MARSHALL – In her new memoir, actress Charlotte Stewart, known for her role as Miss Beadle on “Little House on the Prairie,” doesn’t shy away from the difficult times in her life.

But, according to a news release on her memoir, ultimately her story is of a survivor.

Stewart is coming to Walnut Grove Saturday and Sunday with Laura Ingalls Wilder author William Anderson. On Saturday, the two will do an autograph session from 9:30-11 a.m. at the museum, speak in the city park at 1 p.m. and an autograph session from 3-4:30 p.m. at the park. Stewart will speak at 8:30 p.m. Saturday at the Wilder Pageant, and she and Anderson will do an autograph session from 9:30-11 a.m. Sunday at the museum.

This will be Stewart’s third visit to Walnut Grove. She came to the town in 2012 and again in 2014 for the 40th anniversary “Little House” cast reunion.

Stewart said she loved Walnut Grove and staying at a nice bed and breakfast in the area. She also enjoyed the decorations, the history of the area and the people.

“I really appreciate the way people are so proud of the heritage there,” she said.

On the Saturday morning of the cast reunion in 2014, it was pouring rain. Yet, many dedicated fans stood in line to greet the television stars. Stewart said the actors were told they could go back inside and take a break, but the actors were willing to stay and greet their fans.

“(We said) ‘no, we’re not going to take a break, we’re going to continue to meet and greet,” Stewart said. The fans waited so patiently to say hello and get an autograph, she said.

Stewart’s memoir, “Little House in the Hollywood Hills: A Bad Girl’s Guide to Becoming Miss Beadle, Mary X, and Me,” came out on June 1. In the book, Stewart talks about everything, from battling breast cancer, divorce, drug use, financial ruin, the death of a spouse and alcoholism.

Stewart said she had just moved to Napa when she met her memoir’s co-writer, Andy Demsky. She was asked to be in “The Nutcracker” as the role of the mother. Demsky’s two daughters were also in the show. During rehearsals, the two were sitting on the floor, telling stories.

“He said, ‘you should write a book,'” Stewart said.

At first, Stewart was hesitant. She said “who would be interested” in a book on her life, and she was not a writer. Then during a tour with Alison Arngrim, who portrayed Nellie on the television show, Stewart noticed how Arngrim’s memoir was “flying off the table.”

“So I reluctantly said, ‘OK, let’s talk,'” Stewart said. Around December of last year, she had a publisher and a book agent.

Stewart said she had no desire to write a little “puff piece,” so she wrote candidly about her life, including the dark days, and talks about her friendships with Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, as well as relationships with some of TV, film and music’s biggest names, like Jon Voight, Richard Dreyfuss, Bill Murray and Jim Morrison.

“We’ve been getting some wonderful reaction,” Stewart said. It was her life, she said, adding that she went though a lot of difficult times. “People live through hardships, mistakes, addictions, death and cancer – it was my desire if somebody identifies with the things I went through, (they may) find a way out, there’s hope. Life does go on.”

Stewart said life for her now is wonderful, waking up every day and saying “gosh, what can I do today?”

In her book, she recalls the time Morrison came into her store, the Liquid Butterfly, saying there were a lot of music people around. It was a hard time in Morrison’s life. Stewart said when she saw him, he was looking out the window. He was quiet, she said, and the two became friends at that first meeting. They would walk down the street and talk, or not talk.

“He was a friend,” Stewart said.

Stewart also remembered working with Michael Landon on “Little House.”

“I loved working with him; he was the best boss a girl could have,” she said. “I felt so blessed to have known him.”

Stewart also worked with Elvis Presley on the movie “Speedway.” She said it was a small part, and Presley was “very polite.”

Besides the memoir, Stewart recently filmed scenes in the reboot for “Twin Peaks,” which will be released on Showtime next year. Stewart had worked with the show’s creator David Lynch on the movie “Eraserhead.”

“When I got the call to do ‘Twin Peaks,’ I was very thrilled,” she said.

Stewart portrayed Betty Briggs, mother to the “bad boy,” Bobby Briggs. Betty was the “eternal optimist,” Stewart said.

“She wore a happy face button to Laura’s funeral,” Stewart said, referring to the character of Laura Palmer, whose death was part of the series.

Another project Stewart was part of was an anti-nuclear comedy from the early 1980s, “Human Highway.” The movie was written and directed by Neil Young and was re-released this year. The movie also co-starred Dennis Hopper, Dean Stockwell and the band Devo. Members of the cast did a live theater interview that was moderated by Cameron Crowe.

“Neil Young wasn’t satisfied with it,” Stewart said. Stewart said Young spent the last 20 years editing it and “now he loves it.”

For the last couple of weeks before heading to Walnut Grove, Stewart has been busy recording the audiobook version of her memoir. Last week, she had spent seven hours recording the first 100 pages, she said.

As to why “Little House” still has an impact and is popular more than 30 years after it went off the air, Stewart said it’s a story about family, hard workers, loving, forgiving, childhood, purity and it never loses its wonder for children.

“Life was simple,” she said. “It was all those simple values we don’t have anymore.”