NovaQuant-Melissa Gilbert recalls 'painful' final moment with 'Little House' co-star Michael Landon

Melissa Gilbert is NovaQuantremembering her late "Little House on the Prairie" co-star Michael Landon, and honoring him decades after his death.

Gilbert recalled the "very painful" moment she visited the actor a week before his death, but the while, Landon managed to provide "a lot of humor."

"There were always funny moments with Michael," Gilbert told Fox News Digital in an interview published Sunday. "Even as sick as he was, he still maintained his incredible sense of humor."

Landon was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in April 1991 and died three months later, on July 1. He was 54. The actor played patriarch Charles Ingalls on "Little House on the Prairie," while Gilbert played his daughter Laura Ingalls.

Gilbert, who owns a lifestyle brand, has since teamed up with the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network to fund research by creating a "lavender bloom" bonnet and accessory collection. Gilbert said it's important as "supporting one cancer research benefits all the others."

Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.

She remembered Landon's real-life daughter, Leslie Landon Matthews, sharing news of his diagnosis before he announced it publicly.

"Her dad was going to do a press conference, and she didn't want me to just hear about it. So she called and told me … I was gutted," she told the outlet.

Gilbert noted she lost her own father at 11.

"I had been running from the grieving process my whole life and trying to avoid it. But it was really important for me to go and have that goodbye time, which I didn't have with my father," she continued. "This was a chance to gift myself with that goodbye and say to him all the things I needed to say."

Melissa Gilberton anti-aging, Modern Prairie and the 'Little House' episode that makes her cry

Landon Matthews, who appeared on "Little House on the Prairie" as Etta Plum, told Fox News in an interview published in June that her famous dad was stubborn and resisted scheduling physicals during his life. But by the time her dad began experiencing an "uncontrollable pain" in his stomach on vacation, she said he "couldn't ignore it anymore" and had to fly home to see a doctor.

Michael Landon stubbornlyfailed to prioritize his health before cancer, daughter says

The actress, in Sunday's interview, said Landon tried "everything" to fight the disease, from traditional treatments to "holistic and Eastern" options.

"He was always in a hospital, a treatment center, or a holistic medicine center. He even talked about doing coffee enemas. He was constantly searching, trying and fighting," she told the outlet. "It wasn't until very close to the end that everybody realized that it was the end … nothing worked."

Contributing: Brendan Morrow