GILBERT WINS ACTORS GUILD PRESIDENCY.

Byline: Greg Hernandez Staff Writer

Melissa Gilbert edged fellow 1970s television icon Valerie Harper for the presidency of the Screen Actors Guild following a closely contested election filled with fireworks.

Gilbert, best known as Laura Ingalls on the long-running show ``Little House on the Prairie,'' also beat lesser-known candidates Eugene Boggs and Angeltompkins.

Gilbert received 12,280 votes to Harper's 10,692. Longtime SAG board members Boggs and Angeltompkins received 2,553 and 1,613 votes, respectively.

``I'm coming out of my fog of shock, sitting at a desk at the eighth floor of the guild, feeling like a president,'' said Gilbert after votes were tallied late Friday. ``People agreed with a lot of what I had to say. ... agreed with me it was a time for change.''

Also elected to national SAG offices were Elliot Gould as secretary and Kent McCord as treasurer. Dozens of other races for board seats were also decided, including those won by such well-known actors as husband and wife Mike Farrell and Shelley Fabares, Richard Dreyfuss, Tess Harper, Diane Ladd, Esai Morales and Renee Taylor.

The results could be disputed in light of a ballot controversy that arose this week, when nearly 24,000 ballots sent to SAG members in New York did not include a signature line, which could allow their validity to be challenged. The other 74,000 envelopes sent around the country included: ``Voter: Print and sign your name on the back of this envelope.''

Guild officials have downplayed the effect of the signature-line flaw, saying in a written statement that each envelope is already affixed with a printed member identity label that verifies its legitimacy.

If the results are challenged, it will be the continuation of a fiery race that has seen Gilbert come out swinging against Harper and blasting the performance of current SAG President William Daniels, who endorsed Harper and did not seek re-election.

The election comes at a time of tension and discordancy within the guild, following a lengthy commercial-actors strike and a barely averted walkout by movie and TV actors under Daniels.

Gilbert has been aggressively critical of current SAG administration and suggested that a vote for Harper and her slate would essentially be a vote for policies of Daniels which she said in campaign fliers would be ``destructive.''

She said Friday that the diversity of ballots cast shows the need for the organization to embrace a range of opinion.

For her part, Harper - known to millions as Rhoda Morgenstern on ``The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' - deemed the Daniels presidency a success. With Daniels' support, she was expected to have a clear edge.

Gilbert was criticized by Harper for not walking a picket line during the commercial strike and for appearing in a nonunion film in 1989 in violation of SAG rules.

The two front-runners also differed on ways to stem so-called runaway production - when films are shot outside the United States because of lower costs.

Gilbert joins a growing list of television and movie stars who have led the guild including Ronald Reagan, Charlton Heston, Edward Asner and Patty Duke.

Since starring in ``Little House on the Prairie,'' Gilbert has appeared in more than 40 television movies and two short-lived series: ``Stand By Your Man'' and ``Sweet Justice.''

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