Here’s a Story of the Man Who Played Brady: Remembering ‘Brady Bunch’ Dad Robert Reed
Robert Reed would have much preferred that his legacy be for playing doomed Shakespearean lover Romeo Montague rather groovy TV dad Mike Brady — but he never let the public, nor his young The Brady Bunch costars, know it. Though the iconic series irritated Reed to no end for its frequent use of dopey plot lines (hair tonic! tiki tokens! laundry soap! “Ow my nose!”) over genuine family situations, his love for the actors who played his TV kids shown through.
Even though The Brady Bunch only aired for five seasons, because of that genuine love, Reed’s Mike Brady is a legend among top TV dads.
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From his earliest days, Illinois farm boy John Robert Rietz Jr. knew he was meant for the stage. Rietz performed in high school plays, and studied drama — first at Northwestern and then London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, learning as much as he could before returning to the states after a single term. With his eye on being a revered stage actor, Reed joined theater groups in Pennsylvania, New York and Chicago, before changing his name to Robert Reed and moving to L.A.
There, Reed’s clean-cut, everyman good looks caught the attention of TV producers, and he soon landed a starring role on the hit drama The Defenders. Reed played Big Apple defense attorney Kenneth Preston; his former Chicago theater pal E.G. Marshall, starred as Kenneth’s fellow defender and dad. As the series’ popularity waned in the mid-60s, Reed returned to the stage, making his long-awaited Broadway debut in Neil Simon’s Barefoot in the Park, taking over for Robert Redford as conservative young lawyer Paul Bratter.
Reed hoped to also play Bratter in ABC’s planned TV version of Barefoot in the Park after The Defenders ended in 1965. But a change in the show’s direction required that the network do something else with Reed’s contract. Enter The Brady Bunch.
To honor the fellow who created not just a top TV dad, but also one of its first and best-loved stepdads, here are 7 things you should know about the late Robert Reed.
1 His first theater company was called The Shakespearewrights
Formed in New York in the mid-50s, The Shakespearewrights quickly became a well-respected off-Broadway theater company, earning a “special award” at the Tonys in 1956. There, Reed developed his lifelong love for all things Shakespeare, earning starring roles in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Romeo and Juliet.
2 Reed and Florence Henderson were not the producers’ first choices for Mike and Carol Brady
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Series creator Sherwood Schwartz first cast theater actor Bob Holiday as Mike Brady. When ABC balked at Holiday’s lack of television experience, producers turned then-character actor Gene Hackman, before settling on Reed, who was popular on The Defenders.
Elfin-voiced comic actress Joyce Bulifant — who would later find fame as Marie Slaughter on The Mary Tyler Moore Show — was first considered for the role of Carol Brady. But, at the eleventh hour, producers decided that they wanted a less comedic, more wholesome actress for the role, and, after briefly considering future “Shirley Partridge” Shirley Jones as Carol, cast Henderson instead.
3 Reed was told The Brady Bunch would be a dramedy about the life of a blended family
Schwartz famously said that he culled the idea for The Brady Bunch from a 1966 Los Angeles Times article, which noted that almost a third of all married family units in the US at the time included at least one kid from a previous marriage. The Gilligan’s Island creator genuinely hoped to make good on his mission to portray a wholesome, but wholly modern, American family — which is exactly what he pitched his actors.
In a frequently tense 1991 episode of Sally Jessy Raphael‘s eponymous talk show, which was billed as a TV Dad reunion, Reed said that Schwartz assured him The Brady Bunch would be “a semi-serious show” with a few jokes, but its main focus on real social commentary. When his scripts arrived, Reed realized that Schwartz had all but given in completely to ABC and Paramount’s concerns about the Bradys being a bit too modern. His and Schwartz’s relationship would never be the same, and Reed often rewrote scripts or walked off the set to ensure the show would not collapse into slapstick.
4 Reed didn’t believed any kid belonged on TV … which gave rise to his close bond with the Brady Bunch kids.
On the same episode of Sally Jessy Raphael, Reed was asked to expound on his fatherly relationship with the actors who played his onscreen kids. His answer surprised everyone.
“My theory about that is that show business is no place for a child to begin with,” Reed told the host, “because, as you well know, the stressors for an adult are bad enough. Plus the kids have to go to school and they’re surrounded by authority figures — they have a director, a dialouge coach, the people who play their parents, the producers. It’s a very difficult situation, and demanding.
“To get kids through that is difficult,” Reed continued, “and I think it behooves people who conceive of these ersatz families like we were, for the adult actors to assume some of that responsibility.”
5 Reed treated the kids to a trip to London aboard the QE2.
Barry Williams, who played eldest Brady son Greg and enjoyed a lifelong friendship with Reed, revealed that his TV dad booked the trip “because he wanted to give something back to the show and to the cast.” Williams said Reed put them up in a luxe hotel and took them to Stratford-upon-Avon to see the Royal Shakespearean Company perform … but the real drama took place aboard the QE2.
Williams then launched into a tale of how he and Eve Plumb, both of whom had crushes on other cast members, conspired to be alone with their would-be sweethearts aboard the ship. Williams bunked with Christopher Knight, Plumb’s crush, while Plumb shared a room with Maureen McCormick, Williams’ intended squeeze. The pair devised a plot to “catch” McCormick and Knight solo in their rooms and initiate a little romance … a plan that only worked out for Plumb. Reed’s bemused scowl as Williams revealed the trip’s extracurricular activity was every bit that of a duped dad.
6 Reed championed morality, especially in family shows
Reed also told Raphael that, especially because he appeared in a show with so many young actors, his frequent script changes were to ensure responsible outcomes. Reed reasoned that if a show presents itself as a “morality piece,” the scriptwriters and producers have to commit to what the group believes is the appropriate choice. “Now I’m not saying right or wrong,” he explained, “but ‘this is the appropriate choice for the person in this position.’”
Reed added that he believed those guidelines helped, at least a little, to ensure that each of The Brady Bunch child actors made a relatively smooth transition to adulthood. “It gave an uplift — and we thought about it,” he explained. “We give so much attention to rights and freedoms — and rightly so — and none to obligations and responsibilities.”
7 He began and ended his career with The Bard
Reed famously opted out of the infamous The Brady Bunch Season 5 finale, in which Bobby sells Greg a bottle of hair tonic that turns his hair Carrot Top orange. The series never returned, though a series of spinoffs and musical specials resulted, some of which included Reed.
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The then 39-year-old actor still had plenty of time to pursue the serious roles he longed for, enjoying Emmy-nominations for his turns in the TV drama Medical Center and the critically acclaimed miniseries Roots and Rich Man, Poor Man.
But his final role before he died of cancer and HIV-related causes in 1992 at age 59 was his most cherished: Reed taught young people about his beloved Shakespeare at UCLA.
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