Melissa Gilbert has taken the skills she gained from her role as Laura Ingalls on Little House on the Prairie throughout her career.

Gilbert spent over a decade working closely with her on-screen family, which was led by Michael Landon. The lessons she learned from the man who played Charles, the father of the Ingalls family, continue to resonate with her now.

“I learned so much, especially from Michael Landon. One of the things he instilled in us was that none of us were any more exceptional than everybody else who worked on the program, period,” she tells PEOPLE.

“Nobody had massive trailers that were vying with one another. We all shared one room on a honey wagon. He did, too. Gilbert, 60, continues, “Little rooms, one after another after another.” “No one got anything better than anyone else.”

Gilbert, who previously served as President of the Screen Actors Guild from October 2001 to February 2005, learned to respect everyone involved in a production.

Landon “instilled in me a passion for the work of every single individual on a set—from craft services to greensmen, to wranglers, to grips, electricians, and script supervisors. I mean, editors and everyone. And, frankly, removing one of those people from that position prevents you from getting the show you want.”

Landon wanted the actors to understand that “everyone has value, and everyone’s job is just as important.” The actor passed away from pancreatic cancer in 1991, at the age of 54.

We often focus on actors because we experience the most impact. Our faces are out there. We are the ones marketing it. But there’s no chance we’ll have a job until everyone around us works together,” Gilbert explains.

“It is a complete cooperation. And it follows me wherever I go.”

Gilbert is presently performing in the Off-Broadway play Still at The Sheen Center for Thought and Culture’s Loreto Theater in New York City, which runs until March 23. She is also a guest star on Hallmark’s When Calls the Heart as Georgie McGill.