# The Brady Dad **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 22, 2013, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-brady-dad/656367 "2013-04-22T02:10:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-brady-dad/656367/21 "2013-04-23T21:19:16Z")
I always figured her ex-husband was Andy Taylor. When they split up he kept their son Opie and she kept the two girls, ala _Parent Trap_. (He either never knew she was pregnant with Cindy [born after TAGS premiered] or Cindy was fathered by a rebound.) ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-brady-dad/656367/22 "2013-04-23T21:24:57Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > And brilliantly parodied by _The Simpsons_ some years ago. But if Reed was so unhappy playing Mike Brady it seems he must have had the chance to distance himself from the character and didn’t take it. Per _Find-a-death_ he lived at the time in a 3 story mansion and supported his parents in the late '70s, so it was probably a 100% $$$$ decision. Though I agree- if he hated that much he still could have said no, and either way, Rich-White-People-Problems. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-brady-dad/656367/23 "2013-04-23T21:27:18Z")
> [@Greg\_Charles](#): > > Did they say definitely she had a husband? I thought she concocted the girls out of sugar, spice, etc. I may be mixing them up with the Powerpuff Girls. > > Other possibilities: > > 1. Unwed mother. Sad story of abuse and addiction that didn’t fit the light and treacly tone of the show. > 2. Girls kidnapped from a family in Ecuador and painted blond to throw off the search. > 3. Parthenogenesis (yeah, that’s sort of a long shot) Per Florence Henderson, there was consideration of Mike and Carol having a baby themselves ala _Your’s Mine & Ours_, but it was always voted down. Among other reasons there was the “where would they put it?” since the house was to capacity, plus pregnancy was probably just a bit too real for _The Brady Bunch_. Had the show lasted another season I think Carol would have gotten religion and given him Alice to impregnate after reading Genesis “that she might bear a child upon my knees, but not until after the roast is done”. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-brady-dad/656367/24 "2013-04-23T21:42:14Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Had the show lasted another season I think Carol would have gotten religion and given him Alice to impregnate after reading Genesis “that she might bear a child upon my knees, but not until after the roast is done”. I figured ‘cousin’ Oliver was brought in to be the host organism for the next Brady daughter during its larval stage, until it was ready to pupate. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-brady-dad/656367/25 "2013-04-23T21:45:39Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Per Florence Henderson, there was consideration of Mike and Carol having a baby themselves ala _Your’s Mine & Ours_, but it was always voted down. Among other reasons there was the “where would they put it?” since the house was to capacity, plus pregnancy was probably just a bit too real for _The Brady Bunch_… If only somebody in the family knew how to design an extension to the house. 😉 Actually, wouldn’t Greg & Marcia have gone off to college if it lasted another year? ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-brady-dad/656367/26 "2013-04-24T00:06:22Z")
OK: where are all of the Sherwood Schwartz quotes coming from? ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-brady-dad/656367/27 "2013-04-24T00:41:59Z")
> [@handsomeharry](#): > > OK: where are all of the Sherwood Schwartz quotes coming from? He was interviewed many times and co-authored [a book about the show](http://www.amazon.com/Brady-Complete-Story-Father-Really/dp/0762439629). He spared no punches about his relationship with Reed, though he did say that he thought ultimately he did a great job as Mike Brady. Schwartz’s son, a producer on the show, said that Sherwood was upset by rumors that he boycotted Reed’s funeral because Reed was gay. Sherwood had worked with countless gays in show biz and couldn’t care less one way or the other, but didn’t go to the funeral because he thought it would be hypocritical and disrespectful since he and Reed did not like each other. A story I liked from the book: when they did the last Brady series (the 60 minute comedy drama flop) there was an episode where Mike is surprised with a birthday cake that has 50+ candles on it. Reed went into a tirade that nobody would or could actually light that many candles, and Ann B. Davis said she would and could and had before, and Reed said that he had not spent almost 40 years working on his career to have it come to crap like this to which Davis asked “Well Bob, have you considered getting another damned career?” (After more than 20 years, she was tired of him being a prima donna.) ---
**Author:** ![Ms.Pumpkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a87d85/32.png) [@Ms.Pumpkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms.Pumpkin)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-brady-dad/656367/28 "2013-04-24T03:23:24Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > …But if Reed was so unhappy playing Mike Brady it seems he must have had the chance to distance himself from the character and didn’t take it. I remember reading somewhere that as much as he hated his character, he did genuinely grow to love his costars (or the kids, anyway). He considered them a surrogate family, and did the reunions and spin-offs because they wanted him to, and because it gave him an opportunity to actually reunite with them. Another theory is that he may have felt the “Mike Brady” character belonged to him, and should therefore only be played by him. He _was_ very serious about acting, and his ego may not have allowed him to accept the idea of being “replaced”, in any role. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-brady-dad/656367/29 "2013-04-24T03:56:29Z")
I remember in one of the many, many retrospective, behind-the-scene specials about “the Brady Bunch”, Florence Henderson mentions that Robert was very private about his sexuality and that she only realized he was gay the first time they rehearsed a scene in which they kissed. Robert Reed got very skittish about actually kissing her. Usually at the tale end of each episode, there was often a little bit of snuggling and kissing between Mike & Carol Brady - showing how much they were still in love with each other. While it all looks very tame by today’s standards, those scenes were…well not exactly risque, but the Brady parents were definitely more demonstrative about their love than other sitcom couples of the time. Henderson reported that Reed was always very uncomfortable about filming these scenes and wanted them over with as soon as possible. As far as Reed considering himself to be a “real actor”, most people don’t remember that prior to TBB, he had been the star of a highly respected, and often very controversial TV drama ‘the Defenders.’ This series was the “Law & Order” of the early 60s, depicting court-room dramas with cutting-edge social issue driven stories - including one of the very first TV series to discuss abortions (the real “Defenders” episode about abortion became the basis of a story in an early episode of “Mad Men.”) To go from being the star of one of the most intelligent, respected, cutting-edged series in the country, to being the dad on “the Brady Bunch”…well, that IS a step down. The fact that “the Defenders” eventually was forgotten, while “Brady Bunch” lived on in reruns must have only been like rubbing salt in the wounds. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-brady-dad/656367/30 "2013-04-24T04:03:44Z")
Henderson was surprised he was willing to be on the variety show. Williams reported that Reed told Henderson that he always wanted to try song and dance. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-brady-dad/656367/31 "2013-04-24T06:27:51Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > A story I liked from the book: when they did the last Brady series (the 60 minute comedy drama flop) there was an episode where Mike is surprised with a birthday cake that has 50+ candles on it. Reed went into a tirade that nobody would or could actually light that many candles, and Ann B. Davis said she would and could and had before, and Reed said that he had not spent almost 40 years working on his career to have it come to crap like this to which Davis asked “Well Bob, have you considered getting another damned career?” (After more than 20 years, she was tired of him being a prima donna.) Another Reed story from Schwartz: > [@](#): > > "There was one episode where Alice and Carol were making some strawberry desserts in the kitchen. The script called for Mike to walk in and say, ‘Wow, it smells like strawberry heaven in here!’. Bob Reed looked over the script on the set, and upon reading that line-- he quietly closed his script book, went to his trailer, and locked the door. > > I knocked for ten minutes before he opened up. Finally, when he did, I asked him what the problem was. Bob said, 'What’s the problem?? I’m supposed to say ‘Wow, it smells like strawberry heaven in here!!’ I quipped back, ‘Yeah, so?’ Bob became furious. ‘SO?? Sherwood, are you ignorant, or do you honestly not know that strawberries, when cooked, have NO aroma??’ > > I told him that I, in fact, had not known this-- and I begged him to shelve his pride about is, and just do the damned scene. Finally, after hours, he agreed to do the scene. But Bob had the last laugh. When we were finally rolling, and he entered the kitchen as Mike Brady-- he changed the line, saying, ‘Wow, I feel like I’ve died and gone to strawberry heaven!’ --and that’s what we kept." If this was a true story and was typical of Reed’s behavior, you start to sympathize with Sherwood Schwartz. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-brady-dad/656367/32 "2013-04-24T06:48:20Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Another Reed story from Schwartz:If this was a true story and was typical of Reed’s behavior, you start to sympathize with Sherwood Schwartz. Sounds like the inspiration for this classic bit from _Tootsie_: > [@](#): > > **Michael Dorsey:** Are you saying that nobody in New York will work with me? > > **George Fields:** No, no, that’s too limited… nobody in Hollywood wants to work with you either. I can’t even set you up for a commercial. You played a _tomato_ for 30 seconds - they went a half a day over schedule because you wouldn’t sit down. > \*\* > Michael Dorsey:\*\* Of course. It was illogical. > > **George Fields:** YOU WERE A TOMATO! A tomato doesn’t have logic! A tomato can’t move! > > \*\*Michael Dorsey: \*\*That’s what I said. So if he can’t move, how’s he gonna sit down, George? I was a stand-up tomato: a juicy, sexy, beefsteak tomato. Nobody does vegetables like me. I did an evening of vegetables off-Broadway. I did the best tomato, the best cucumber… I did an endive salad that knocked the critics on their ass. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-brady-dad/656367/33 "2013-04-24T07:32:00Z")
Michael Dorsey was supposedly based on Dustin Hoffman’s real behavior. I can’t recall the details but there was supposedly a time when Hoffman was making a movie and got into an argument with another performer over how they should play a scene. After arguing for a while, the other performer gave up and agreed to do it Hoffman’s way. But Hoffman kept arguing his point. The other performer asked why Hoffman was still arguing when they had agreed to do it Hoffman’s way. Hoffman said “I don’t want you to do it that way just because I want it. I want you to do it that way because you want it.” ---
**Author:** ![Shooby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f475e1/32.png) [@Shooby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shooby)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-brady-dad/656367/34 "2013-04-24T15:47:07Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Another Reed story from Schwartz:If this was a true story and was typical of Reed’s behavior, you start to sympathize with Sherwood Schwartz. Heh, I still sorta sympathize with Reed on this one - not with the diva attitude, but with disdain for lazy writing. If an actor really hates a line for some legitimate reason, then change it as long as it doesn’t alter the flow and effect of what you’re going for. Appease the Robert Reeds of the world, if it doesn’t cost you anything. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-brady-dad/656367/35 "2013-04-24T15:53:11Z")
> [@Shooby](#): > > Heh, I still sorta sympathize with Reed on this one - not with the diva attitude, but with disdain for lazy writing. If an actor really hates a line for some legitimate reason, then change it as long as it doesn’t alter the flow and effect of what you’re going for. Appease the Robert Reeds of the world, if it doesn’t cost you anything. What you’re saying makes perfect sense… anywhere outside the industry. There, the great vision of the producers and showrunners (and showrunners’s idiot sons) is Word of God and Don’t You Forget It. Most of Reed’s complaints that have been made public make perfect sense and should have been listened to, or at least accommodated. Just maybe a dedicated actor considering his role has something to add to what idiot writers think. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-brady-dad/656367/36 "2013-04-24T15:55:36Z")
> [@Shooby](#): > > Heh, I still sorta sympathize with Reed on this one - not with the diva attitude, but with disdain for lazy writing. If an actor really hates a line for some legitimate reason, then change it as long as it doesn’t alter the flow and effect of what you’re going for. Appease the Robert Reeds of the world, if it doesn’t cost you anything. There’s no good outcome for actors like this. You don’t find a prima donna following their first sitcom role with any success. What did Tina Louise ever do after Gilligan’s Island? Roseanne after her show? They took the show right out from Valerie Harper and renamed it. If you want to be difficult in Hollywood you have to be box office unobtanium, nothings worse than getting marked as ‘difficult’. Sure the stuff was drivel, it was the Brady Bunch, it wasn’t going to change. However, I do give him credit for keeping it quiet and away from the kids. ---
**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-brady-dad/656367/37 "2013-04-24T16:24:37Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Michael Dorsey was supposedly based on Dustin Hoffman’s real behavior. > > I can’t recall the details but there was supposedly a time when Hoffman was making a movie and got into an argument with another performer over how they should play a scene. After arguing for a while, the other performer gave up and agreed to do it Hoffman’s way. But Hoffman kept arguing his point. The other performer asked why Hoffman was still arguing when they had agreed to do it Hoffman’s way. Hoffman said “I don’t want you to do it that way just because I want it. I want you to do it that way because you want it.” According to Coral Amende’s “Hollywood Confidential”\*, the other performer was Teri Garr, who said: “Dustin Hoffman’s perfectionism? If you argue with him on something, he wants his point and he wants his way. Finally, if you say, ‘All right, we’ll do it your way,’ he’ll say, ‘No, I don’t want to do it my way until you like doing it my way.’ It’s not enough to give in to him, you have to like what he wants, too.” \*Maybe not the best source, but trying to google for it leads to five jillion pages of quotes from ‘Tootsie.’ \* ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-brady-dad/656367/38 "2013-04-24T16:28:00Z")
One thing that Lloyd Schwartz- who was less respectful in his reminiscences than his dad- points out is that Robert Reed’s career wasn’t as great pre- Brady Bunch as he liked to pretend it was. It had been 4 years since his minor hit series _The Defenders_ (which isn’t much remembered if at all), his forays into the big screen and his subsequent series had been flops (not that this was his fault, necessarily, but it certainly hadn’t helped his marketability), and he was doing mainly episodic roles. He was in his late 30s and while he could hold his own in looks and skill he wasn’t drop-dead gorgeous or the next Olivier B. Brando in charisma and talent. One never knows, but had he not gotten _Brady Bunch_ he could well have been just another guy who was in a series once and now turns up in guest roles here and there. Supposedly he was happiest teaching Shakespearen acting at UCLA. One of the Schwartz stories about him is that when he signed on to do the 60 minute series in the early 90s he would only do it if it didn’t interfere with his classes; while not an unreasonable request in and of itself, it pissed everybody off _because_ he didn’t inform them of this until the first day of shooting and thus the order of scenes had to be completely rescheduled at the last minute. I wonder how his students remember him. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-brady-dad/656367/39 "2013-04-24T16:52:32Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > What you’re saying makes perfect sense… anywhere outside the industry. There, the great vision of the producers and showrunners (and showrunners’s idiot sons) is Word of God and Don’t You Forget It. > > Most of Reed’s complaints that have been made public make perfect sense and should have been listened to, or at least accommodated. Just maybe a dedicated actor considering his role has something to add to what idiot writers think. I don’t see it. It’s a business after all. Reed supposedly shut down the show’s production for a few hours because of a disagreement about whether you could smell cooked strawberries. Reed was entitled to state his opinion but when Sherwood told him to just say the line, Reed should have gone ahead and done the job he was hired for. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-brady-dad/656367/40 "2013-04-24T16:58:22Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > One thing that Lloyd Schwartz- who was less respectful in his reminiscences than his dad- points out is that Robert Reed’s career wasn’t as great pre- Brady Bunch as he liked to pretend it was. It had been 4 years since his minor hit series _The Defenders_ (which isn’t much remembered if at all), his forays into the big screen and his subsequent series had been flops (not that this was his fault, necessarily, but it certainly hadn’t helped his marketability), and he was doing mainly episodic roles. He was in his late 30s and while he could hold his own in looks and skill he wasn’t drop-dead gorgeous or the next Olivier B. Brando in charisma and talent. One never knows, but had he not gotten _Brady Bunch_ he could well have been just another guy who was in a series once and now turns up in guest roles here and there. > > Supposedly he was happiest teaching Shakespearen acting at UCLA. One of the Schwartz stories about him is that when he signed on to do the 60 minute series in the early 90s he would only do it if it didn’t interfere with his classes; while not an unreasonable request in and of itself, it pissed everybody off _because_ he didn’t inform them of this until the first day of shooting and thus the order of scenes had to be completely rescheduled at the last minute. > > I wonder how his students remember him. One thing I’ve read casts an interesting (and sad) light on Reed’s behavior. You have to remember he grew up in the Mid-West in the thirties and forties. He had grown up in an era that taught him homosexuality was wrong. So when he realized he was himself a homosexual he felt it was wrong. Supposedly he spent his entire life wishing he could be “cured”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-brady-dad/656367.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-brady-dad/656367.md?page=3)