Dean Butler is a Canadian-American actor and producer of entertainment, sports, and documentary programming. Butler's career as an actor started with a small part on the TV series The Streets of San Francisco. His first major role was in the 1978 TV movie Forever, based on Judy Blume's novel of the same title.
Butler is best known for his portrayal of Almanzo Wilder on the NBC family drama Little House on the Prairie, which was based on the classic Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. He appeared in the final four seasons of the show, the spin-off show Little House: A New Beginning, and the three post-series TV movies. After Little House ended, he played Jeff "Moondoggie" Griffin in the TV series The New Gidget and Buffy’s dad, Hank Summers, on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
History with the Macy's Parade[]
The star of Little House on the Prairie first appeared on the Rocking Tortoise during the 1980 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and he sang "Don't Fence Me In" and made another appearance at the 1982 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, riding on Macy's REO Delivery Truck singing "I'm Giving Thanks".