Characters of The Brady Bunch

 

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 had three daughters from a previous marriage before marrying Mike. She gets three stepsons from Mike. The television show does not mention how Carol's previous marriage ended, though Sherwood Schwartz confirmed that she was divorced outside the show. 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, MA.

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. In the middle of the show's run, Mike got a perm and had really curly hair instead of his prior short straight hair. 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 comercial if it means saying a product is the best that he believes isn't.) Gene Hackman was considered for the role of Mike Brady.

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.

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. His 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) .

Jan Brady

Jan Brady is the middle Brady daughter and was portrayed by Eve Plumb. Story lines which involve Jan often feature her jealousy of her seemingly more popular older sister Marcia, or her awkward position as the middle child. In addition, Jan is insecure about having freckles and wearing glasses, embarrassed about the fact she does not have a boyfriend (even inventing a fictional one named "George Glass"), and concerned about her future appearance. A typical plot line surrounding Jan would feature her attempting to carve out her niche in the family, or make a name for herself at school. Once, in exasperation at her supposed inferiority to Marcia, she uttered the now famous catch phrase, "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia" which was later parodied in the Brady Bunch movie and in a recurring Saturday Night Live sketch. As a young teen, Jan had a striking resemblance to her Great-Aunt Jenny (played by Imogene Coca) in her younger days. Jan is also occasionally absent-minded, once losing the tube containing her father's architectural plans while visiting King's Island amusement park in Cincinnati. In her later high school years, Jan found she had a talent for painting, which likely led to her career choice as an architect (as shown in later reunion films).

Peter Brady

Peter Brady is the middle Brady son and was played by Christopher Knight. Often portrayed as the mischievous one of the family, Peter is known for frequently getting himself into trouble by breaking rules or hatching schemes. He is also often the joker of the family, playing pranks on his siblings. Peter once saved a little girl from a falling toystore shelf and was named "Hero" by the local newspaper, and then he lets it go to his head. As the series went on, he was shown going through puberty. His voice begins to break, which initially causes a problem for the family's singing group, until they use the situation to their advantage, writing the song "Time To Change" centered around his cracked vocals. He later proved to be a lazy, sloppy worker at his part-time job at Haskill's Ice Cream Parlor, under his sister Marcia's supervision. He would eventually quit this job and find a job delivering pizzas at the Leaning Tower of Pizza Parlor. Peter later joined the military for career guidance as seen in The Brady Girls Get Married.

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 tattletailing. 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 suffered a catatonic attack, and trying to become "the next Shirley Temple". Cindy eventually became a deejay, much like Susan Olsen herself did.

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 she 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 last Brady television series, The Bradys.

Other main characters

Alice Nelson

Alice Nelson 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 (although she presented Jan with a locket at one point, "from one middle sister to another).

Alice was best known for telling funny 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, the slightest physical activity would often cause Alice to throw her back out, making her immobile for a short period of time.

Alice had a lookalike 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 three 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; and once in the episode "The Elopement", where Carol introduces Alice Nelson by her full name to another maid. She was also mentioned a fourth time. Carol & Mike were talking to some business partners in their living room and Alice walked over so Mike introduced her to them by her full name. (It happens in the last ten minutes of the episode and was where the Brady's were talking business with Spanish partners).

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.

Sam Franklin

Sam Franklin is Alice's boyfriend. Sam 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 marries Alice. 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", Oliver's parents travelled to an archaeological dig in South America, and Oliver is unable to accompany them. Therefore, he is sent to live with the Bradys. Oliver was portrayed by Robbie Rist.

Oliver was created because the producers wanted a younger character to balance out the maturing cast. The "kids" were now all over twelve, and it was hoped that adding a younger cast member would improve ratings. In a direct parallel to The Partridge Family who, during the same TV season, brought in a precocious 4 year old neighbor to sing children's songs with the family for six episodes. The addition did not work, and Cousin Oliver proved unpopular with the viewing audience [3]; years later, some fans would call the addition of Oliver the moment when the series "jumped the shark" [4]. The "Cousin Oliver syndrome" is named after Oliver.

A "Cousin Oliver" is also a metaphor that is sometimes used to denote when the writers of a television program decide that the addition of a cute child actor to the cast will improve the ratings of the show, or as a replacement for child cast members that have grown up since the show started.

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 again after that.

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 episode #87. Spunker is Bobby's entrant in a frog jumping contest. Spunker is a store-bought frog whom Bobby thinks can beat any old pond frog. 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. This prompts Bobby to go to the Pond and pick up his own wild frog. He grabs 5 new frogs. Two of them are named Herman and Flash; the other three aren't named. (Apparently, Bobby is really fond of the name Herman. His turtle from season one had the same name.) Greg drives Bobby, Peter, and their frogs to the jumping contest. Peter's frog comes in 35th and Bobby's is 49th. When Greg drops the boys off back home, he goes on a date with Rachel. But the frogs are still in the car and end up jumping on poor Rachel's head!

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 get the honor of being 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. I believe in one episode Bobby had a guinea pig as a pet.

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".
• 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 — The conniving classmate of Greg, 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 — 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).
• 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."
• 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 gave Bobby a kiss which Cindy's sees then goes saying I've Got A Secret!

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