An actress best known for her wholesome role in a classic television series has shared remarkable details of a secret, cross-country journey she took with one of rock music's most infamous legends.
A Trusted Friend in a Time of Crisis
Five years before she began playing schoolteacher Eva Beadle on the beloved NBC drama Little House on the Prairie, Charlotte Stewart lived a very different life. The now 84-year-old retired actress was a free-spirited hippie who owned a clothing boutique named Liquid Butterfly. It was there she first met Jim Morrison, the charismatic and troubled frontman of The Doors.
In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, Stewart recounted their platonic yet intimate friendship. "We would go out for drinks. He was quite a drinker, and often he needed to be driven home. So I would take him to my house because he trusted me," she explained. Stewart emphasised that romance was not her intention, stating, "I didn't want him to be my boyfriend... All I wanted was to be his friend."
The Great Escape Up Highway 1
Their bond was tested following the pivotal event that threatened to derail Morrison's life. After he allegedly exposed himself during a notorious 1969 concert in Miami, six warrants for his arrest on obscenity charges were issued. Fleeing the fallout, Morrison returned to California and sought out Stewart.
"He came up to me and said, 'I gotta get out of town. You want to go?' I said, 'Sure,'" Stewart recalled. With no destination in mind, the pair jumped into a car and, on Stewart's suggestion, headed north along the scenic Pacific Coast Highway. Their impromptu road trip lasted four days, with stops at roadside bars and overnight stays in motels.
Stewart documented parts of the journey on Super 8 film, though she joked that "most of it was just him driving, which wasn't very interesting." She took him to see Hearst Castle and introduced him to friends along the coast. Disguised by a full, unkempt beard, Morrison went unrecognised. "He looked like a bum," Stewart said. "They didn't have a clue it was Jim Morrison."
A Legacy of Trust and Tragedy
For Stewart, the memory is defined by the profound trust Morrison placed in her during his most vulnerable period. "The fact that he trusted me at the worst time in his life when he was facing jail time — I will always cherish that," she reflected. Morrison knew the escape was temporary; he would have to return to Florida to face trial.
In 1970, he was convicted of two misdemeanours—indecent exposure and open profanity—and sentenced to six months in prison and a fine. While free on bond during the appeal, Morrison died of heart failure in Paris in 1971 at the age of 27. His death was rumoured to be linked to a heroin overdose.
"I was heartbroken," Stewart admitted, clarifying the nature of their relationship one final time. "He trusted me because I didn't want anything from him. I was just being a friend — happened to be a friend with benefits. That's what we did." She added poignantly, "It made sense that he would be stupid enough to drink himself to death, but he was only 27 years old."
In a postscript to the saga, on what would have been Morrison's 67th birthday, the state of Florida granted him a posthumous pardon.
Today, Stewart is preparing to reunite with 16 cast and crew members from Little House on the Prairie for a three-day celebration in Simi Valley, California, this December. Looking back on her varied life and career, she simply said, "I was very lucky. I got to work with the best."
