The Good Ole Brady Bunch
How long do you think it has been since The Brady Bunch aired their final episode? It may be hard for you to believe but it’s been over 50 years since the last episode was produced in 1974. After five years and 117 episodes of popularity, the show said goodbye. But what happened to the cast?
Brady Bunch Success
Surprisingly, during its original airing, The Brady Bunch didn’t have particularly high ratings. It was later that the series gained more traction. Due to this later success and syndication, it produced follow-up shows, reunions, and movies such as The Brady Bunch Hour, The Brady Bunch Girls Get Married, and A Very Brady Christmas.
ABC Television., Wikimedia Commons
Where Are They Now?
On numerous occasions, The Brady Bunch performers came back together. Televised specials, reunions, and the 2022 Primetime Emmy Awards saw cast and crew reunited. You’re probably wondering what’s happened to Marcia, Greg, Jan, Peter, Cindy, Bobby, parents Carol and Mike, and of course the beloved housekeeper, Alice since then. Let’s find out!
ABC Television, Wikimedia Commons
Marcia (Maureen McCormick)
Maureen McCormick’s very first role was on The Brady Bunch. As Carol’s eldest daughter, she was “friendly, generally cheery, and occasionally anxious”. Though boy-crazy, Marcia was considered fairly angelic. Unlike her character, however, McCormick’s real life was very far from perfect.
ABC, The Brady Bunch (1969-1974)
Marcia (Maureen McCormick)
McCormick has had an ongoing struggle with sobriety and depression. She openly discusses the favors she did to obtain illegal substances in her 2008 memoir called Here’s the Story. She acknowledges in her book that she "spiraled downward on a path of self-destruction that cost me my career and very nearly my life".
ABC, The Brady Bunch (1969-1974)
Marcia (Maureen McCormick)
After The Brady Bunch, McCormick’s career took off. She was cast in The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Teen Angel, and Passions. She also managed to get roles in reality TV shows such as Hollywood Squares and Celebrity Fit Club. Her latest appearance was on Dancing with the Stars at age 67. She came in eighth place.
ABC, The Brady Bunch (1969-1974)
Marcia (Maureen McCormick)
McCormick married actor and producer Michael Cummings in 1985. They have one son together. Before her relationship with Cummings, McCormick admits to having been on a number of dates with singer and superstar Michael Jackson. She was only about 16 years old, but she ended up being the driver because, as she jokes, she was “the older woman”.
Greg (Barry Williams)
Barry Williams performed the role of Greg. As the eldest son of Mike, he came to the blended family as a “self-confident and brassy at times” teen. Greg not only devised plans for his siblings and stepsisters but was their spokesperson.
ABC, The Brady Bunch (1969-1974)
Greg (Barry Williams)
Unlike co-star McCormick, Williams was not new to the show business when he was hired for The Brady Bunch. As a child, Williams had wanted to be an actor. His TV debut took place in 1967 in the Christmas episode of Dragnet 1967. Before playing on the show, Williams had been in the series That Girl, Mission Impossible, and The Mod Squad.
ABC, The Brady Bunch (1969-1974)
Greg (Barry Williams)
In his personal life, Williams welcomed a son with his second wife Eila Mary Matt in 2003. In 2012, he and his ex-girlfriend, Elizabeth Kennedy, had a daughter.
Greg (Barry Williams)
Williams likes to keep a “low profile”. Since starring in The Brady Bunch, Williams has made appearances in series such as Highway to Heaven, Murder She Wrote, Full House, and Scrubs. In 2022, he was part of a trio with his brothers on the series Masked Singer. He was also a contestant on Dancing with the Stars in 2023.
Everett Collection, Shutterstock
Jan (Eve Plumb)
Jan, Carol’s middle daughter, was played by Eve Plumb. Self-conscious of her freckles and glasses, her character was continually jealous of her older sister, Marcia. You may recall that she desperately wanted a boyfriend and invented one by the name of "George Glass".
Jan (Eve Plumb)
Before starting her role in 1969 as Jan, Plumb had many acting experiences. TV commercials gave her a start but soon she took on minor roles in The Virginian, The Big Valley, Lassie, It Takes a Thief, Family Affair, and Gunsmoke. She made enough money that, at the age of 11, she bought her first home in Malibu.
Jan (Eve Plumb)
In 1979, Plumb married Rick Mansfield. Two years later, she was the first of The Brady Bunch actors to be divorced. In 1995, she married a second time. She and her husband, Ken Pace, divide their time between New York City and Los Angeles.
Jan (Eve Plumb)
The gossip mills were busy when Plumb declined participation in ABC’s 1976–77 The Brady Bunch Hour variety show. However, she returned to her role as Jan in 1981 in the movie The Brady Girls Get Married. Plumb now focuses mainly on painting, although she has done some acting. Her list of shows in which she gave a guest appearance include That 70s Show, Army Wives, and Fudge.
Peter (Christopher Knight)
Christopher Knight depicted Mike’s second son, Peter. The only brown-eyed child, Peter was clumsy, impulsive, and seemed to have no self-confidence. Knight added believability to Peter’s fun-loving nature.
Peter (Christopher Knight)
Knight’s father, Edward, was also an actor. He helped his son obtain some minor roles in TV series before The Brady Bunch. One of these included the 1967 episode of Mannix called "Coffin for a Clown".
Peter (Christopher Knight)
Knight has been married four times. Knight’s third marriage was to a model and reality TV star, Adrianne Curry. His 2005 proposal, along with their marriage preparation and ceremony, was documented in the series My Fair Brady.
Peter (Christopher Knight)
Although he had some guest appearances after The Brady Bunch, Knight’s focus was on software technology. As a “self-described ‘geek’”, he co-founded a 3D graphics company as well as Kidwise Learningware that created interactive educational goods, devices, and programs. In 1996, he added Vice President of Marketing at iXMicro to his resume.
Cindy (Susan Olsen)
Cindy, the youngest daughter in the blended Brady family, was played by Susan Olsen. Few recall that the sweet and sometimes precocious character’s full name was actually Cynthia. This young blonde, with pigtails or braids, was often found snooping, sharing secrets, and had a pronounced lisp.
Cindy (Susan Olsen)
Although hired just before she turned eight years old, the role of Cindy wasn’t the first one for Olsen. She had previously had small roles in Ironside, Gunsmoke, and Julia. Perhaps most impressive is her appearance in Elvis’ movie The Trouble with Girls.
Everett Collection, Shutterstock
Cindy (Susan Olsen)
Outside of The Brady Bunch, Olsen found friendships difficult. Classmates misunderstood that her portrayal of Cindy mimicked her personality. When she played a tattletale in season 2, “she was shunned by real-life peers”. Married twice, she has one son.
Cindy (Susan Olsen)
Olsen had a great deal of trouble getting acting roles after The Brady Bunch. When auditioning for roles, such as a person living on the streets, she often heard “We can’t hire Cindy to play that role”. Like Cindy, who became a radio DJ, Olsen has also been a radio hostess. She spent years as a graphic designer and talk show host. Currently, however, she spends a lot of time like Brady Bunch sister Jan, in the world of art.
Bobby (Mike Lookinland)
Mike Lookinland played Bobby, the youngest Brady boy. Bobby, with a warm and genuine heart, often felt as though he didn’t live up to his siblings or stepsisters. He was the only child who hadn’t won a first-place trophy in any competition. As a young kid, his biggest desire in life was to be a couple of feet taller than he was.
Bobby (Mike Lookinland)
Lookinland’s acting career began with commercials. Before the age of nine, he had already been in over 30 commercials, including ones for Cheerios and Band-Aids. To fit in with the Brady family, Lookinland’s naturally sandy-colored hair was dyed dark brown and straightened. Often, on set under the bright lights, the color would be uncomfortably running down his cheeks.
Everett Collection, Shutterstock
Bobby (Mike Lookinland)
Lookinland explains that he learned early about Hollywood’s pitfalls. "From the age of eight, I learned that nothing in the entertainment industry is real," he told Oprah. He chose substances as a way to cope. After Lookinland managed to escape his issues with substances, he married his high school sweetheart and together they have two sons.
Bobby (Mike Lookinland)
Lookinland took part in all The Brady Bunch follow-up shows, reunions, movies, and specials. Outside of this, however, he chose to avoid the world of Hollywood. He lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, where he owns and operates a business that makes decorative concrete.
Luigi Novi, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Carol (Florence Henderson)
The Brady Bunch mom, stepmom, and wife was played by Florence Henderson. Onscreen she was an inspirational fun-loving woman who took things in stride, wholesome yet fairly liberated and easy-going. She has “an endearingly corny sense of humor and likes to tease her husband with well-timed zingers”.
ABC, The Brady Bunch (1969-1974)
Carol (Florence Henderson)
Before playing a mom on The Brady Bunch, Henderson had a well-versed career on stage. After being with a touring theater company for three years, her Broadway debut was in 1952 in the musical Wish You Were Here. Henderson had been in several television series and films before she earned the role of Carol Ann Brady.
ABC, The Brady Bunch (1969-1974)
Carol (Florence Henderson)
Henderson’s personal life was very much intermingled with her world of performing. She married her first husband, Broadway Executive Ira Bernstein, in 1956. They had four children together and divorced after almost 30 years together. Her second husband was hypnotherapist Dr John George Kappas who had treated her for bouts of stage fright.
ABC, The Brady Bunch (1969-1974)
Carol (Florence Henderson)
After five years on The Brady Bunch, Henderson went on to do many different things. Not only was she a singer, but she hosted her own cooking show on Retirement Living TV. In 2010, she was on Dancing with the Stars. Sadly, Henderson’s heart issues ended her life on November 24, 2016, at 82 years of age.
ABC, The Brady Bunch (1969-1974)
Mike (Robert Reed)
Mike, the well-adjusted father in The Brady Bunch, was played by Chicago native Robert Reed. In the series, Mike married Carol Martin in 1969 and became a stepfather to three daughters. You may recall him as a very confident architect who loves the outdoors. He is extremely calm, even in the chaos that sometimes ensues within the world of the Bradys.
ABC, The Brady Bunch (1969-1974)
Mike (Robert Reed)
Before acting in The Brady Bunch, Reed appeared in several films and TV series. Besides Mike Brady, he is likely best known in his role as Kenneth Preston in The Defenders, in which he acted in 132 episodes over four years.
ABC Television, Wikimedia Commons
Mike (Robert Reed)
Reed struggled with his character, Mike, as he believed it was “beneath his training as a serious Shakespearean actor”. Reed chose to sit out the final episode called “The Hair-Brained Scheme” because he was “appalled” and wasn’t getting his way. In the show, they simply pretended he had been away on business.
ABC, The Brady Bunch (1969-1974)
Mike (Robert Reed)
Reed married a fellow university student, Marilyn Rosenberger, in July 1954. They remained married for five years and had a daughter. Reed was secretive about his personal life and very few people knew that he was “in the closet”. Co-star Henderson later explained that “he was an unhappy person – I think had Bob not been forced to live this double life, I think it would have dissipated a lot of that anger and frustration”.
ABC, The Brady Bunch (1969-1974)
Mike (Robert Reed)
After his stint as The Brady Bunch’s dad, Reed went on to act in many films and television series, including The Love Boat, Wonder Woman, Hawaii Five-O, Charlie’s Angels, and Galactica 1980. His life ended on May 12, 1992. Reed had been diagnosed the previous November with colorectal cancer and was HIV-positive.
ABC Television., Wikimedia Commons
Alice (Ann B Davis)
Perhaps one of the most beloved characters in The Brady Bunch was Alice, the housekeeper. This role was played by Ann B Davis. Alice, always wearing a blue dress and white apron, was a calm but “jovial” presence in the Brady home. She had been raised in the same neighborhood as the Bradys and even went to the same high school as two of her charges, Greg and Marcia.
Paramount, The Brady Bunch (1969–1974)
Alice (Ann B Davis)
Before The Brady Bunch, New Yorker Davis had appeared on Jukebox Jury, The John Forsythe Show, and as Princess Winnifred in the Broadway musical Once Upon a Mattress. Her biggest role, which twice earned her a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, was as Charmain in The Bob Cummings Show.
Paramount, The Brady Bunch (1969–1974)
Alice (Ann B Davis)
Davis never married. She was very active in the Episcopal faith community. When prominent leader Bishop William C Frey relocated his congregation to western Pennsylvania, Davis followed. She lived with Bishop Frey and his wife Barbara.
Paramount, The Brady Bunch (1969–1974)
Alice (Ann B Davis)
After The Brady Bunch, Davis returned to theater. She was also highly recognizable as a spokesperson in Shake ‘n Bake commercials and Swiffer ads. Ann B Davis was 88 when she left this world in 2014.
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Paramount, The Brady Bunch (1969–1974)
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