "Little House on the Prairie," has died at age 93.

Her representative Tony Sears says MacGregor died Tuesday at the Motion Picture and Television Fund retirement community in Los Angeles.

While her nasty daughter Nellie Oleson was the character viewers most loved to hate on the NBC show that ran from 1974 to 1983, her cruel, greedy mother Harriet Oleson was just as awful. They stood in contrast to the warm, loving members of the Ingalls family who were the show's focus, and often the Olesons' targets.

The California-born MacGregor began as a dancer in New York before shifting to acting.

Her screen career consisted of tiny film roles and TV guest spots before she landed on "Little House."