List of The Brady Bunch characters
The following is a list of characters from the American television series The Brady Bunch.
The Brady Family
Carol Brady
Carol Brady portrayed by Florence Henderson is the wife of Mike Brady. At the beginning of the series, she is Carol Martin (née Carol Ann Tyler). She has mentioned her full name as "Carol Ann Tyler Martin Brady". She had three daughters from a previous marriage before marrying Mike and thus is an experienced MILF. She gets three stepsons from Mike. The television show does not mention how Carol's previous marriage ended, though Sherwood Schwartz confirmed outside of the show that she was divorced.[citation needed] Carol enjoys singing in the church choir, and with her daughter Marcia in the high school Family Frolic Talent Show. Carol's look-alike grandmother is named Connie Hutchins, who is possibly her mother's mother. In one episode where Cindy finds out she has a lisp, Carol says she grew up in Swampscott, Massachusetts [citation needed].
During the original Brady Bunch series, Carol is a stay-at-home mother. In the sequels, she becomes a real estate agent, converting the boys' old room into her home office.
Mike Brady
Michael Paul "Mike" Brady portrayed by Robert Reed is the head of the Brady household. He has three sons of his own. Mike, a widowed architect, became the stepfather of Carol Brady's three daughters when he married Carol Martin. Mike enjoyed fishing and camping.
Mike was once approached by cosmetics maven Bebe Gallini (Abbe Lane) to design her new powder-puff shaped factory. Shortly after the fourth season began, Mike got a perm and had really curly hair instead of his prior short straight hair (although he begins to grow it out during the third season). He was named "Father of the Year" by a local newspaper after his daughter Marcia submitted an essay. Mike's look-alike Grandfather Brady is a retired judge. Mike also seems obsessed with personal purity (i.e. he refuses to participate in a commercial if it means saying a product is the best that he believes isn't.) and has a strong sense of ethics.
It is implied that Mike is a very highly qualified and well-respected architect, although he has had his share of failures. For instance:
- In the episode "Mike's Horror-Scope," Gallini — who turns out to be a fussy client — fires him for his failure to design a cosmetics factory to her "powder-puff shaped" specifications, which from an engineering and safety standpoint were impossible to meet.
- In "How to Succeed in Business?" Mike says that he has lost jobs (in reassuring Peter that failure and getting fired are a part of life).
- In A Very Brady Christmas, contractor Ted Roberts (who is looking to save money on his building project) fires Mike when he refuses to cut corners and take out important safety provisions. Mike, however, is later proven right when the structure begins to crumble (trapping two security guards, and later Mike, inside); everyone escapes with only a few bruises.
Mike was one of the staff architects with the firm he worked at; the name was never mentioned in the series, and Mr. Phillips was his boss. By the time A Very Brady Christmas and The Bradys aired, he was the senior partner at the firm.
In episode #4 of The Bradys, "Hat in the Ring", when sworn in as City Councilman, he is called Michael Thomas Brady.
Gene Hackman was considered for the role of Mike Brady.
Greg Brady
Gregory "Greg" Brady is the eldest Brady son and was played by Barry Williams . Greg is a Westdale High School student who plays football, plays guitar, surfs, and aspires to be a singer. Greg is portrayed as self-confident and brassy at times, and generally acts as leader and spokesman for the kids. Being the oldest of the Brady children, Greg is usually the one who devises their plans. As the series went on, Greg became somewhat of a "ladies man" at school. Also as the character got older, Greg often attempted to disassociate himself from the "kids," eventually getting his own room in the attic. Despite this Greg always sticks up for his younger siblings and helps them out whenever he can. He also frequently shows an ample sense of fair play, for instance refusing to go along with a classmate's plan to spread a false rumor about Marcia at school ... although he has been known to cross the lines when he believes the situation warrants it (specifically, when he created a phony playbook to thwart a cheating quarterback from a rival high school).
Greg's dream of becoming a singer almost comes true when he was handpicked by record producers to be a pop singer under the stage name "Johnny Bravo"; however, he walked away from a potentially lucrative deal when he found out his recordings were being electronically "sweetened" and that the producers were more interested in the visual product than substance. "They only wanted me because I fit the suit," he said about the event.
Greg eventually became an obstetrician (as mentioned in A Very Brady Christmas). His wife's name is Nora (who is a nurse), and they have a son, Kevin.
Marcia Brady
Marcia Brady is the eldest Brady daughter and was portrayed by Maureen McCormick. Marcia is portrayed as a mature, attractive, and popular girl at Westdale High School. Her popularity is an ongoing source of contempt for her younger sister Jan. She is a great fan of TV-star idols Desi Arnaz Jr. and Davy Jones. Despite Marcia's reputation, she has her share of problems, such as unrequited crushes, having braces, and getting a swollen nose from being hit in the face with a football by Peter. She has a fragile ego, although when she gets one, it goes amok (as evidenced in "Juliet is the Sun," when she becomes so hard to get along with she is dismissed from her star role as Juliet).
By the time The Brady Girls Get Married and The Brady Brides aired, Marcia had graduated from college and became a fashion designer. However, by the time A Very Brady Christmas aired, she was a stay-at-home mother (raising two children, daughter Jessica and son Michael "Mickey"); she was still unemployed on The Bradys, and at this point her ego began to take such a beating she briefly turned to the bottle for solace. By the end of the series, Marcia and her husband, Wally (a toy salesman who was frequently out of work, due to either layoffs or getting fired) join their sisters-in-law (Nora and Tracy) to open a catering business.
Bobby Brady
Robert "Bobby" Brady is the youngest Brady son and was played by Mike Lookinland. Bobby was the "safety monitor" at his school and occasionally gets the other siblings into trouble. The precocious and often overlooked youngest boy, Bobby was often portrayed as a whimsical dreamer, fantasizing about having various adventurous lifestyles, such as being a race car driver, a cowboy, and an astronaut. On one occasion, one of his fantasies came true when he got to play football with Joe Namath.
On another occasion, Bobby became a professional race car driver, which led to a crash and Bobby's paralysis on The Bradys. Bobby is going through rehabilitative therapy when he marries his girlfriend, Tracy. Bobby — who had dropped out of business school to pursue his dream of racing cars — resumes his originally intended career path, joining Peter in a business venture.
Cindy Brady
Cynthia "Cindy" Brady is the youngest Brady daughter and was played by Susan Olsen. She was portrayed as a naive, but occasionally precocious little girl, who was most often seen wearing her hair in pigtails and had a pronounced lisp. She frequently liked to snoop and share secrets she had found out. In one episode, the family had to help her correct her habit of tattling. She also had various failed attempts at fame, such as attempting to break a world record for teeter-tottering, appearing on a game show (on which she suffered from stage fright and had a catatonic attack), and trying to become "the new Shirley Temple". However, she does play a pivotal role in helping Bobby meet boyhood idol Joe Namath by signing Bobby's name to a letter stating he is "really, really sick".
On The Bradys, Cindy became a deejay (much like Susan Olsen herself did). At the radio station, she becomes romantically involved with her boss, a Jewish widower who is more than 15 years her senior and has two children. The relationship did not have time to develop before The Bradys were cancelled.
Other main characters
Alice Nelson-Franklin
Alice Nelson-Franklin best known to television viewers as simply Alice, was the housekeeper to the Brady family. She was portrayed by Ann B. Davis.
Alice grew up in the same neighborhood as the Bradys, graduating from Westdale High School, the school Greg and Marcia attended in the series. (She kept a trophy she won in school, but notably rubbed the year off so it was unreadable.) Alice was the housekeeper to Mike Brady, his previous wife (who died before the series started), and their three boys. Alice stayed on, to be the housekeeper for not only his boys, but for his new wife, Carol, and her three daughters. Alice was generally impartial toward the children, although she presented Jan with a locket at one point, "from one middle sister to another."
Alice was best known for telling jokes (often self-deprecating, and usually interspersed with drier humor than the rest of the Brady clan), which were almost invariably met with multiple "Oh, Alice!" responses. Alice was also known for her sky blue housekeeping uniform, which she almost always wore. She also joined in the children's games (including playing basketball), and went along with the family on vacations.
In an apparent running gag with the character, strenuous physical activity would often cause Alice to throw her back out, making her immobile for a short period of time.
Alice had a identical cousin Emma (also played by Davis), who was a retired master sergeant in the Women's Army Corps. Emma once filled in for Alice when Alice traveled out of town. Alice quit her job at one point, when she felt the children no longer trusted her, becoming a waitress at a local restaurant. Her replacement Kay (who did her work faithfully, but never tried to become close with the Bradys) told the kids where to find her ("The Golden Spoon at Fourth and Oak..."), and they begged Alice to come back.
For most of the series, Alice dated Sam Franklin (Allan Melvin), who ran the local butcher shop. In the final season, Alice and Sam were engaged. Alice and Sam have also won awards in Charleston dancing and bowling, which was parodied in the Brady Bunch Movie, in which Sam gave Alice a new bowling ball instead of an engagement ring. They were married somewhere between when The Brady Bunch left the air in 1974 and the beginning of the first of the reunion specials in 1981.
In the 1990s parody movies, Alice was played by actress Henriette Mantel. In the first film, Davis makes a cameo as a truck driver whose CB handle is "Schultzy" (Davis first became popular in the 1950s playing a character named Schultzy on The Bob Cummings Show).
Her last name of Nelson was only mentioned a few times: once by a postman delivering a letter informing her that she had won a prize; once by Mike Brady, reading from a trophy of Alice's; once in the episode "The Elopement", where Carol introduces Alice Nelson by her full name to another maid; and once when the Bradys are visited by Spanish-speaking clients of Mike Brady's firm.
The role of Alice was originally to have been played by Monty Margetts, but at the last minute, the role was recast. This was due to the fact that producers of the show changed their mind about casting Joyce Bulifant, who was originally cast as Carol Brady, and instead replaced her with Florence Henderson took on the role; producers felt a more comedic, zany housekeeper was called for, to balance Henderson's soft-spoken, low key presence.
On the 2004 Jeopardy! (television show) Tournament of Champions, the Final Jeopardy answer was "As a regular character, she was the oldest virgin on the television show The Brady Bunch". All three contestants gave the response "Who was Marcia Brady?" only to learn that they were all wrong (the correct response being "Who was Alice Nelson?"). Perhaps as a result of this question, the following week The National Enquirer published an article which asserted that Ann B. Davis was in fact actually a virgin, noting that she had never married, and was living in a community of Episcopalians headed by Bishop William Frey. [citation needed]
Sam Franklin
Sam Franklin is Alice's boyfriend, who owns a local butcher shop. While he is frequently mentioned in dialogue, Sam actually appears in only eight episodes, although his appearances span all the seasons. In the made-for-television film The Brady Girls Get Married, Sam had been married to Alice for quite some time. Sam was portrayed by Allan Melvin.
Oliver Tyler
Oliver Tyler [1], usually known as Cousin Oliver, stays with the Brady Family during the final six episodes of The Brady Bunch [2]. As explained in the episode "Welcome Aboard", Carol's brother and his wife travelled to an archaeological dig in South America, and son Oliver is unable to accompany them, so he is sent to live with the Bradys. Robbie Rist portrayed Oliver.
The producers added Oliver because the producers wanted a younger character to balance out the maturing cast. The "kids" were now all over twelve, and the producers hoped that adding a younger cast member would improve ratings. (In a direct parallel, The Partridge Family, during the same TV season, brought a four-year-old neighbor to sing with the family for six episodes.) The addition did not work, and Cousin Oliver proved unpopular with the viewing audience [3]; some fans would later call the addition of Oliver the moment when the series "jumped the shark", or marked its decline [4]. Years after, Robbie Rist appeared with members of the Brady Bunch cast on an episode of game show The Weakest Link; introducing himself, he joked that "I hope I don't kill this show too!"
A "Cousin Oliver" now refers to a cute child actor added to the cast of a long-running show, in hopes to boost ratings, or to replace child cast members who have since grown up. The "Cousin Oliver Syndrome" refers to such attempts that do not work, and mark the decline or end of a series.[citation needed]
The Bradys' pets
Tiger
Tiger is the name of the Brady Family's dog. The dog appeared in many of the early episodes. The dog that portrayed Tiger was named "Tiger" in real life. The dog actor Tiger was run over by an automobile and he died of his injuries before the fourth episode, but a replacement look-alike was found. "Tiger #2" stayed on until partway through the second season, when he was quietly "let go" from the series because of his alleged unpredictability. The producers of The Brady Bunch tried and failed to place another replacement dog, causing "Tiger" to be written out of the show midway through the second season. Tiger appeared in 10 episodes: episodes #1, #4, #5, #7, #10, #15, #18, #35, #36, and #38.
Fluffy
Fluffy is the name of the cat owned by Carol Brady and her girls. The cat only appeared in the pilot episode, and was never mentioned afterwards.
Bird
Bird In episode #36, Bobby sprained his ankle falling from a tree. Mike gave Bobby a parakeet to keep him company.
Herman
Herman the turtle appears in episode #3. Herman belongs to Bobby.
White Rabbit
White Rabbit from episode #9. Greg is speaking on the phone to his friend Harv about making a trade. Greg wants to trade Harv "my baseball mitt, my autographed picture of Racquel Welch, and my pet white rabbit" in exchange for Harv's bike.
Goldfish
Goldfish from episode #54. Mike comes home from the kids' school carnival with a goldfish in a bowl.
The Frogs
The Frogs from the fourth-season episode, "Greg Gets Grounded." Spunker, a store-bought frog, is Bobby's entrant in a frog jumping contest. Peter decides to join Bobby's adventure and gets Old Croaker from Burke's Pond. Peter and Bobby hold their own jump-off and Spunker loses, prompting Bobby to go to the Pond and pick up five new frogs. Two of them are named Herman and Flash; the other three aren't named. Peter's frog comes in 35th and Bobby's is 49th. The frogs later create havoc at the local drive-in during Greg's date with girlfriend Rachel (Peter and Bobby had forgotten to remove the box before Greg left for his date).
Romeo and Juliet
The Rabbits from episode #117. Cindy and cousin Oliver buy two white rabbits so they can breed them, sell the babies, and make a million dollars. Their scheme goes awry when they discover that Juliet is really Julius: a male rabbit. However, they are able to sell their rabbits back to the pet store after Bobby accidentally spills hair tonic on the rabbits that turns their fur orange. Since this is the last episode of "The Brady Bunch," Romeo and Juliet are the last Brady pets.
Others
There are other animals that make appearances on the Brady set, but they are not considered pets. The first is a mysterious cat that is seen in episode #3 when Alice walks outside to rescue Cindy, who is hung from the clothesline. The cat is sitting in a lawn chair in the Brady's paved porch. Could the cat be Guinevere, the neighbor's cat that Greg is worried will eat his mouse in episode #38? That mouse, called Myron, is Greg's science project. The third non-pet animal is Raquel the goat. Greg stole this goat from his rival high school in retaliation for them stealing his high school's pet bear cub mascot. Raquel appears in episode #101. In one episode, Bobby had a pet hamster who was his class pet and he was taking care of her. This was mentioned on the episode where Cindy loses her Mom's earrings.
One- and two-time characters
- Felix Brown — The school creep who is untruly said to be Marcia's boyfriend in first-season episodes "Vote For Brady" and "Father of the Year".
- Rusty — Classmate of Greg's who worked as his campaign manager for class president. The friendship is apparently broken off when Rusty suggests spreading a false rumor about Greg's opponent (and sister) Marcia.
- George Glass — Imaginary boyfriend Jan creates after her crush on a classmate is unrequited in "The Not-So-Ugly Duckling".
- Buddy Hinton — A bully who taunts Cindy for her lisp in "A Fistful of Reasons". When Peter — who is Buddy's age — tries to stick up for Cindy but doesn't want to get into a fight, Buddy calls Peter a chicken. Eventually, Peter gets the upper hand.
- Jennifer Nichols — A conniving classmate of Greg's, whom she dated solely to win his vote for head cheerleader in "Greg's Triangle". Greg ultimately votes for another girl — Pat Conway (played by Rita Wilson) — over Jennifer and Marcia, and Jennifer immediately dumps him.
- Mr. Phillips — Mike's boss at the architectural firm. Seen in Season 2 episodes "Call Me Irresponsible," "Coming-Out Party" and "Double Parked".
- Rachel (played by Hope Sherwood)— Greg's girlfriend. Appeared in 1972's "The Big Bet" and 1973's "Greg Gets Grounded".
- Doug Simpson (played by Nicholas Hammond) — Class hunk that Marcia wanted to get a date with in "The Subject Was Noses". Doug breaks the date when he sees Marcia's swollen nose (thanks to Peter accidentally hitting her in the nose with a football). He used the classic excuse line, "Something suddenly came up!" Ironically, Marcia later used this exact same line on "Doug" to give him his comeuppance when he later asked the "healed" Marcia on a date.
- Clark Tyson — Jan's classmate and object of an unrequited crush in "The Not So Ugly Duckling". Clark confides to Carol later that his lack of a romantic interest in Jan (whom he considers a friend) is because of her tomboyish appearance in how she dresses. He refers to Jan as "a really cool guy," and wishes she wore "groovy clothes" that were more girlish.
- Mark Millard — An old boyfriend of Alice's, who appears unexpectedly in "Alice's September Song", appearing to want to rekindle their relationship. However, he turns out to be a scam artist, trying to get her to participate in a phony investment scheme.
- Millicent (played by Melissa Sue Anderson) - Cindy's friend who kisses Bobby when she visits the Bradys.
- Lucy Winter (played by Pamelyn Ferdin) - A friend of Peter and Jan who hosts a birthday party where Jan wears her new black wig. Lucy tells Jan that she envies Jan's long blonde hair.
- The Coach — unnamed character who coaches football at all sub-college levels (pee-wee to high school). Seen in "The Drummer Boy" and "Click."
- Warren Mulaney — Greg's rival in "My Sister Benedict Arnold." Greg unfairly blamed Warren for taking a coveted starting spot on the varsity basketball team and beating him out for class president (both by unethical means), and is even more infuriated when Warren asks Marcia out. Warren is very nice, but he and Marcia realizes they have no chemistry and break it off, but she resumes the relationship when Greg threatens her not to see Warren again.
- Kathy Lawrence — A classmate of Marcia's seen in two season three episodes. In "The Personality Kid," Kathy is Marcia's friend who helps in an ill-fated attempt to develop Peter's personality. In a subsequent episode, "My Sister Benedict Arnold," she and Marcia are apparent rivals; Marcia had accused her of using underhanded means to take the final spot on the cheerleading squad, and is angered when Greg asks Kathy out for the sole purpose of annoying her.
- Kay - Friend of Alice's who temporarily takes over as Brady housekeeper (after Alice resigns following a series of misunderstandings and falling-outs with the kids). Kay does her work faithfully but, citing a previous bad experience with a family - she had also felt betrayed by her family, just like Alice - she decides to not try to become close to the Bradys. Eventually, she reveals to the kids that Alice had gotten a job at a diner on the edge of town, which will lead to Alice's return.
- Jerry Rogers — Unethical star quarterback at a rival high school, who aims to steal Greg's football playbook in "Quarterback Sneak." Unknown to Marcia, Jerry asks to drive her home (so he can get in the house and thus at the playbook). Greg's initial suspicions are confirmed when Bobby sees an attempted theft. Marcia refuses to believe Greg about Jerry at first, but later sees Jerry's true colors when she witnesses the second attempt, which is successful. Jerry — who has actually stolen a phony playbook Greg created — is later kicked off the team when his coach finds out about the theft.
- Tank Gates (played by Denny Miller) - Carol Brady's egomaniac high school boyfriend "Tank Gates" in the episode "Quarterback Sneak."
- Sandra and Linda — Cousins who date Greg and Peter in "Peter and the Wolf" (Peter posing as Greg's classmate, "Phil Packer," by donning a false mustache). The two plot revenge on Greg by trying to expose Phil's true identity, but it nearly backfires when their plan is hatched in front of conservative clients of Mike's.
- Linda O'Hara - Greg's beautiful math teacher whom Greg has a crush on in "The Undergraduate."
- Those Martians - Whom Bobby discovers one quiet evening, played by Frank Delfino and Sadie Delfino.
- Mr & Mrs Tyler - Carol's parents, played by J Pat O'Malley & Joan Tompkins in the premier episode "The Honeymoon."