Robert Reed

For other people named Robert Reed, see Robert Reed (disambiguation).

Robert Reed
Reed in 1971.
Born	John Robert Rietz, Jr. (1932-10-19)October 19, 1932 Highland Park, Illinois, U.S.
Died	May 12, 1992(1992-05-12) (aged 59) Pasadena, California, U.S.
Cause of death	Colon cancer
Resting place	Memorial Park Cemetery
Education	Central High School
Alma mater	Northwestern University The University of London Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1957–1992
Spouse	Marilyn Rosenberg (1954–1959)
Children	1

Robert Reed (October 19, 1932 – May 12, 1992) was an American character actor of stage, film and television. In his first big break, he played Kenneth Preston on the popular 1960s TV legal drama, The Defenders, alongside E. G. Marshall.

One of Reed's most notable roles is that of Mike Brady on the popular ABC sitcom The Brady Bunch, which aired from 1969 to 1974.

Early life

Reed was born John Robert Rietz, Jr. in the northern Chicago suburb of Highland Park, Illinois. He was the only child of Helen (born Teaverbaugh) and John Robert Rietz, Sr., who were high school sweethearts and were married since at 18. The family lived in Des Plaines, Illinois at 621 Parsons Avenue, and Reed attended the West Division School in Community Consolidated School District 62 until 1939. His father worked in the government, and his mother was a homemaker. Reed spent his later childhood years in Muskogee, Oklahoma, as well as Navasota, Texas. In Oklahoma, his father, John Sr., worked as a turkey farmer, raising 200 turkeys annually.

In his youth, Reed joined the 4-H agricultural club and showed calves, but was more interested in acting and music. While attending Central High School in Muskogee, he participated in both activities. Reed also took to the stage, where he performed and sang. Reed graduated from Muskogee Central in 1950, and enrolled at Northwestern University to study drama. He later transferred to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, in London and also studied at The University of London.

During his years at Northwestern, Reed appeared in several plays under the direction of Alvine Krause, a celebrated Northwestern drama coach. He also appeared in summer stock in Eagles Mere, Pennsylvania. Reed performed in more than eight plays in college, all with leading roles, and mastered Shakespeare as well. He eventually adopted the stage name Robert Reed.

Career

Reed made his first guest-starring appearance in an episode of Father Knows Best, a role which led him to co-star in The Defenders. The part also led to other guest roles on Men into Space, Family Affair, Ironside, The Mod Squad, Bob Hope Presents The Chrysler Theatre, Lawman, four episodes of Love, American Style, Chase, Harry O, McCloud, Jigsaw John, The Streets of San Francisco, Barnaby Jones, Crazy Like a Fox, The Paper Chase, among others.

He first gained fame in the early 1960s for starring along with E. G. Marshall in the television drama series The Defenders from 1961 to 1965. He also appeared in the 1968 film Star!

The Brady Bunch

Appearing in the Neil Simon play, Barefoot in the Park led him to two new contracts, at Paramount Studios and ABC, both in 1968. The minute that studio decided to turn the television version of Barefoot in the Park into a predominantly African-American show, they planned for Reed to star in something else. Originally called The Brady Bunch, the show featured a widowed man with three children from a previous marriage, marrying a divorcee, also with three children, from a previous marriage. According to former Gilligan's Island creator Sherwood Schwartz, he said about the show's plan for six children — meaning three boys and three girls — to create a well-blended family: "I read a small item in the Los Angeles Times. It said that that year, 29% of all marriages had a previous spouse with a child or children from that other marriage. It was a social phenomenon that was occurring, and I said, 'I could take advantage of that.'"

Reed was actually the producers' second choice for the role of Mike Brady, after Gene Hackman was rejected because he was too unfamiliar at the time. Also starring on The Brady Bunch was actress Florence Henderson, who played the role of Mike's wife Carol Brady after best friend Shirley Jones turned down that role in favor of The Partridge Family. Also cast on the show was Ann B. Davis as maid Alice Nelson. Reed was notoriously difficult to work with both on and off the set; despite that, the cast got along well with him. Co-star Susan Olsen became friends with Reed's real-life daughter, who made a guest appearance on the show.

The Brady Bunch was a lighthearted comedy, despite not being a Top 30 show during its five season run. It remained an audience favorite of the 1970s, and was one of five series to be canceled in 1974 (along with Room 222, The F.B.I., The Partridge Family and Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law). After cancellation, the show led a healthy afterlife in syndication.

From the beginning of The Brady Bunch, Reed was unhappy with his role of Mike Brady. He felt that acting in the often silly sitcom was beneath his serious Shakespearean training. Despite his discontent with the show, he genuinely liked his co-stars and was a beloved father figure to the younger cast members. In his efforts to bring more realism to the show, Reed often locked horns with the show's creator and executive producer, Sherwood Schwartz. Reed presented Schwartz with hand-written memorandums detailing why a certain character's motivation did not make sense or why it was wrong to combine elements of farce and satire.

Reed was particularly appalled by show's series finale, "The Hair-Brained Scheme". He sent Schwartz a memo picking apart the episode, but Schwartz did not receive the memo promptly enough to change the show as Reed wanted. As a result, Reed refused to appear in the episode altogether. Though Schwartz fired Reed from the series, the show ended up being cancelled shortly thereafter.

During the run of The Brady Bunch, Reed also had a recurring role as Lieutenant Adam Tobias on Mannix from 1967 to 1975.

Later career

After the end of The Brady Bunch in 1974, Reed acted on the stage and made guest star appearances on other television shows and television movies, including Pray for the Wildcats and SST: Death Flight. He won critical acclaim for his portrayal of a doctor who wants to undergo a sex change operation in a two-part episode of Medical Center in 1975. The episode also earned him an Emmy Award nomination.

Reed also appeared in television film The Boy in the Plastic Bubble (1976), the 1976 miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man and the 1977 miniseries Roots. Reed was again nominated for an Emmy for his work in Rich Man, Poor Man and Roots. He also guest starred on Wonder Woman, Hawaii Five-O, Charlie's Angels, Galactica 1980, and Vega$.

In 1981, Reed won the role of Dr. Adam Rose on medical drama Nurse. Despite being critically acclaimed, the series was canceled the following year. In 1986, he played the role of Lloyd Kendall on the daytime soap opera Search for Tomorrow. He also made multiple appearances on Fantasy Island, Hunter, The Love Boat and Murder, She Wrote.

Despite his dislike of The Brady Bunch, Reed continued to appear in Brady Bunch spin-offs and sequels for the remainder of his career. In 1976, Reed reprised the role of Mike Brady in the variety show The Brady Bunch Hour, as well as the 1981 television film, The Brady Girls Get Married. He also appeared in the 1988 television film A Very Brady Christmas. That same year, he guest starred as Mike Brady in "A Very Brady Episode" of the NBC sitcom Day by Day. In 1990, he starred in the drama series, The Bradys.

Reed made his last onscreen appearance in the April 1992 episode of Jake and the Fatman, "Ain't Misbehavin'".

Personal life

While in college, Reed realized he was homosexual, but chose to keep it private. Despite his sexual orientation, he dated women and married fellow Northwestern student Marilyn Rosenberg in 1954. The couple had one daughter, Karen, in 1956 and divorced in 1959.

Reed continued to keep his sexuality private because he felt his career required him to be secretive about his homosexuality. However, most of the Brady Bunch cast members — most notably Barry Williams and Florence Henderson — knew of his sexual orientation, and expressed outrage at the media's exploitation of it after his death.

Death

Reed later contracted the HIV virus. He kept this knowledge private, only telling a few close friends including Florence Henderson and Barry Williams.

Reed died on May 12, 1992 at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, California, after a six month battle with colon cancer. While Reed did not have AIDS at the time of his death, Reed's doctor listed HIV as a "significant condition[s] contributing to death." on Reed's death certificate. He was cremated and his ashes are interred in Memorial Park Cemetery, Skokie, Illinois next to his grandparents, Harvey and Elizabeth Rietz, and an uncle who died in childhood.

Reed was a close friend of actress Anne Haney. When Reed became ill with cancer, he allowed only Haney and his daughter to visit him. Haney later said of Reed, "He came from the old school, where people had a sense of decorum. He went the way he wanted to, without publicity."

Selected filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1957	Pal Joey	Boy Friend	Uncredited
1958	The Hunters	Jackson	Uncredited
1958	Torpedo Run	Woolsey	Uncredited
1959	Father Knows Best	Tom Cameron	Episode: "The Impostor"
1960	Men Into Space	Russell Smith	Episode: "Earthbound"
1960	Lawman	Jim Malone	Episode: "Left Hand of the Law"
1961	Bloodlust!	Johnny Randall
1961 to 1965	The Defenders	Kenneth Preston	132 episodes
1965	Dr. Kildare	Judd Morrison	6 episodes
1965	Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre	Lt. Chris Callahan	Episode: "The Admiral"
1966	Family Affair	Julian Hill	Episode: "Think Deep"
1966	Operation Razzle-Dazzle	Lieutenant John Leahy	Television movie
1967	Hurry Sundown	Lars Finchley
1967	Li'l Abner	Senator Cod	Unsold pilot
1968	Journey to the Unknown	Hank Prentiss	Episode: "The New People"
1968	Star!	Charles Fraser
1969	The Maltese Bippy	Lt. Tim Crane
1969 to 1974	The Brady Bunch	Mike Brady	117 episodes
1968 to 1975	Mannix	Lt. Adam Tobias	22 episodes
1971	The City	Sealy Graham	Television movie
1972	Assignment: Munich	Doug "Mitch" Mitchell	Television movie
1972	Mission: Impossible	Assistant D.A. Arthur Reynolds	Episode: "Hit"
1973	Snatched	Frank McCloy	Television movie
1973	The Man Who Could Talk to Kids	Tom Lassiter	Television movie
1974	Chase	Dr. Playter	Episode: "Remote Control"
1974	Harry O	Paul Virdon	Episode: "Accounts Balanced"
1975	The Secret Night Caller	Freddy Durant	Television movie
1975	McCloud	Jason Carter	Episode: "Fire!"
1976	Jigsaw John	Alan Bellamy	Episode: "Promise to Kill"
1976	Lanigan's Rabbi	Morton Galen	Pilot episode
1976 to 1977	The Brady Bunch Hour	Mike Brady	9 episodes
1977	Kit Carson and the Mountain Men	Capt. John C. Fremont	Television movie
1977	Barnaby Jones	DeWitt Robinson	Episode: "Death Beat"
1978	Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery	Jack Kimball	Television movie
1978	Bud and Lou	Alan Randall	Television movie
1979	The Paper Chase	Professor Howard	Episode: "Once More with Feeling"
1979	Love's Savage Fury	Commander Marston	Television movie
1980	Galactica 1980	Dr. Donald Mortinson	3 episodes
1980	Scruples	Josh Hillman	Miniseries
1981	The Brady Girls Get Married	Mike Brady	Television movie
1981	Death of a Centerfold: The Dorothy Stratten Story	David Palmer	Television movie
1981 to 1982	Nurse	Dr. Adam Rose	25 episodes
1982	ABC Afterschool Specials	Henry Forbes	Episode: "Between Two Loves"
1984	Matt Houston	Bradley Denholm	Episode: "Stolen"
1984	Cover Up	Martin Dunbar	Episode: "A Subtle Seduction"
1985	Finder of Lost Loves	Tim Sanderson	Episode: "From the Heart"
1985	International Airport	Carl Roberts	Television movie
1986	Hotel	Jason Beck	Episode: "Restless Nights"
1987	Duet	Jim Phillips	2 episodes
1988	A Very Brady Christmas	Mike Brady	Television movie
1989	Day by Day	Mike Brady	Episode: "A Very Brady Episode"
1989	Free Spirit	Albert Stillman	Episode: "The New Secretary"
1990	The Bradys	Mike Brady	6 episodes
1991	Prime Target	Agent Harrington
1992	Jake and the Fatman	Alexander Baldwin	Episode: "Ain't Misbehavin'"

Award nominations

Year	Award	Category	Title of work
1976	Primetime Emmy Award	Outstanding Lead Actor for a Single Appearance in a Drama or Comedy Series	Medical Center (For episode "The Fourth Sex: Parts 1&2")
1976	Primetime Emmy Award	Outstanding Continuing Performance by a Supporting Actor in a Drama Series	Rich Man, Poor Man
1977	Primetime Emmy Award	Outstanding Single Performance by a Supporting Actor in a Comedy or Drama Series	Roots (For part V)

External links

• Robert Reed at IMDb
• Robert Reed at the Internet Broadway Database
• Robert Reed at Find a Grave