By Davan 
The actor in question asserted that working with Michael Landon has been a good experience, that he felt honored to meet him and that he has a lot of respect for him.
Before becoming a part of the cast, Mark spoke to then-casting director Susan McCray who he had his first audition with.
This is how I manifested it in an interview: During the audition, Mr. Landon was sitting at his desk, I was in a chair in front of him and Susie was reading Melissa (Mary) part. We were reading the first scene in which I got to school and I answer Mary’s question: “I have two apples, I eat one.” How many are left? ”. When I responded to Susie, I replied with sass: “Three.” Then I turned to Michael in a confidential tone and said, “I ate one.” She hit the desk with her hand and smiled (she had an amazing laugh, so open and generous). At that moment I knew I could get the paper.
She made me feel very comfortable in the audition. I was 22 years old and a little nervous because the role was actually a 16-year-old boy, however, as soon as I walked in, I got a feeling he was on my side and wanted me to do well. Maybe it was like this with everyone, but it made me feel special anyway.
Working with Melissa Sue Anderson was also a nice experience for Mark, this said:.
Met Melissa on set. He was very professional. I was impressed by her elegance from the beginning, but I also understood that, given her experience in the program, it made sense that she was as prepared and prepared as she was. Anyway, she obviously showed herself very comfortable and unpretentious.
The shooting locations were like a wish come true for the actor:
This was one of the most amazing things about filming. We work at Paramount Studios for most of the time, but we also travel to Sonora, California for the exteriors and some of the interiors of the school. It was a beautiful place. The city was something magical, with old taxis and a really cool old hotel. I loved going to the place. It was a first for me and it was exciting to be picked up from my not glamorous apartment in Echo Park in a limo and taken to LAX airport for a short flight to Sacramento and then to Sonora. At that point in my life, I was driving a taxi in Los Angeles to get to the end of the month and for me being picked up in a limo was a unique privilege.
Returning to Melissa Sue, Mark Neely doesn’t stop praising having worked alongside her:
She was very easy and pleasant to work with. She was a pro. A little intense, but generous and understanding. Something interesting about judging by a guest star when working with one of the regulars or, especially, one of the stars of a show is how they relate to you when it’s your turn for a close up. Some stars just repeat lines; others don’t even appear, let someone else read their lines when it’s your turn so the camera can focus its attention on you. Melissa wasn’t just there. She gave the same level of acting for me as she did for her own close ups. That really helped me feel comfortable and more importantly confident because it made me feel like she approved of what I was doing. I really appreciated it and I know my performance was better because of your support. On set, we don’t talk much to each other, but I had a great time talking to her mom. She was very serious but open and I loved that she was so protective of her daughter. I don’t know what their relationship was really like, but I felt that her mother was not at all your typical “theatre mom”. He really seemed to be there to make sure his daughter was okay. She told me how she and Melissa’s dad were careful to invest Melissa’s money into Melissa’s benefit and weren’t there to take advantage of her. We talk about child actors (at the time, Melissa wasn’t 18 yet; she didn’t look like a child to me, but she was technically a minor) and how many of them struggled with all the pressures of stardom. She made sure Melissa did all her homework, she took her job very seriously.
Mark also details what it was like to work barefoot in all of the scenes.
I remember it being pretty cold in Sonora (late November). At first I was a little worried about going barefoot, but as soon as the camera started rolling, I got on paper and didn’t even think about it. Honestly, I think the best performance I did on the show was when I ran barefoot and jumped a log while running to school.
Finally, the actor reveals what his history and experience working on the show was.
Overall, it was my favorite acting job. I especially enjoyed working for Mr. Landon. I was, and still am, a huge Bonanza fan. Maybe even more importantly, he was a big fan of old movies. When I was on the set of Little House on the Prairie, I felt like I was on the sets of a John Ford movie.
Another funny thing during those two weeks happened when we were filming the scene where Mary slaps me because I “tried to steal a kiss.” When Anita Dangler, who plays Mrs. Peel, scolds me and says “Go home!” “, I turn around and run out. Well the pants I was wearing were too tight and when I ran they ripped from front to back completely. There was a loud noise when my pants were busted and the whole crew including Mr Landon laughed. In the scene, as shown in the final cut, you can only see an open opening and a bit of white from my underwear before they cut. They recorded about the laughs. However, I was told that Michael Landon kept the whole clip as a dump, with the sound of tear and cracking laughter, and played it along with some of his other favorite dump takes at Christmas. I wish that was true. Also had a great experience playing table tennis with Mr. Landon. We had a raging match and I enjoyed bragging over the years of playing ping pong with him. I think the people I told this story to were more impressed by my table tennis game with Michael Landon than by my appearance on the show.