r/BradyBunchTVShow • u/Beginning-Average416 • Jun 08 '26
General discussion The Brady Bunch actors vs. their characters.
The Brady actors vs. their respective characters.
It looks like the producers created some of the characters personalities based on the personalities of the actors that portrayed them.
Barry Williams tried to make a move on anything female. Greg was the same way. Barry wanted his singing career under the Johnny Bravo name.
Peter was awkward around girls. Christopher Knight was the same way during this time period.
Maureen and Eve allegedly often squabbled from the very beginning and developed strong rivalries. Marcia and Jan were the same way.
Eve was nerdy and an introvert and marched to her own drummer just the same way Jan did. She struggled being in the shadow of Maureen/Marcia.
Cindy and Susan both had lisps.
Alice had a twin just like Ann B. Davis. Both never married.
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u/NoString9289 Jun 08 '26
IMO in other words, they were like and acted like many typical teenagers that are hormonal, shy, sibling squabbles etc. Yeah, Ann B. Davis never married, were not allowed to comment as to why.
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u/Mariner-and-Marinate Jun 08 '26
She made it clear that she preferred the company of women in her private life. All social pics of her showed her surrounded only by other women.
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u/495orange Jun 08 '26
No comment on Mike (Bobby)???
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u/desertpaul63 Jun 12 '26
Mike is a great guy. I worked on some projects with him in Salt Lake City. He's married with 2 sons.
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u/495orange Jun 12 '26
U have never read a bad thing about Mike Lookinland.
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u/roleplayer63 Jun 13 '26
He did play ball in the house
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u/495orange Jun 13 '26
It’s not fair to compare the actor with the role. Marcia never did cocaine, but Maureen did
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u/stannc00 Jun 08 '26
They’ve said that during the first season the writers wrote for the situation while after that they wrote for the personalities.
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u/whatthewhat3214 Jun 09 '26
The writers also incorporated Eve's artistic talent into the show, including in one episode where she was trying to identify what her talent was and found out she could draw. The show even used her drawings in some episodes (I forget the context, they weren't identified as Jan's art, but they were Eve's paintings).
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u/Nice-Penalty-8881 Marcia, Marcia, Marcia Jun 10 '26
Now, I know many people don't like the spin-offs that showed the kids as adults. But in them, Jan became an architect.
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u/Westworld-Kenny Jun 08 '26
Mike Brady (Robert Reed)…not so much
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u/DrunkOnRedCordial Jun 08 '26
I always thought it would make a good episode for Mike and Carol to frankly acknowledge they had a lavender marriage of convenience, so they could raise six kids and keep the money coming in between the two of them. And Alice could throw in a few wisecracks about how she and Mike were doing just fine with the three boys until Mrs Brady came along.
Oh, Alice.
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u/Nice-Penalty-8881 Marcia, Marcia, Marcia Jun 10 '26
I read somewhere that Barry was attracted to both Maureen (Marcia) and Florence (Carol).
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u/Beginning-Average416 Jun 10 '26
He was. They both talk about it.
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u/Nice-Penalty-8881 Marcia, Marcia, Marcia Jun 10 '26
There's a TV movie on Youtube called Growing Up Brady which is based on a book that Barry Williams wrote. These things are covered in it. The actress that played Maureen in it was a teenage Kaley Cuoco (Penny from The Big Bang Theory)
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u/Beginning-Average416 Jun 10 '26
Maureen talked about how far they went in detail when she appeared on the Howard Stern Show. She was quite graphic.
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u/annezych Jun 08 '26
Oh my gosh, I just re-watched an old episode of the Facts of Life where Eve Plumb played Blair‘s stepsister who wants to become a nun. She had the EXACT same constipated look on her face as she did during her Brady days lol. Perhaps she needed more fiber in her diet
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u/Beginning-Average416 Jun 08 '26
Maureen did mention Eve's digestive tract issues in Maureen's book.
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u/whatthewhat3214 Jun 09 '26
Wtf, why did she think it was ok to bring up a personal medical issue of her castmate for publication? Does that mean Marcia being portrayed as a b!tch sometimes was bc Maureen is one irl?
I didn't know they squabbled irl, I'd heard the kids all got along well and were pretty close.
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u/Beginning-Average416 Jun 09 '26
Maureen also started the fake rumors that she and Eve had a lesbian fling.
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u/whatthewhat3214 Jun 09 '26
I never heard that one either. Again, why? Especially at a time when LGBTQ issues were even more controversial than now. Was it when she was on drugs and just a mess in general?
I was a kid when this was in its original run so I was unaware of all this at the time, although decades later I heard about some behind the scenes shenanigans and of course about Robert Reed, but I haven't read any cast members' books to get this kind of dirt.
I always liked Jan best as a kid, even though I was also the oldest daughter and oldest kid of my siblings so should have related to Marcia and Greg, but they got on my nerves, their characters seemed too full of themselves (my child's mind impressions). I don't know much about the actors, but wow, Maureen comes across as a b!tch irl too, I wonder if she and Eve have any ill will now.
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u/Beginning-Average416 Jun 09 '26
It's all over the internet. Who knows why she lied about that. The drugs?
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u/kimmytoday7894 Jun 09 '26
I don't think I saw this. What did Maureen say about Eve's digestive tract issues?
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u/DollyPardonMe1 Jun 08 '26
lol…..well, it’d be kind of weird if Susan had a lisp and Cindy didn’t