It Wasn't All So Square
As far as TV goes, there was nothing squarer than the 1970s sitcom The Brady Bunch. But behind the scenes was quite a different story. Forbidden secrets, angry feuds, and legendary on-set hookups fueled the drama. And when the show ended after five seasons, like a virus, it would not let go of these actors.
It followed them into every aspect of their lives, as they clumsily, and often embarrassingly, tried to create a world outside The Brady Bunch.
Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
1. It All Started With A Fact
In the late 1960s, TV producer Sherwood Schwarz came across an article that said that almost a third of all households in America had “a child or children from a previous marriage”. With that simple fact, Schwarz dreamed up a sitcom called The Brady Bunch. He knew he needed six child actors and three adults to round out the cast.
He had no idea how his little show would dominate—for good and for bad—all of their lives forever.
2. It Was A Hair Color Lottery
After 264 interviews of child actors, Schwarz narrowed it down to 12 kids. They hadn't cast the parents yet, and they knew they wanted one parent to be blonde and one to be brunette. So, on hold, they had sets of blonde and brunette boys and girls to match their respective parents. When they finally cast the parents, six child actors got a call that would change their lives.
But there was one problem.
Screenshot from The Brady Bunch, Paramount Television (1969-1974)
3. He Wasn’t Quite Right
When the producers chose a blonde mother and a brunette father, they hired children who matched that pattern. There was one problem. The producers really wanted Mike Lookinland for the role of the youngest boy, but his fair hair didn't match. To keep Lookinland, they decide to dye and straighten his hair. In some episodes, you can see the dye running down his face,
There was one cast member who really needed the work.
Screenshot from The Brady Bunch, Paramount Television (1969-1974)
4. He Grew Up Poor
Middle brother actor Christopher Knight really needed this job on The Brady Bunch. His father was a stage actor, but the family struggled financially. At one point, Dad toyed with the idea of feeding Knight and his brother on “alternating days”. Knight later said that he resented his parents pushing him into show business and using him as a “meal ticket”.
To round out the Brady family, they needed to cast an outsider.
Screenshot from The Brady Bunch, Paramount Television (1969-1974)
5. They Almost Lost Her
Also important to The Brady Bunch cast was Alice, the housekeeper. Schwarz knew he wanted Ann B Davis, but she had already agreed to a series of stand-up comedy gigs in Seattle. They were so sure that Davis was the right one that they bought out her entire contract for the stand-up tour.
For many of us, it’s hard to imagine the Brady household without Davis as Alice, but she did not feel prepared for the role.
Screenshot from The Brady Bunch, Paramount Television (1969-1974)
6. She Had No Experience
While Alice, the housekeeper, was great with kids, Davis, the actor, had no experience with them at all. Davis never married, and of course, people speculated about her orientation. She eventually came out with the shocking truth. An early affair with a married man had turned her off relationships.
The casting of the Brady dad also had its snags.
Screenshot from The Brady Bunch, Paramount Television (1969-1974)
7. He Was Not Right In The Head
The story goes that Robert Reed got the role of the Brady dad because he wasn’t too handsome. Jeffrey Hunter wanted the part, but they thought he was too attractive to be believable as a suburban dad. Still, creator Schwarz had a problem with Reed. He thought his head was too small.
Schwarz was about to find out that Reed may have had a small head, but his ego was huge.
Screenshot from The Brady Bunch, Paramount Television (1969-1974)
8. It Was Beneath Him
Reed had experience as a Shakespearean actor, so he often thought that the plot lines of the episodes of The Brady Bunch were beneath him. Reed soon became excessively annoying around the set, as he didn’t hold back on giving constant notes about the script.
On one occasion, he went way overboard.
Screenshot from The Brady Bunch, Paramount Television (1969-1974)
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9. He Couldn’t Fake It
Reed was constantly making script suggestions. Some of them were good, and some were just plain crazy. In one scene, the family is making strawberry jam, and Reed had to say he loved the smell of strawberries. Reed’s research had told him that when you cook strawberries, they have no smell, so he made them change the line.
Reed certainly sounds annoying, and one cast member in particular had a problem with him.
Screenshot from The Brady Bunch, Paramount Television (1969-1974)
10. She Got Revenge
Ann B Davis did not appreciate Reed’s complaints. She thought they all should be thankful for having a career in acting. She had to hold back her anger when Reed would not let his character slip on an egg, as it didn’t seem real. When Reed actually slipped on the egg, Davis got her reward.
But one of Reed’s complaints saved some Brady lives.
Screenshot from The Brady Bunch, Paramount Television (1969-1974)
11. He Prevented A Tragedy
When The Brady Bunch went to a theme park, Reed had a complaint. Since they had attached a camera to a roller coaster, Reed wouldn’t allow his TV kids to ride it until they tested it. When they eventually tested the roller coaster, the camera flew off. If the kids had been there, they would have been in serious trouble.
Reed was a hero, but most days he was just miserable.
Screenshot from The Brady Bunch, Paramount Television (1969-1974)
12. The Dad Had A Secret
To many viewers, Reed’s Mike Brady was the perfect dad. Unfortunately, Reed often was in a bad mood when the cameras stopped rolling. Most of the cast knew the truth but didn't speak about it. Reed was gay, and keeping it a secret was making him miserable.
Reed dealt with his suffering in typical Hollywood fashion.
Screenshot from The Brady Bunch, Paramount Television (1969-1974)
13. He Drank His Sorrows Away
Reed was miserable for two reasons. He was unhappy working on a silly sitcom, and he was keeping his gay life a secret. At some point, he took to having a liquid lunch and acting while inebriated. But Reed was careful. Because the child actors left early, they never saw their TV dad slurring his words.
But Dad wasn’t the only one in an altered state.
Screenshot from The Brady Bunch, Paramount Television (1969-1974)
14. He Acted High
Sometimes Barry Williams, who played Greg, tried to be like your average non-famous teenager. On one day off, he and some friends decided to really enjoy themselves and smoked some green stuff. To his horror, the producers of the show called him and said they needed him on set ASAP. Williams later said you can see him acting while high in the episode called “Law and Order”. Oh, the irony.
There was one day on set where Williams may have thought he was hallucinating.
Screenshot from The Brady Bunch, Paramount Television (1969-1974)
15. The Dog Was Acting Strange
One day, on the set of The Brady Bunch, the kids may have noticed that their dog, Tiger, was not acting like it usually did. As it turned out, Tiger had been in a fatal car accident. The trainer was making a healthy paycheck with the dog and didn’t want to lose his job, so he secretly replaced it with a lookalike. The secret came out when the new dog didn't follow any instructions whatsoever.
They got rid of the dog…and almost lost Susan Olsen.
Screenshot from The Brady Bunch, Paramount Television (1969-1974)
16. She Got Too Famous
During the run of The Brady Bunch, all of the cast members became instant celebrities. The father of Susan Olsen, who played Cindy, did not like this one bit. He grew tired of fans approaching them in restaurants and peeking through their windows at home. He wanted Olsen to quit the show, and he even offered her a horse and riding lessons to convince her.
Olsen refused to quit, even though she had a very good reason to.
Screenshot from The Brady Bunch, Paramount Television (1969-1974)
17. She Had Trouble In School
Olsen played the youngest girl in the Brady family, and in one episode, her character becomes a tattletale. Olsen was still of an age where her classmates couldn't quite see the difference between TV and reality. She said her classmates ostracized her because they thought she would tattle on them.
But the truth was—Olsen really was a tattletale.
Screenshot from The Brady Bunch, Paramount Television (1969-1974)
18. The Kids Hooked Up
Years after the cancellation of The Brady Bunch, Olsen revealed some eye-opening gossip. She claimed that all the kids from The Brady Bunch hooked up in one way or another. She got more specific and said that she and Lookinland made out in the dog house.
Sometimes, these behind-the-scenes romances had a very “icky” feeling.
Screenshot from The Brady Bunch, Paramount Television (1969-1974)
19. She Kissed A Co-star
Maureen McCormick, who played oldest daughter Marcia, later said that she and Barry Williams—AKA her on-screen big brother—dated. She indulged the readers of her memoir with this “ick” inducing comment, “Oh my God! I’m kissing my brother. What am I doing”?
In most instances, dating a co-star isn’t usually such a big deal—but things got weird when they had to continue playing brother and sister after locking lips.
Screenshot from The Brady Bunch, Paramount Television (1969-1974)
20. The Bed Was The Problem
Series creator Schwarz later said that there was a weird scene in one episode where Greg and Marcia had to have a conversation on a bed. Even though the scene was completely innocent, he said it was very clear that these two teenagers were lusting for each other. But Williams didn't stop with McCormick. He had another crush as well.
One that was even more inappropriate.
Screenshot from The Brady Bunch, Paramount Television (1969-1974)
21. There Was An Odd Crush
While filming The Brady Bunch, Williams developed feelings for one of his co-stars. The problem was that he had feelings for Florence Henderson, the woman playing his stepmom. When it came out that the two had gone on a date, Brady Bunch fans went crazy.
This was the best Brady Bunch gossip to hit the airwaves—yet.
Screenshot from The Brady Bunch, Paramount Television (1969-1974)
22. She Humored Him
Henderson was already pretty sure that Williams had a crush on her. And she admits that the two had dinner together. But she saw the date as completely innocent. Williams didn’t even have a driver’s license at the time, so his older brother drove him to the date. Henderson was also married at the time and had four kids.
But another rumor came out later that left this juicy one in the dust.
Screenshot from The Brady Bunch, Paramount Television (1969-1974)
23. A Rumor Went Wild
In 2007, a rumor surfaced about another co-star fling that happened on The Brady Bunch. McCormick was coming out with her memoir, and the New York Post had a little preview. They said that in the book, McCormick wrote about an intimate affair she had with Eve Plumb, who portrayed her younger sister Jan.
When Plumb heard about this story, she went ballistic.
Screenshot from The Brady Bunch, Paramount Television (1969-1974)
24. They Pulled The Plug
Around the same time that McCormick made her claim, NBC’s Today show had been getting ready for a reunion of the cast of The Brady Bunch. Well, now Plumb was no longer in any mood to sit nicely on a stage beside the woman who had made up such a crazy rumor. Plumb later accused McCormick of using the story just to sell books. And, as a result, NBC decided to cancel the Brady reunion episode.
But this feud between McCormick and Plumb went way, way back.
Screenshot from The Brady Bunch, Paramount Television (1969-1974)
25. It Was An Old Feud
The writers of The Brady Bunch got the idea for the sibling rivalry between Marcia and Jan when they noticed the actors playing the roles had started fighting. According to McCormick, Plumb had a problem with flatulence and would, on occasion, walk around the set with no clothes on. This led to McCormick’s biggest issue. She envied Plumb’s plus-sized chest.
McCormick and Plumb managed to learn to work with each other. But Reed was ready to call it quits.
Screenshot from The Brady Bunch, Paramount Television (1969-1974)
26. He Was AWOL
When it was time for the season five finale of The Brady Bunch, Robert Reed had a major issue. He’d spent a lot of the series complaining about the idiotic nature of many of the episodes, and he just couldn’t do this final episode and take his well-deserved break. He refused to appear, and the writers wrote him out of the episode.
Unknown to Reed, the producers had a plan.
Screenshot from The Brady Bunch, Paramount Television (1969-1974)
27. They Wanted Him Out
Series creator Sherwood Schwarz was happy as a clam to have Robert Reed written off the show. In fact, he had a plan to carry on The Brady Bunch without Reed. Season six was going to find Dad deceased, and Mom as a widow raising six kids with only Alice to help her. Sadly, Schwarz never got to realize his dream. ABC decided to cancel the show altogether.
Reed must have been over the moon to be free from The Brady Bunch. But his behavior said otherwise.
Screenshot from The Brady Bunch, Paramount Television (1969-1974)
28. They Couldn’t Get Rid Of Him
It seemed that both Reed and Schwarz were happy to be rid of each other. Reed had never been happy playing the patriarch of the Brady family, and Schwarz wasn't happy dealing with Reed’s script complaints. So, imagine Schwarz’s reaction when the network asked Reed to appear in the variety show The Brady Bunch Variety Hour and five other Brady-related shows…and Reed agreed.
So how were the other Brady cast members dealing with a post-Brady world?
Screenshot from The Brady Bunch, Paramount Television (1969-1974)
29. She Sold Dolls
Although Susan Olsen played a character named Cindy on The Brady Bunch, she promoted a British doll called “Sindy.” The move from Britain to America was not successful, even with the help of the very familiar face of Olsen to get American kids to switch from Barbie to Sindy. The company that made the doll, Marx Toys, went bankrupt.
And Florence Henderson was having her own problems after leaving The Brady Bunch.
Photograph by Clem Rutter, Rochester, Kent. (www.clemrutter.net)., Wikimedia Commons
30. She Went Under
In the early 1980s, Florence Henderson’s post-Brady career had hit an obstacle. She was facing some serious stage fright and depression. When she found a hypnotherapist to help her, she got more than she expected. She married the guy.
But it was Maureen McCormick who faced the hardest transition to life after The Brady Bunch.
31. She Got Messed Up
After spending her formative years on The Brady Bunch, Maureen McCormick had problems dealing with reality. She dealt with her feelings using Quaaludes and other substances. She even said he went on binges at Hugh Hefner’s infamous mansion. She knew she was in trouble when she showed up for an audition too messed up to perform—one that could’ve turned around her whole career.
The audition was with Steven Spielberg for his hit movie Raiders of the Lost Ark. Then, McCormick sank a little lower.
Screenshot from The Brady Bunch, Paramount Television (1969-1974)
32. She Hit Rock Bottom
Despite all her earnings for playing Marcia Brady, McCormick was broke. The problem was she still had an addiction that needed a constant influx of cash. At her darkest hour, she had to trade her body to get her hands on some cash. Finally, after years of struggle, she became sober in 1985.
In the context of the Marcia and Jan feud, it was Jan who came out the winner.
ABC Television, Wikimedia Commons
33. She Got Dramatic
Of all the Brady kids, it seemed that Eve Plumb was the only one who continued with a serious career in acting. Plumb appeared in the very dramatic TV movie Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway, where her character turns to a life on the streets. She also appeared in NBC’s version of Little Women. Plumb famously refused to do the disastrous The Brady Bunch Hour, but then joined her castmates for other Brady reunion shows.
But they nearly didn’t happen.
Screenshot from Little Women, NBC (1978)
34. He Played Hardball
In 1976, producers began planning for The Brady Bunch’s follow-up, titled The Brady Bunch Hour. This was going to be a variety show, and Mike Lookinland had very little interest in participating. Instead of just saying no, he asked for double what they were offering. To his shock, he got it, and so did the other cast members. The show only ran for one season.
If a pay raise shocked the Bradys, this next news would send them reeling.
Screenshot from The Brady Bunch Hour, Paramount Television (1976-1977)
35. He Had Bad News
In 1991, Robert Reed had a health scare. He had colon cancer. It looked bad, and the intensely private Reed eventually reached out to his former TV wife, Florence Henderson. He wanted her to make the heartbreaking calls to tell the rest of the cast that he was gravely ill. A few weeks after talking to Henderson, Reed passed.
When the true cause came out, there was a media storm.
36. He Shocked Them All
While his Brady Bunch castmates had figured out that he was gay, the public had no idea. So, when it came out that Robert Reed had passed due to being HIV positive, there was a collective shock felt across the country. It took a while for it to sink in. The perfect sitcom dad had been living a double life.
But he wasn’t the only Brady costar who also felt he’d lived a double life.
ABC Television., Wikimedia Commons
37. He Lost His Childhood
As an adult, Mike Lookinland suffered, and he thinks it was because of The Brady Bunch. In his view, he had two lives. On The Brady Bunch, he came across as an average kid. His reality was very different. He felt he should have been playing in the playground instead of working on the set of a hit show. To deal with his lost childhood, Lookinland turned to the bottle.
And that got him into trouble with the law.
Screenshot from The Brady Bunch, Paramount Television (1969-1974)
38. He Rolled His Vehicle
In November 1997, Mike Lookinland rolled his Ford Bronco on a Utah State highway. Lookinland only had minor injuries, but there was something else. He was over the legal limit for driving a vehicle. He spent a brief moment in prison before paying his $1,550 bail. After doing his community service, he gave up the bottle.
It was time for Lookinland to turn his life around.
Screenshot from Inside Edition, CBS Media Ventures (1989-Present)
39. He Went In Another Direction
After working on The Brady Bunch for those years, Lookinland realized that everything on TV seemed artificial. To combat this feeling, he went in the opposite direction for his next career. He decided to make concrete countertops. You could say, there’s nothing more real than concrete.
Lookinland’s female counterpart, Susan Olsen, also got into business.
Screenshot from Inside Edition, CBS Media Ventures (1989-Present)
40. She Designed A Shoe
Just before the turn of the millennium, Susan Olsen went into the shoe business. She’d gotten into design, and the Converse sneaker company got her to design a shoe. For her edition of the iconic sneaker, she went with glow-in-the-dark. But there was something even darker about her next business venture.
41. She Made Some Noise
Once Susan Olsen graduated from high school, she was not getting any acting offers. All she seemed to get were Brady-related shows. Then a rumor started. Someone said that she was making “adult only" films. The truth was, she did participate in the making of one of these types of movies—but not in the way you’d think. She recorded some space ship noises for a racy movie called Love Probe from a Warm Planet.
This rumor was nothing compared to what came next for Olsen.
Greg Hernandez, Wikimedia Commons
42. She Got In Trouble On the Radio
In 2016, Susan Olsen got into a hostile Facebook feud with Leon Acord-Whiting, who is a gay actor. At this time, she had a show called Two Chicks Talkin’ Politics, and Acord-Whiting went to Facebook to complain about his treatment as a guest. Olsen responded on Facebook with passion. Some would say too much passion. Olsen used some harsh words to describe Acord-Whiting’s orientation, and they fired her.
But this wasn’t over yet.
43. She Used Hate Speech
Many would consider the words Olsen used on Facebook to be hate speech. So, when CBS was toying with the idea of a Brady revival, they had a reason to pause. Olsen must have wanted to participate because she agreed to study "political correctness”. But this wasn't enough for CBS.
Then they came out with a document that would shock everyone.
44. She Got Canceled
CBS eventually canceled its plans for a Brady Bunch revival show. If anyone asked why, they had a very good reason. They had 50 pages of dangerous statements Olsen had made in the past. Shockingly, Olsen later called the 50 pages her “greatest hits”.
Around this same time, McCormick had cleaned up life and was back on TV.
Rob Young from United Kingdom, Wikimedia Commons
45. She Showed One Last Kindness
In 2016, Maureen McCormick was participating in Dancing With the Stars. In the studio audience was McCormick’s Brady mom, Florence Henderson. She had kindly agreed to cheer her former co-star on. Tragically, Henderson unexpectedly passed a few days later due to heart failure. Attending McCormick’s taping became her final kind gesture to her TV family.
Both Brady Bunch parents were now gone. But what about the third adult in the household?
Screenshot from Dancing With the Stars, ABC (2005-2025)
46. She Sold Her Character
The only non-Brady at the Brady household was the housekeeper, portrayed by Ann B Davis. Davis continued to appear in any Brady reunion show that they offered her. Later in life, she used her fame as a housekeeper in ads for Shake ‘n Bake and Swiffer cleaning products.
Sadly, Davis’ final days were not what you might expect.
47. We Lost An Icon
On May 31, 2014, Ann B. Davis was a no-show for her hair appointment—and the reason why was utterly horrifying. Davis had died unexpectedly after falling in the bathroom. She was 88 years old.
While making The Brady Bunch, the young actors playing the kids had lived a very unreal life. So, it’s no surprise that they sought reality in their afterlife.
48. Reality Show Round Up
All of The Brady Bunch kids have ended up on reality shows. Maureen McCormick appeared on Celebrity Fit Club, Gone Country, and I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!. Christopher Knight was on The Surreal Life and My Fair Brady. Barry Williams appeared on The Masked Singer, with Lookinland, and Dancing With The Stars. Olsen appeared in Gimme My Reality Show and Celebrity Ghost Stories.
But there was one reality show where all the kids showed up together.
Screenshot from The Masked Singer, FOX (2019-2025)
49. They Went Back Home
In 2019, the house that they used for the exteriors of the Brady house was up for sale. HGTV had an idea, and they bought it for $ 3.5 million. Their idea was to put the Brady Bunch kids—now adults—together with renovators and recreate parts of the Brady house. All of the kids showed up for the seven-episode miniseries, and more than 28 million viewers watched them.
Some of Brady’s reunions were not as well-publicized.
Screenshot from Entertainment Tonight, CBS Media Ventures (1981-Present)
50. They Shared A Bed
In 1985, when Maureen, McCormick was still in her “messy phase", but she was about to marry good boy Michael Cummings. McCormick was nervous about her wedding night because the couple had decided to wait. To Cummings’ surprise, to dissipate the tension, McCormick had invited her Brady brothers and sisters into the honeymoon suite. They all celebrated with a champagne reunion. Sadly, there wasn’t a camera in sight.
Ron Galella, Ltd., Getty Images
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Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21
