The Most 'Hollywood Moment' Of Melissa Gilbert's Life Was An '80s Night Out With A Classic Crooner

Melissa Gilbert became famous playing Laura Ingalls Wilder in the "Little House on the Prairie" TV show, which debuted in 1974. Gilbert got the role on "Little House" when she was just 9, and the world got to grow up with her as the hit show ran until 1983. Off-screen, Gilbert spent at least part of her time hanging out with the "Brat Pack," and she dated Rob Lowe for much of the 1980s. Lowe was with her on the memorable night that Gilbert described years later when asked about her "most Hollywood moment." The eventful evening ended with her hanging out with Sammy Davis Jr. at his house after having met up with just about every major 1980s celeb earlier in the night.

She called it the "craziest night ever" on an episode of The Patrick Labyorteaux Sheaux podcast. She explained that she was at Davis Jr.'s house when she ran into the popular singer as he was making drinks. Gilbert broke the ice by telling him that she thought he knew her grandfather Harry Crane, a comedy writer who worked with Hollywood stars and on shows from the 1950s to 1970s.

Davis Jr. did recognize the name, and he offered to make Gilbert a drink. He also asked her to play pool. Gilbert said she responded by saying: "'I'm sorry, I'm really bad at it. I don't think so.' He said, 'I have one eye. You'll win.'" Davis Jr. lost his left eye in a car accident in 1954.

Melissa Gilbert explained that the memorable Sammy Davis Jr. night had all started by seeing a show starring Patrick Swazye. Then she went to Spago, Wolfgang Puck's first restaurant in Los Angeles, and the "it" hotspot of the time. While there, Gilbert was joined by boyfriend Rob Lowe, and they ended up seeing Liza Minelli, Andrew McCarthy, Lorna Luft, and Michael Jackson, who told her that he had a llama at his house. It was Minelli who got the whole crew to go to "Sammy's" house; Gilbert had wanted to just go home and thought that Sammy's was actually a club. You just never know where fate will take you.

The "I believe you know my grandfather" is the same line that Gilbert said she used when she met Frank Sinatra. On her Instagram page, she wrote about that meeting, which ended similarly to her meeting with Davis Jr. — Sinatra making sure that Gilbert had a drink.

As much fun as it sounds like Gilbert had while in the midst of the Hollywood scene, it doesn't sound like it was sustainable for her. Gilbert left Los Angeles in 2013 to escape the pressures of the business as she got older. "When you live in Los Angeles, it's like living at the mall when you work at the mall," she told People. "Everybody's always looking, curious, competing, and that's a really difficult thing, especially for a female actor. It puts a lot of pressure on staying thin and staying young, and really it makes it hard to feel comfortable in one's own skin."