The Brady Bunch Cast & Crew

Here's a story ... of a man named Mike Brady (Robert Reed), an architect widower with three sons: oldest Greg (Barry Williams), middle son Peter (Christopher Knight) and youngest Bobby (Mike Lookinland). He meets and marries a widow (or a divorcee -- it depends on who you ask), Carol (Florence Henderson), with three daughters of her own: oldest Marcia (Maureen McCormack), middle girl Jan (Eve Plumb) and little on Cindy (Susan Olsen). Throw in a wacky maid named Alice (Ann B. Davis), move them all into a four-bedroom, two-bathroom house in the Los Angeles suburbs and watch the antics unfold -- as this shiny happy "conglomerate family" deals with boy problems, sharing bathrooms (ones without a toilet, no less), lost hampsters, the occasional football to the nose and attempts at pop music stardom. Created by Sherwood Schwartz (of "Gilligan's Island" fame), "The Brady Bunch" has become a pop-culture icon, spawning three additional series, a Christmas special, a live stage production and two feature films.<#$>When casting the series, Schwartz originally considered then-unknown actor Gene Hackman for the role of Mike Brady, but eventually went with classically trained TV actor Reed. Henderson, who had found success on the Broadway stage, won the role of Carol over Joyce Bulifant (later Marie Slaughter on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show"). Over 400 kids auditioned for the roles of the three sons and three daughters, including Jodie Foster for the role of Cindy. It's been well-documented that Schwartz and Reed argued constantly over the decidedly cheesy nature of the show; at the same time, though, he found great joy in acting as a surrogate father to the kids on the show.