In the Little House on the Prairie tv series, the Ingalls family adopt Albert, a boy with no relation to the Ingalls on the show. But the actor who portrayed Albert, Matthew Labyorteaux (also known as Matthew Laborteaux during his appearance on the show), also portrayed the younger Charles Ingalls on the show as well, in a flashback episode. So if Albert and Charles were not related, why were they played by the same actor?
It is common on television shows for the same actor to portray more than one smaller part on a show, especially for single episodes – in fact many of the guest stars or minor roles on the show appeared multiple times as different characters.
Three years before Little House on the Prairie introduced the character of Albert Quinn, he played the role of the young Charles Ingalls in the episode Journey Into the Spring: Part 1 (Season 3 Episode 6 in 1976) as well as the season 4 episode I Remember, I Remember. It is likely that his performance in these earlier episodes helped him to be cast later in the show as Albert.
