Susan Olsen
 |
Susan Olsen | |
|---|---|
| Born | Susan Marie Olsen August 14, 1961 |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1968–present |
| Spouse(s) | Mitch Markwell (1995-2004) (divorced) Steve Ventimiglia (1988-1990) (divorced) |
Susan Marie Olsen (born August 14, 1961) is a former American child television actress and current animal welfare advocate. Olsen is best known for her role as Mike and Carol Brady's (played by Robert Reed and Florence Henderson) youngest daughter, Cindy Brady, on the 1970s television sitcom The Brady Bunch for the full run of the show, from 1969-1974.
Early life
Born in Santa Monica, California, the youngest of four children, with two older brothers Larry and Christopher (fourteen years older) and a sister Diane. Her brother Christopher was also a child actor, perhaps best known for his role in The Man Who Knew Too Much.
The Brady Bunch
After landing a number of supporting roles, most notably, Ironside, Gunsmoke, and Julia, at age seven she was cast as Cindy on The Brady Bunch.
As an adult Olsen has expressed that portraying Cindy made peer relations difficult for her as a child. Olsen has said that the episode she dislikes the most is the "tattletale" episode in which Cindy snitches on her brothers and sisters. Because of the episode, she was shunned by her real-life peers who did not understand the difference between actors and their characters.
Olsen has appeared in all "Brady Bunch" reunion movies, with the exception of A Very Brady Christmas in 1988, because she was on her honeymoon with her first husband. In that movie, Cindy Brady was played by Jennifer Runyon.
On Sunday, April 22, 2007, Olsen and her fellow cast members were honored with the TV Pop Culture Awards on the TV Land Awards. It was noted that this is the first award that the Brady Bunch has ever won.
During The Brady Bunch production, it was noted that even though her 'Brady series father,' star Robert Reed, was suffering a great deal of unhappiness (both on and off the set), Olsen continued to develop a wonderful on- and off-screen relationship with him, along with Florence Henderson, who played her television mother.
During a hiatus, she, along with Reed and other castmates, would often go out on vacations. One such vacation was a trip to Kings Island Amusement Park in Mason, Ohio, during the fifth and final season. At the end of that season, she was very aware of Reed's misbehaviour, off the set, mainly in relation to not speaking scripted dialogue (poor character dialogue being a point of an ongoing, long-term argument between Reed and series - Writer, Creator, Producer - Sherwood Schwartz). Because of an endplay argument with Schwartz, Reed was written out of the script and did not appear in the final episode of the series, "The Hair-Brained Scheme".
Olsen remained close to Reed until his death on May 12, 1992. She, along with her Brady Bunch castmates, attended Reed's funeral, with the exception of Robert Reed's real-life daughter, Karen Rietz (who guest-starred on one episode of The Brady Bunch) and her television father's real-life mother, Helen Rietz.[clarification needed]
After The Brady Bunch
As an adult, Olsen moved into the graphic design business and in 1998 briefly marketed a brand of shoes for Converse that glowed in the dark. She also worked as a talk show host at Los Angeles radio station KLSX from 1995 - 1996 with Ken Ober and co hosted and co-wrote another radio show with Comic, Allan Havey at Comedy World in 2000.
She appeared on Cartoon Network's talk show Space Ghost Coast to Coast in its twenty-sixth episode "Switcheroo" with Cassandra Peterson as "Elvira, Mistress of the Dark". Olsen has also been an advocate for migraine sufferers since 1998. She described her headaches on Larry King Live.
An urban legend claimed that Olsen had become an adult film star. On a late 1990s television interview, Olsen herself stated on-camera that her "porn" connection was that she created space ship sound effects for a porn film called "Love Probe From a Warm Planet". She did this as a favor for a friend who worked in the technical side of the business. She also went on to state that perhaps the legend got started because the star of a porn film "Crocodile Blondee" which was widely distributed among troops during the Persian Gulf Crisis, was rumoured to be her. She added that since the porn star was very pretty, she did not try too hard to dispel the rumours.
In the Fall of 2008, Olsen appeared on Fox Reality's Gimme My Reality Show, in which celebrities compete to win their own reality show. Susan used this show to make a statement about animal rescue, a cause with which she is involved.
On June 6, 2009, Olsen thanked retired game show host and current animal rights activist Bob Barker when The Bradys accepted an honor at the GSN Game Show Awards. Olsen is an animal welfare advocate and volunteers with Precious Paws, a rescue group. Susan takes care of unweaned homeless kittens until they are old enough to adopt.
Olsen's coffee table book Love to Love You Bradys, with co-author Ted Nichelson, celebrates the The Brady Bunch Variety Hour. In addition to many color photos and artwork, the book features over 100 interviews including the Brady Bunch, Sid Krofft, Marty Krofft, Sherwood Schwartz, Bruce Vilanch, Rip Taylor, and Paul Shaffer.
In September 2010, Olsen made a guest appearance on The Young and the Restless playing Mrs. Liza Morton, a pre-school owner.
See also
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