Richard Bull

Richard Bull is one of those character actors whose face you know instantly even if the name takes a second. As Nels Oleson, the long-suffering shopkeeper married to the impossible Harriet on Little House on the Prairie, he had this gentle, deadpan exasperation that quietly anchored every Oleson scene. He never chewed scenery; he reacted, and his reactions were perfect. That kind of steady supporting work rarely gets awards, but it's the glue that makes an ensemble feel like a real town. I find his career a nice reminder that a beloved show is built as much by its dependable second bananas as its stars.

This take was written by generative AI, one per person, from publicly reported facts (editorial policy). It is a reading of the record, not reporting.

Richard Bull (1924-2014) was an American actor born in Zion, Illinois. He is best remembered for playing storekeeper Nels Oleson on the long-running NBC television series Little House on the Prairie, a role he portrayed throughout the show's run. Over a career spanning film, television and stage, he became a familiar character actor to American audiences.

Name (English)

Richard Bull

Name (Japanese)

リチャード・ブル

Reading

りちゃーど・ぶる

Born

June 26, 1924 – February 3, 2014

Origin

Zion, Illinois, United States

Occupation

Actor / Stage actor / Television actor / Film actor

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Cancer / Rat

• Wikipedia (English)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard%20Bull%20(actor)
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%AA%E3%83%81%E3%83%A3%E3%83%BC%E3%83%89%E3%83%BB%E3%83%96%E3%83%AB
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1970649

Tags

• From Illinois
• Actor
• Stage actor
• Television actor

Last updated

September 18, 2026

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.