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"Brady Bunch" father Robert Reed was a drunken diva behind the scenes of the show

America’s favorite dad was livid.

The man who played Mike Brady, Robert Reed, paged through the latest script for “The Brady Bunch” and lashed out at the show’s creator, demanding that his part be rewritten.

And what had so incensed the actor?

The smell of strawberries. Or the lack thereof.

In Season 4’s episode, “Jan, the Only Child,” Brady mom, Carol, and the family’s housekeeper, Alice, hold a competition to see who can craft the tastiest strawberry preserves.

As the competition raged in the Brady’s formica kitchen, the script called for Mike Brady to arrive home and remark that the house smelled like “strawberry heaven.”

Only Reed, who had a habit of meticulously fact-checking each script, discovered while poring over the “Encyclopedia Britannica” that strawberries supposedly give off no smell while they’re being cooked.

So Reed went to “Brady” creator Sherwood Schwartz and told him he would not say the line.

Attempting to placate the actor, Schwartz invited Reed down to the set where strawberries were actually being cooked and pointed out that the berries did indeed give off a scent.

Reed wouldn’t hear it. He’d read that they didn’t, and he refused to say the line.

So Schwartz offered a compromise: Mike Brady could say it “looks like strawberry heaven in here,” and Reed reluctantly agreed.

(Although the line he ultimately delivered in the filmed episode was, “I do believe I’ve died and gone to strawberry heaven.”)

Reed was famous for being difficult on set. In another episode in which youngest Brady boy, Bobby, sells hair tonic in a get-rich-quick scheme, Reed objected because the product wasn’t FDA-approved. In yet another, Reed whined about the implausibility of his character slipping on a broken egg. He even once disapproved of the quality of the fake ink that stained Alice’s uniform, prompting the actor to pen an angry, multi-page memo to the show’s executives. Reed blasted the prop department for its choice and called the ink scene so “unfunny that even a laugh machine would balk” at it.

With all the behind-the-scenes drama, it’s a wonder the show didn’t crash and burn in its first season. But “The Brady Bunch,” which celebrated its 50th anniversary on Sept. 26, survived to become one of the most famous shows in television history, as detailed in “The Way We All Became the Brady Bunch: How the Canceled Sitcom Became the Beloved Pop Culture Icon We Are Still Talking About Today” (Grand Central Publishing), out now.

“I don’t feel like anyone thinks it’s a great show. This is not the sitcom version of ‘Breaking Bad,’ ” author Kimberly Potts told The Post. “It’s more that it’s a sweet show. Now so many generations have watched it, it’s a good memory and makes them feel good.”

Schwartz, the creator of “The Brady Bunch,” always wanted his show to be more than a quick laugh.

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by Anonymousreply 333January 20, 2020 7:05 PM

In 1966, he happened across a newspaper article stating that 29 percent of families now included a child from a previous marriage. The stat got Schwartz, who had created 1964’s “Gilligan’s Island,” thinking. He began crafting a show about a blended family that would serve as a parable for his personal belief that different people could always learn to live together.

The networks weren’t initially wild about the idea, and the series was shelved.

Then in 1968, “Yours, Mine and Ours,” a film about a blended family starring Lucille Ball, became a huge hit. ABC came calling about Schwartz’s sitcom idea, and the creator set about assembling his cast.

“Schwartz did a lot of smart things when he cast the show,” Potts says. “He cast kids and created the characters based on their personalities. That’s something that came through and helped people identify with them and made the group of siblings resonate with people.”

He also stocked the family with six kids; a boy and a girl occupying three different age groups. A full range of kid viewers — from young children to teens — could find someone to identify with.

Susan Olsen was chosen out of 454 hopefuls Schwartz personally interviewed to play youngest daughter Cindy. She won the part because of her charming lisp that had her pronouncing horse as “horth” in her audition.

Maureen McCormick was at first eyed to play middle daughter Jan, but when Schwartz tinkered with the ages of the kids, McCormick became eldest daughter Marcia. (Eve Plumb played Jan.)

Mike Lookinland got the gig of Bobby, even though Schwartz demanded that he dye his light hair brown to match that of his TV brothers: Christopher Knight, as Peter, and Barry Williams as Greg.

Competition was fierce to play parents Mike, an architect, and Carol, a stay-at-home mom with creative pursuits. One actress vying for the matriarch role sent Schwartz nude photos. Another, when Schwartz went to shake her hand, instead grabbed his crotch.

Neither got the part. It went to Florence Henderson after Shirley Jones passed on the role.

Reed, who fancied himself a Shakespearean actor, took the part simply for the money and quickly became a distraction. The unhappy actor would frequently spend his lunch breaks getting sloshed and when he returned to the set drunk, Schwartz would have to end filming for the day. Luckily, the child actors were usually done at that point and avoided witnessing most of his bad behavior and angry outbursts.

by Anonymousreply 1December 7, 2019 11:58 PM

In fact, Reed had a close, almost paternal, relationship with the Brady kids.

“He took his responsibility as the TV dad seriously,” Potts says. “He famously took the kids on a trip to England because he wanted to expose them to culture and Shakespeare. He also famously gave them Super 8 cameras for Christmas. He wanted to help them the same as a father would.”

His relationship with the show continued to be less collegial, and he was completely absent from several episodes, including the 1974 series finale, because of his objections to material.

Had the series returned for a sixth season, Schwartz was planning to kill off Mike Brady and have the plots revolve around the kids helping Carol find love again.

But the show only lasted five seasons. While never a critical or ratings darling (its best finish was 31st, in Season 3), Schwartz quickly began receiving letters from real kids threatening to run away in order to live with the Bradys.

The show had clearly struck a chord and unlike many sitcoms of its day, it didn’t disappear after it was canceled.

Instead, it found a new life in syndication starting in 1975, often airing in blocks in the afternoon, which breathed new life into the program, making it a classic.

By 1976, reruns of “The Brady Bunch” actually beat the vice-presidential debate in ratings. At the time of its 30th anniversary, each of the 117 episodes was estimated to have aired more than 100,000 times around the world.

“These airings were chances for viewers of every changing age group to memorize the show, identify with the characters and their problems and allow ‘The Brady Bunch’ to become a permanent part of their culture and childhood memories,” Potts writes.

Today, all six actors who played the Brady kids continue to be defined by roles they performed half a century ago. Just recently, they appeared on HGTV’s “A Very Brady Renovation.”

Meanwhile, Reed died at 59 in 1992, after being diagnosed with colon cancer. It was later revealed that he had long lived a closeted gay life and was HIV-positive.

In a 2000 ABC News interview, Henderson talked about Reed’s homosexuality, which she learned about while filming the “Brady” pilot, and explained some of the reasons behind his bad behavior on set.

“Here he was, the perfect father of this wonderful little family, a perfect husband. Off camera, he was an unhappy person — I think had Bob not been forced to live this double life, I think it would have dissipated a lot of that anger and frustration. I never asked him. I never challenged him. I had a lot of compassion for him because I knew how he was suffering with keeping this secret.”

by Anonymousreply 2December 7, 2019 11:58 PM

Best line: "Competition was fierce to play parents Mike, an architect, and Carol, a stay-at-home mom with creative pursuits. One actress vying for the matriarch role sent Schwartz nude photos. Another, when Schwartz went to shake her hand, instead grabbed his crotch.

Neither got the part."

by Anonymousreply 3December 8, 2019 12:12 AM

Joyce Bulifant for one and Brett Somers for two.

by Anonymousreply 4December 8, 2019 12:12 AM

Mike also refused to ride the roller coaster in the King's Island episode. Apparently he noticed the camera mounted on the front of the train was wobbly and made sure they fastened it securely. Maybe it was a good thing he was so picky...

by Anonymousreply 5December 8, 2019 12:13 AM

Mike also refused to ride the roller coaster in the King's Island episode. Apparently he noticed the camera mounted on the front of the train was wobbly and made sure they fastened it securely. Maybe it was a good thing he was so picky...

by Anonymousreply 6December 8, 2019 12:13 AM

Mike Brady was no strawberry sniffer.

by Anonymousreply 7December 8, 2019 12:19 AM

Gene Hackman was up for the role of Mike Brady, and IIRC he got it but turned it down.

by Anonymousreply 8December 8, 2019 12:21 AM

[quote]“He took his responsibility as the TV dad seriously,” Potts says. “He famously took the kids on a trip to England because he wanted to expose them to culture and Shakespeare.

That seems odd. I hope Shakespeare was the only thing he exposed them to.

by Anonymousreply 9December 8, 2019 12:30 AM

He boycotted the one where the kids turned on Alice too allegedly.

by Anonymousreply 10December 8, 2019 12:36 AM

How big was Mike's daddy dick? Did he dress left or right? How come we never see VPL?

by Anonymousreply 11December 8, 2019 12:47 AM

Robert Reed was a hungry bottom for black dick.

by Anonymousreply 12December 8, 2019 12:49 AM

R10 he did because he didn’t believe those boys would turn on the woman who pretty much co-raised them since they were little, or in Bobby’s case, born.

by Anonymousreply 13December 8, 2019 12:50 AM

Robert Reed was a beautiful man, and always complemented my meat. You queens are horrible.

by Anonymousreply 14December 8, 2019 12:51 AM

R14 Sam, you know I preferred your sausage links.

by Anonymousreply 15December 8, 2019 12:53 AM

Poor Alice always had to eat dinner in the kitchen. She was never invited to sit at the family table.

by Anonymousreply 16December 8, 2019 12:55 AM

Die in a grease fire, R9. Take your homophobic frau shit somewhere else.

by Anonymousreply 17December 8, 2019 12:55 AM

The parents of those boys must have not known Rob was queer to let their boys spend time with him alone. God knows they wouldnt have, I know mine would not.

by Anonymousreply 18December 8, 2019 12:58 AM

I think she dined out at the Y quite a bit, R16

by Anonymousreply 19December 8, 2019 12:58 AM

r10, I'm glad to hear that. I love The Brady Bunch to this day but despise the hate Alice episode. It just seem implausible that all 6 of the kids would turn on her so. Plus, I thought it was unbelievable how when Greg and Marcia told Carol what happened, she just read them a little and went back to sewing with an angry look. Carol would've been like you little shits are going to help me get Alice back.

by Anonymousreply 20December 8, 2019 1:00 AM

Did Alice have health insurance?

by Anonymousreply 21December 8, 2019 1:24 AM

I always wondered why Robert Reed wasn't in the episode when Alice leaves. I knew about him refusing to be in the last episode because of the prepostorous story. I hated that episode too. If I was Alice, I would've spiked all the food they ordered at the diner with laxatives so the inside of the station wagon matched the outside.

by Anonymousreply 22December 8, 2019 1:27 AM

If the show continued, they were going to recast Reed with.....John McMartin. From Follies to the Bradys.

by Anonymousreply 23December 8, 2019 1:45 AM

Sounds like he was a real Miss Thang

by Anonymousreply 24December 8, 2019 1:48 AM

[quote]Had the series returned for a sixth season, Schwartz was planning to kill off Mike Brady and have the plots revolve around the kids helping Carol find love again.

This is the info I found fairly shocking. Never heard this story before. That certainly would have been an interesting turn for the series had it been renewed for that sixth season.

by Anonymousreply 25December 8, 2019 1:51 AM

They were deciding whether they should kill off Mike or recast him. He was fired after refusing to do the hair color episode, and they weren’t turning back.

So they were debating whether they should recast him or kill him off.

The network canceled the show so they needed not bother

by Anonymousreply 26December 8, 2019 2:09 AM

They were getting ready to kill him off the 1990s version of "The Bradys" too when it was canceled.

by Anonymousreply 27December 8, 2019 2:11 AM

[quote] One actress vying for the matriarch role sent Schwartz nude photos. Another, when Schwartz went to shake her hand, instead grabbed his crotch.

As if there is any room for doubt

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by Anonymousreply 28December 8, 2019 2:15 AM

[quote]Poor Alice always had to eat dinner in the kitchen. She was never invited to sit at the family table.

I will hire a bull daggar -- they are excellent at scrubbing -- but I won't eat with one.

by Anonymousreply 29December 8, 2019 2:20 AM

R25

That would have been pretty good TV.

After their mom had already died, then their dad dies, too?

You know Bobby would have had a breakdown scene, sobbing “We’re orphans!”

And Cindy would hug him and promise “You can share my Mommy.”

by Anonymousreply 30December 8, 2019 2:23 AM

Carol finding love again with her four suitors.

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by Anonymousreply 31December 8, 2019 2:30 AM

How would they pay the bills if Mike died? Lord knows, Carol wasn’t getting her ass off the sofa to get a job.

by Anonymousreply 32December 8, 2019 2:32 AM

I think they would have forced Jan to quit school and work three part-time jobs so they could maintain the comfortable lifestyle to which they were accustomed.

by Anonymousreply 33December 8, 2019 2:35 AM

[quote}How would they pay the bills if Mike died?

Hey Thindy, come thuck on thith.

For ten more, Bobby will join in.

by Anonymousreply 34December 8, 2019 2:40 AM

Jon Cryer would be a good Mike Brady if they ever do a reboot.

by Anonymousreply 35December 8, 2019 2:44 AM

They were planning on a reboot that never happened.

by Anonymousreply 36December 8, 2019 2:46 AM

I believe the reboot was with Matthew Perry.

by Anonymousreply 37December 8, 2019 2:46 AM

I don't remember the kids hating Alice episode. Can someone describe the plot?

by Anonymousreply 38December 8, 2019 2:46 AM

They rebooted the Brady Bunch, but this time around called it Shameless. It stars William H. Macy in the father role and Emmy Rossum in the Marcia role.

by Anonymousreply 39December 8, 2019 2:48 AM

The Odd Couple reboot with Matthew Perry was an embarrassment.

by Anonymousreply 40December 8, 2019 2:49 AM

I love him. He was the gayest gay who ever gayed! “I will NOT SAY THIS LINE because cooking strawberries in fact emit no distinctive odor!!!”

by Anonymousreply 41December 8, 2019 2:51 AM

[quote] I will hire a bull daggar -- they are excellent at scrubbing -- but I won't eat with one. —Mrs. Brady

Why did you bring her along on the Hawaii trip? That was supposed to be the trip where Mike fucked your brains out on the beach late at night. A few seasons ago, you had your tonsils out and so that gave you more room in your throat to accommodate his whopper dick.

You could have farmed the kids out to the grandparents and Alice could have had the whole house to herself to do with whatever lonely maids do when the family goes on vacation.

by Anonymousreply 42December 8, 2019 2:52 AM

R38

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by Anonymousreply 43December 8, 2019 2:52 AM

Jeffrey Hunter really wanted the part of Mike Brady, according to Sherwood Schwartz's book. He also said Eve Plumb was "pretty, but seemed like she could be easily provoked."

by Anonymousreply 44December 8, 2019 2:53 AM

Vince Vaughn was producing a reboot in 2012. It clearly never came about.

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by Anonymousreply 45December 8, 2019 2:54 AM

Did Robert ever kick any of the kids on the set?

by Anonymousreply 46December 8, 2019 2:58 AM

[quote] I don't remember the kids hating Alice episode. Can someone describe the plot?

The kids start thinking Alice is a snitch and treat Alice accordingly. Alice quits. A new lady named Kay comes on board as housekeeper. Kay has absolutely no sense of humor and lacks warmth. Meanwhile, Alice has a new job as a waitress in a diner. The kids go to the diner and convince Alice to come back.

It probably was a realistic episode in that people can really shit all over someone who has been nothing but nice to them. Also revealed the Brady kids for being spoiled brats, at times.

This is what Kay looked like (played by Mary Treen).

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by Anonymousreply 47December 8, 2019 3:05 AM

Thank you r43, I remember the episode now. And strangely enough, I remember the scene, that's always now cut, where Bobby and Cindy are going to a nude pool party. I remember being shocked when I saw it in syndication as a teenager (mid-1970s).

by Anonymousreply 48December 8, 2019 3:07 AM

Instead of recasting Mike or spending time with Mrs, Brady dating, they should have had a male relative of Carol’s move in.

by Anonymousreply 49December 8, 2019 3:12 AM

This is very old news, yet the odd thing is Reed is really wonderful on the show. He's sly and light-hearted, but serious without being an ogre when needed. I thought he did a great job with the role.

by Anonymousreply 50December 8, 2019 3:13 AM

MARY!

by Anonymousreply 51December 8, 2019 3:18 AM

Florence had a decades-long passion for Bernie Kopell, and tried several times to get Schwartz to kill off Reed and replace him with Bernie as "your new daddy". This was, in fact, in the cards just before cancellation.

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by Anonymousreply 52December 8, 2019 3:19 AM

They could have made season 6 a murder mystery, with the boys trying to figure out how their father REALLY died, as they don’t believe it was anything natural and believe Carol killed him. This leads to a division between the boys and girls and we find out what REALLY happened to the girls bio dad as well as Mike.

by Anonymousreply 53December 8, 2019 3:21 AM

The Brady Bunch wasn't about REAL problems. So, if Mike died, the series would explain something about life insurance, partnership at the firm, whatever.

An interesting story arc featuring Carol's different suitors and how each of the children reacted to them might have opened up interesting possibilities. Especially if Carol finally chooses a man some of the children do not like.

by Anonymousreply 54December 8, 2019 3:22 AM

should have killed off mike brady and have "hank the tank" the now famous drop dead gorgeous built like the proverbial brick shithouse pro football star and carol's high school boyfriend as carol's new live in lover, finally her getting some REAL action in bed, in the shower, in the den and elsewhere in the home! can anyone say actor DENNY MILLER! OMG!

by Anonymousreply 55December 8, 2019 3:22 AM

*I* carried a show without a man to fuck me. What was Henderson's problem? Not interesting enough as an actress? Too insecure?

by Anonymousreply 56December 8, 2019 3:26 AM

You also drove a fucking bus and sang your heart out in roadside dives to put food on the table, while Carol Brady sat on the sofa and screamed at Alice because there were streaks on the TV screen and she couldn't see "The Edge of Night".

by Anonymousreply 57December 8, 2019 3:30 AM

Thank God they didn’t kill Mike. We wouldn’t have gotten to see him sing and dance on the Variety Hour,

by Anonymousreply 58December 8, 2019 3:33 AM

Shirley Jones had reportedly very sophisticated oral skills. She didn’t need a Mike Brady she had a whole town of men

by Anonymousreply 59December 8, 2019 3:39 AM

So after reading the story and many of the post it’s my conclusion that Robert Reed offered practical suggestions that a rider should’ve had the wherewithal to know. He doesn’t sound like a difficult person to me. He left for authenticity in the acting of even a sitcom

by Anonymousreply 60December 8, 2019 3:39 AM

R60 No one wants notes from an actor. Just know your lines, hit your marks, and go the fuck home.

by Anonymousreply 61December 8, 2019 3:42 AM

He was intentionally difficult. If you read Schwartz' book, if even some of what he claims Reed did is true, he was a real pill. Schwartz said they started playing games. He'd write things into the script that he knew Reed would challenge and would have an answer ready when it happened. During the famous payphone in the house episode, Reed ranted about the lack of believability. He then asked where the Bradys lived. Schwartz said "Santa Monica" which infuriated Reed because they both did research and found out that SM was the only city in the States that allowed payphones in residences.

Reed sounded just like a ridiculous, pretentious moron. Ironically, even though he hated Brady Bunch, he LOVED doing Brady Bunch Variety Hour.

by Anonymousreply 62December 8, 2019 3:55 AM

Not surprisingly written with the bigoted and homophobic headline labeling him a "drunken diva." Michael Landon would never have been called a diva by the New York Post for the same, if not worse, behavior.

Two backhanded sentences among several disparaging paragraphs, describing Reed's fatherly mentoring to the kids on the show, and taking them all on their first trip to Europe.

by Anonymousreply 63December 8, 2019 4:08 AM

[quote]How would they pay the bills if Mike died?

Jan would run away to Hollywood and turn tricks with old men while she befriends a gay hustler. Oh wait, she did that already.

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by Anonymousreply 64December 8, 2019 4:24 AM

[quote] Shirley Jones had reportedly very sophisticated oral skills

Apparently she had a lot to work with w/Jack Cassidy

by Anonymousreply 65December 8, 2019 4:26 AM

"This isn't enough Dawn or Jan or whatever the fuck you're calling yourself. Get back out onto that street corner and don't come back until you have enough money for me to renew my TV Guide subscription."

by Anonymousreply 66December 8, 2019 4:29 AM

[quote]Thank God they didn’t kill Mike. We wouldn’t have gotten to see him sing and dance on the Variety Hour.

Interesting, too, is that if they had killed Mike off in a sixth season, Reed wouldn't have been able to participate in the Brady TV reunion movies that came years later unless, of course, he had appeared as a ghost. But then perhaps, they would have "un-killed" him like they did with Dan Conner on "Roseanne."

by Anonymousreply 67December 8, 2019 4:32 AM

[quote]No one wants notes from an actor. Just know your lines, hit your marks, and go the fuck home.

That's what they told Patric Swayze when was given the worst line in history, lives on longer than he did.

“Nobody puts Baby in the corner.”

by Anonymousreply 68December 8, 2019 4:34 AM

I grew up watching this show, never missed an episode and watched the syndicated reruns every afternoon, yet I was annoyed by all of the characters except Mike Brady, who seemed like a good dad. Robert Reed’s criticisms of the scripts seem reasonable to me.

by Anonymousreply 69December 8, 2019 4:47 AM

R68 I watched the Netflix documentary "The Movies That Made Us" and there is a whole episode on Dirty Dancing.

Patrick Swayze sounds like a total pain in the ass to work with. He's really rude in the rehearsal clips. So protesting-too much with: "I'm a butch Texas redneck and I don't put up with this shit!"

But Jennifer Grey comes across even worse. She HATED Swayze and was very unprofessional about it. She kept cracking up and ruining scenes. And the producers mock her for stopping in a scene and demanding, "I need a cheese platter!" As one said, "A platter? Not a piece of cheese? Oy!"

by Anonymousreply 70December 8, 2019 4:50 AM

[quote]Robert Reed’s criticisms of the scripts seem reasonable to me.

It was irrelevant whether they were "reasonable."

It wasn't his job.

And he was wasting time and money.

by Anonymousreply 71December 8, 2019 4:51 AM

They could have Mike come out and bring Rock Hudson in as his lover.

by Anonymousreply 72December 8, 2019 4:55 AM

Side note: Robert Reed during this time also had a second job, a semi-regular role on "Mannix" with Mike Connors on CBS.

by Anonymousreply 73December 8, 2019 5:02 AM

The show actually went immediately into syndication in September 1974, following its going off the network air. And they didn't air it or other syndicated shows in blocks at that time--at most, it aired once each weekday, maybe on multiple channels.

by Anonymousreply 74December 8, 2019 5:08 AM

At R52, why is Bernie Koppell going in for a kiss with his mouth open like that? That looks skeevy.

by Anonymousreply 75December 8, 2019 5:14 AM

[quote] But Jennifer Grey comes across even worse. She HATED Swayze

Gray and Swayze were in Red Dawn prior to Dirty Dancing. She thought he treated her badly then. It was mainly a picture about boys outdoors so I can see they probably made it rougher than necessary on Lea Thompson and herself.

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by Anonymousreply 76December 8, 2019 5:28 AM

"But Jennifer Grey comes across even worse. She HATED Swayze"

Who could hate this?

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by Anonymousreply 77December 8, 2019 5:46 AM

[quote] You also drove a fucking bus and sang your heart out in roadside dives to put food on the table, while Carol Brady sat on the sofa and screamed at Alice because there were streaks on the TV screen and she couldn't see "The Edge of Night".

Maybe if she could have seen it, she could have warned everyone about Lori Loughlin.

by Anonymousreply 78December 8, 2019 6:42 AM

[quote] Not surprisingly written with the bigoted and homophobic headline labeling him a "drunken diva."

Larry Hagman drank his liver away and acted just as belligerently on the set of [italic]I Dream of Jeannie[/italic].

by Anonymousreply 79December 8, 2019 6:44 AM

Larry Hagman also got a liver transplant.

by Anonymousreply 80December 8, 2019 6:46 AM

Not the point. On the set of [italic]Jeannie[/italic], I heard he even took LSD, pissed on the sets, and tore up the scripts. Yet he would never have gotten the same kind of "diva" epithet placed upon Robert Reed for similar behavior on his show.

by Anonymousreply 81December 8, 2019 6:50 AM

R77 Curse you for the sudden rush of feels I got while I was innocently reading the comments and came across that pic you posted.

by Anonymousreply 82December 8, 2019 8:53 AM

[quote] Ironically, even though he hated Brady Bunch, he LOVED doing Brady Bunch Variety Hour.

That’s because Bruce Vilanch was able to hook him up with rough trade.

by Anonymousreply 83December 8, 2019 9:08 AM

R81 is right, but I will take it a step further. There is a lot of homophobic subtext here about Robert Reed. How many other straight actors did a lot worse and yet not called out for it and certainly not called a diva. Weather you realize it or not, some of you are piling on and part of that problem. Things were more collaborative back in those days. So it wasn't unusual to care about things beyond the paycheck. It sounds like Robert was just trying to make it a better show. Compare that with today with someone like Justin Bieber taking a piss in a kitchen bucket just because he thinks its funny or Gene Simmons telling a depressed fan to kill themselves.

by Anonymousreply 84December 8, 2019 9:10 AM

Robert Reed attended London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He was a trained Shakespearean actor. He knew what he was getting into for the Brady Bunch. Even I can't watch more than 1 or 2 episodes of that ridiculous program. Their lawn was astroturf! Sherwood Schwartz was a dingbat. While working on the Brady Bunch, Reed bought all the children movie cameras. Florence Henderson never had an unkind word to say about him, nor have I read any. After Reed's acting career, he taught classes on Shakespeare at UCLA.

DataLounge and many of its users like to stir the pot. Many of you have done far worse than get drunk. Shame on you.

by Anonymousreply 85December 8, 2019 11:23 AM

R84, thanks. I can say a few things about Gene Simmons. That fucker is sick in the head. As if fucking over 4000 women and taking Polaroid photos of themall isn't a bit unusual. An announcing on national TV he has herpes and therefore can't participate in an orgy to which they were invited. At least his children seem alright, thank goodness. His son is attractive and straight. His mother seemed lovely, although she insisted that he and his Playboy centerfold girlfriend were legitimately married simply because they had a Jewish ceremony, but no marriage license. Some people simply refused to observe the law.

by Anonymousreply 86December 8, 2019 11:31 AM

The show was unwatchable and outdated even in its original run. it probably appealed mostly to young children---much like Schwartz other opus, "Gilligan's Island". The show clearly was headed fr cancellation in its last season. The ratings had started to drop in it's 4th season --it's core audience probably had outgrown the show. And Cousin Oliver didn't help.

by Anonymousreply 87December 8, 2019 12:27 PM

[quote] That seems odd. I hope Shakespeare was the only thing he exposed them to.

R9, Florence was straight. Do you hope SHE didn’t expose them to anything unseemly?

You’re a cunt.

by Anonymousreply 88December 8, 2019 12:39 PM

R88, thanks for that. So many sickos like R9. I had to call out some jerk on a social media site that homosexuality and pedophilia are entirely unrelated.

R85

by Anonymousreply 89December 8, 2019 1:08 PM

Robert Reed was the first Datalounger.

by Anonymousreply 90December 8, 2019 1:14 PM

React.

by Anonymousreply 91December 8, 2019 1:16 PM

R90, what am I, chopped liver?

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by Anonymousreply 92December 8, 2019 1:25 PM

I'm watching a Very Brady Christmas right now. Reed is such a queen in this.

by Anonymousreply 93December 8, 2019 1:34 PM

OP survived World War 1, 2, and the aids so she could share this shit with us? Fuck off OP. No one cares.

by Anonymousreply 94December 8, 2019 1:37 PM

Lucy was approached for the role of Carol, but Gary talked her out of it.

by Anonymousreply 95December 8, 2019 1:38 PM

William Frawley did the opposite. He'd see his lines and tell Desi, "There's too many for me, give some of my lines to 'old fatass'."

by Anonymousreply 96December 8, 2019 2:16 PM

R96, Desi loved Bill Frawley, that bastard. Vivian Vance was tortured and was in therapy. She was abused by her jackass husband, Phil Ober. I sort of hope those two are in Hades, if it exists. I suspect Frawley was bi or gay since he collapsed on the NYC sidewalk in the company of his male nurse and once lived with his mother. The genuine friction between those two helped make "I Love Lucy" better. Vivian was not fat.

by Anonymousreply 97December 8, 2019 2:20 PM

R97, how does collapsing on a sidewalk determine one’s sexual orientation?

by Anonymousreply 98December 8, 2019 2:21 PM

r97

Vance would make fun of Frawley's age and Frawley called her figure a "sack of old doorknobs."

by Anonymousreply 99December 8, 2019 2:23 PM

Mike Lookinland has red hair

by Anonymousreply 100December 8, 2019 2:24 PM

R98 oy vey. Frawley married young and divorced. After that he lived with his mother. Then he lived alone. Why does a grown man need a "male nurse" just to go to a movie a few blocks from home when he's not crippled or impaired?

In an episode of "I Love Lucy" there's a scene about women not being prepared and Vivian actually opens her coat to reveal she only has on her undergarments. She did not have a bag figure. She and Frawley were sniping at each other.

by Anonymousreply 101December 8, 2019 2:26 PM

[quote] Vance would make fun of Frawley's age and Frawley called her figure a "sack of old doorknobs."

Which was bad on his part because her contract required her to carry extra weight to appear older than Lucy.

by Anonymousreply 102December 8, 2019 2:26 PM

[quote]Why does a grown man need a "male nurse" just to go to a movie a few blocks from home when he's not crippled or impaired?

Obviously he was ill because he collapsed on the way home.

by Anonymousreply 103December 8, 2019 2:28 PM

R103 and people used to call me naive! Frawley had a sudden, unexpected heart attack. He was not ill.

by Anonymousreply 104December 8, 2019 2:30 PM

How did William Frawley highjack a Robert Reed thread?

by Anonymousreply 105December 8, 2019 2:32 PM

R105, sorry, I was just trying to answer questions asked. One bitchy queen leads to another. I'm sure many here understand that. Although Reed was "way above" Frawley.

by Anonymousreply 106December 8, 2019 2:33 PM

[quote] And Cousin Oliver didn't help.

Cousin Oliver was a blessing in disguise if he kept the show from accumulating any zombie seasons. If either this or [italic]The Partridge Family[/italic] had gone on past 1974, it would have been without either Robert Reed or David Cassidy.

By contrast, [italic]Diff’rent Strokes[/italic] waited until the middle of its sixth season to spring Sam McKinney on us for two and a half more years, even recasting his mother!

by Anonymousreply 107December 8, 2019 2:40 PM

R107 you're kidding? That awful program about those 3 children was on that long? I don't remember a Sam McKinney. Maybe I stopped watching. That wachu talkin 'bout Willis got old.

by Anonymousreply 108December 8, 2019 2:43 PM

Different Strokes was on for 8 seasons, R108. Alan Thicke even update the theme song when the show moved to ABC.

by Anonymousreply 109December 8, 2019 2:50 PM

[quote] I don't remember a Sam McKinney.

Smart assed blonde boy. Wasn't his mother played by Dixie Carter?

by Anonymousreply 110December 8, 2019 2:52 PM

[quote]r46 Did Robert ever kick any of the kids on the set?

That would have been truer to the real life Brady inspiration.

America in the late 1960s was enchanted with the idea of the Beardsleys, a blended family with 18 kids. The memoir the mom wrote ("Who Gets the Drumstick?") also inspired the movie "Yours, Mine and Ours." But all was not what it seemed behind the picturesque picket fence.

[quote]North”s autobiographical book, [italic]True North: The Shocking Truth About ”Yours, Mine and Ours,[/italic] depicts the real Frank Beardsley as a violent, wild-eyed tyrant who abused his children physically, emotionally and sexually, and paints North”s mother, Helen, as a woman so image-conscious that she became complicit in her children”s nightmare.

[quote]Frank Beardsley, a former Navy boxer, had an unpredictable, volcanic temper around his children and stepchildren, often erupting without provocation. Closed-fisted beatings were commonplace for the boys, open-handed slaps for the girls. He made sexual advances toward his daughters (abuses he eventually acknowledged years later, during family therapy, North says), and, on at least one occasion, “he also approached me with dark intent,” North wrote. Throughout years of abuse, Helen Beardsley looked the other way, admonishing any child who complained, he says.

[quote]“My mother told me (as an adult) that when she met Frank Beardsley and his children, she saw 10 kids living in terror. She said, ”If that”s how he treats them when I”m here, what must happen when I”m not around?”” North said. “My mother was a good Irish-Catholic martyr from the World War II era, and she told me her intent in marrying him was to save his children from him, then save him from himself.”

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by Anonymousreply 111December 8, 2019 2:54 PM

[quote]r61 No one wants notes from an actor. Just know your lines, hit your marks, and go the fuck home.

Especially in a genre as sensitively written as a sitcom! Those writers went to the Yale School of Drama!

by Anonymousreply 112December 8, 2019 3:00 PM

[italic]Diff’rent Strokes[/italic] wasn’t terrible until after that redhead came along. You must be confusing it with something truly awful, like that stupid Tony fucking Danza show or anything with either of the Camerons. The irony is that Danny Cooksey worked more than the three main kids did after it was over.

[quote] It sounds like Robert was just trying to make it a better show.

Than what, [italic]My Mother The Car[/italic]? [italic]It’s About Time[/italic]? [italic]The Ugliest Girl in Town[/italic]? [italic]The Pruitts of Southampton[/italic]? [italic]Our Man Higgins[/italic]? [italic]Grindl[/italic]? [italic]OK Crackerby[/italic]? [italic]Camp Runamuck[/italic]? [italic] Compared to those outright bombs, [italic]The Brady Bunch[/italic] has earned the right to call itself classic TV.

by Anonymousreply 113December 8, 2019 3:01 PM

[quote] America in the late 1960s was enchanted with the idea of the Beardsleys, a blended family with 18 kids. The memoir the mom wrote ("Who Gets the Drumstick?") also inspired the movie "Yours, Mine and Ours." But all was not what it seemed behind the picturesque picket fence.

That movie combined with all the Manson family shit is why LucyMAME happened.

by Anonymousreply 114December 8, 2019 3:03 PM

Speaking of which, Angela Lansbury’s brother Bruce is connected to this show by having been an executive at Paramount Television (née Desilu) big enough to warrant being in the credits during its later years.

by Anonymousreply 115December 8, 2019 3:04 PM

[quote]r84 It sounds like Robert was just trying to make it a better show.

[quote]r113 Than what, My Mother The Car?

I want a show about a single mom hooker in the 70s, called [italic]My Mother the Puddle.

by Anonymousreply 116December 8, 2019 3:08 PM

The real 1970s gave us this only five years after [italic]Brady[/italic] was cancelled:

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by Anonymousreply 117December 8, 2019 3:13 PM

Did Reed and Henderson get residuals from syndication? Didn't Reed reconcile with his daughter before he died? Also I wonder what his elderly mother said to him in an argument that made him throw her out of his house and refuse to ever speak to her again.

by Anonymousreply 118December 8, 2019 3:23 PM

They signed very basic (not very lucrative) contracts for the show. If a show lasts 5 seasons then its a candidate for syndication. If it runs longer stars could start getting better contract terms. I doubt that they got anything beyond the initial syndication sales and even then they probably didn't get much.

As for Frawley, he became uninsurable during the last b&w season of My Three Sons, so I assume he had multiple chronic ailments, which is not unusual for someone in their late 70s. He did a walk-on on the Lucy Show shortly after which was his last credit. Sadly, that meant that we were stuck with the execrable William Demerest, but that's another thread. Frawley probably needed nursing care on at least a part-time basis.

BTW, he died in Hollywood, not NYC and his marriage lasted 13 years to someone who was his vaudeville partner.

by Anonymousreply 119December 8, 2019 3:43 PM

TV critics have made some bad calls before. Tom Shales was more than happy to send [italic]WKRP in Cincinnati[/italic] ("cease transmission"), [italic]The Facts of Life[/italic] ("worthless and barren"), and [italic]Gimme A Break![/italic] (he suggested NBC's Rockefeller Center headquarters might better serve the public as condos) to early graves but the public overruled him. The widespread adulation for [italic]The Cosby Show[/italic] from any quarters is indefensible on any level, even when pleading ignorance of his crimes. But Shales was right in his bad review of [italic]F(r)iends[/italic], which he detested and rightly called its producers "panderers." The one time America should have taken his advice, you ignored it.

by Anonymousreply 120December 8, 2019 3:48 PM

R120, Tom Shales is a prime example of a TV critic who is a lonely, fat, ugly male who can't get laid. His bitterness about everything permeated his reviews.

by Anonymousreply 121December 8, 2019 3:52 PM

Yet he's still alive and Roger Ebert is dead. Explain that.

by Anonymousreply 122December 8, 2019 3:53 PM

Professional critics can't get laid. That's why they do what they do.

by Anonymousreply 123December 8, 2019 3:56 PM

Ebert married a black woman. Shales never had a woman. Or a man. Explains everything.

by Anonymousreply 124December 8, 2019 4:11 PM

R81/R84 My sentiments exactly. Would they've called him a diva if he wasn't gay?

by Anonymousreply 125December 8, 2019 4:16 PM

R81/R84 My sentiments exactly. Would they've called him a diva if he wasn't gay?

by Anonymousreply 126December 8, 2019 4:16 PM

[quote]Gene Hackman was up for the role of Mike Brady, and IIRC he got it but turned it down.

If Robert Reed had a problem with the scripts, Gene would have slapped Sherwood Schwartz just like he slapped Denzel Washington in [italic]Crimson Tide[/italic].

GENE: You cost me an Oscar, you tasteless Jewish hack!

SHERWOOD: You're the one whose name has the word "hack" in it!

by Anonymousreply 127December 8, 2019 4:16 PM

Fun Fact: Robert Reed did not die from AIDS. The cause of death was actually colon cancer. He was HIV positive at the time of his death, but it hadn't become AIDS yet.

by Anonymousreply 128December 8, 2019 4:17 PM

Tom Shales, talentless talking wall of fat.

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by Anonymousreply 129December 8, 2019 4:19 PM

That still didn't stop the tabloids from pushing misleading and vaguely schadenfreude-ish "Brady Dad Dies of AIDS" headlines. I still remember Barry Williams choking back tears when discussing the subject on a late 1990s "Sitcom Scandals" TV special on FOX. It was almost as if he was talking about his own Dad dying. That's why this show has lasted as long as it has while countless other shows since then have been forgotten.

by Anonymousreply 130December 8, 2019 4:21 PM

If he had issues with [italic]Gimme A Break![/italic], he could have settled them by sumo wrestling half the cast.

by Anonymousreply 131December 8, 2019 4:22 PM

[quote]r130 I still remember Barry Williams choking back tears when discussing the subject on a late 1990s "Sitcom Scandals" TV special

But from Susan fuckin' Dey, nothing.

by Anonymousreply 132December 8, 2019 4:32 PM

Her co-stars hadn't started kicking the bucket yet.

by Anonymousreply 133December 8, 2019 4:33 PM

[quote]Tom Shales, talentless talking wall of fat.

Who still got paid very well.

by Anonymousreply 134December 8, 2019 4:35 PM

Mike Brady was OK. A nice, quiet neighbor who gave awesome head.

by Anonymousreply 135December 8, 2019 4:35 PM

[quote]r113 Her co-stars hadn't started kicking the bucket yet.

Sacrilegious [italic]ignorance!

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by Anonymousreply 136December 8, 2019 4:38 PM

I always wonder what type of buildings did Mike Brady designed? He was occasionally shown at his drafting table.

by Anonymousreply 137December 8, 2019 4:46 PM

^^*buildings Mike Brady designed?

by Anonymousreply 138December 8, 2019 4:47 PM

R137, sex dungeons.

by Anonymousreply 139December 8, 2019 4:47 PM

R119, Frawley did not have multiple ailments, he was an alcoholic for years, including his time on "I Love Lucy". His contract for the show stated he would be fired immediately if he missed one day of work due to alcoholism. He never did. If you watch carefully, you'll see his hands in tremor due to alcohol abuse. He died just after his 79th birthday. His death certificate states he didn't have any health problems other than the heart attack he suffered on his walk home from the theatre to his apartment in a hotel. After he was fired from "My Three Sons" he visited the set often until he was banned. Desi was an alcoholic; he was close to his friend. I sense more to the story. A man who divorced at 39, lived with his mother, never had children, didn't have girlfriends. Doesn't require a genius.

by Anonymousreply 140December 8, 2019 4:49 PM

Here's to the Bradys,

The Bradys who bunch…

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by Anonymousreply 141December 8, 2019 4:53 PM

I found the first two seasons of Gimme A Break! pretty awful. I enjoyed the later ones (before they moved to NY).

by Anonymousreply 142December 8, 2019 5:05 PM

If NBC had any interest in saving that show, they would have brought back Nell's sister instead of shoehorning Rosie O'Donnell into it.

by Anonymousreply 143December 8, 2019 5:09 PM

R143 I don't remember Rosie, so I don't remember watching. Was Nell's sister the girl who was in Tony Orlando and Dawn and on that show with Urkel?

by Anonymousreply 144December 8, 2019 5:21 PM

[quote]BTW, he died in Hollywood, not NYC and his marriage lasted 13 years to someone who was his vaudeville partner.

He was married to Barney Kurtz? Who knew Fred was such a gay marriage pioneer!

by Anonymousreply 145December 8, 2019 5:24 PM

[quote]vocal chords

Oh, dear.

by Anonymousreply 146December 8, 2019 5:24 PM

Robert Reed had been the co-star of a fairly successful "serious" drama series, "The Defenders," prior to TBB (Four seasons, and more episodes than TBB--132 vs. 117, and on a more prestigious network--CBS vs. ABC.) So it was something of a comedown for him to appear in this sitcom fluff. I was somewhat surprised when he popped up on that show after having been in a serious role for so long.

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by Anonymousreply 147December 8, 2019 5:28 PM

[quote] I found the first two seasons of Gimme A Break! pretty awful. I enjoyed the later ones (before they moved to NY).

1981, the same year [italic]Gimme A Break![/italic] premiered, the year Fred Silverman resigned and Brandon Tartikoff, was the same year NBC gave us [italic]The Brady Brides[/italic] a few months earlier to make up for Eve Plumb being left out of the Variety Hour when she chose to do a Burger Chef commercial instead. They canceled that but gave Sherwood Schwartz's other show, [italic]Harper Valley PTA[/italic] with Barbara Eden and Fannie Flagg, a second chance. IIRC, they fired Schwartz from the show in season 2 but it still bombed anyway.

There was also a Writers' Guild strike that year after there had been a Screen Actors' Guild the year before it. That's why so many shows at that particular time period either came and went or needed time to get off the ground.

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by Anonymousreply 148December 8, 2019 5:31 PM

Tartikoff took his place, I mean.

by Anonymousreply 149December 8, 2019 5:31 PM

[quote] I was somewhat surprised when he popped up on that show after having been in a serious role for so long.

I imagine he wanted to stretch his wings. He probably thought that if Henry Fonda could do "Yours, Mine And Ours" he could do TBB. I imagine he was hoping for a more sophisticated comedy. And if he didn't realize what had been done on Gilligan's island, he should have realized that when they hired Ann B. Davis that they were going to go with slapstick rather than a more serious adult comedy.

by Anonymousreply 150December 8, 2019 5:34 PM

Sherwood Schwartz tried to make it sound like it had more sociological importance than it actually did.

by Anonymousreply 151December 8, 2019 5:37 PM

He made an appearance on Love American Style as a horny straight swinger. It was the gayest performance I've ever witnessed.

by Anonymousreply 152December 8, 2019 5:40 PM

[quote] He made an appearance on Love American Style as a horny straight swinger. It was the gayest performance I've ever witnessed.

Then you must never have watched [italic]Small Wonder[/italic]. Dick Christie made Robert Reed look like Mr. T.

by Anonymousreply 153December 8, 2019 5:41 PM

Mike Brady: a diva after my own heart.

by Anonymousreply 154December 8, 2019 5:42 PM

His memos to the writers could be Datalounge posts. This is not word salad, this is a whole three-course dinner.

by Anonymousreply 155December 8, 2019 5:43 PM

R152 LOL! Thanks for my giant laugh of the day!

R155 oh no, not the damned dreaded word salad again. Please obtain some new vocabulary. And please stop lying to youngsters. Things do NOT get better!

by Anonymousreply 156December 8, 2019 5:49 PM

"Mike Brady was no strawberry sniffer."

...and I'm the dame who can prove it!

by Anonymousreply 157December 8, 2019 6:27 PM

[quote] ...and I'm the dame who can prove it! —Neely

You can't even prove your own son's heterosexuality, R157.

by Anonymousreply 158December 8, 2019 6:36 PM

You people are ridiculous SJWs with that homophobia accusation. The man was so difficult that he was written out of episodes including the show finale. The patriarch of a 1960s show being written out of episodes of such a placid show was a very big deal. The man must have been a cunt of the highest order. Saying so is just stating self evident fact.

by Anonymousreply 159December 8, 2019 7:00 PM

The solution to that: write better scripts.

by Anonymousreply 160December 8, 2019 7:02 PM

[quote]The man was so difficult that he was written out of episodes including the show finale.

At the time it happened, no one knew it would be the finale.

by Anonymousreply 161December 8, 2019 7:18 PM

Robert Reed did an episode of Wonder Woman, where he was a spy carrying the bubonic plague and WW had to stop him before he infected everybody in Washington DC.

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by Anonymousreply 162December 8, 2019 7:21 PM

[quote]how does collapsing on a sidewalk determine one’s sexual orientation?

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by Anonymousreply 163December 8, 2019 7:21 PM

R161 he was fired before they filmed the episode and escorted off the lot by security

by Anonymousreply 164December 8, 2019 7:39 PM

R119: Death certificates are notoriously useless and unreliable, esp. those issued before the requirement that they include contributing factors to the cause of death (which is fairly recent--like the last 20 years)---his alcoholism might get included now. OTOH, having had a family member die in LA County, I got the impression that coroner's office was incompetent. They did an "investigation of the death that was full of howlers, like the deceased siblings being dead, although at least one was interviewed by the county; they also did not include contributing causes.

Frawley was uninsurable which suggests multiple things going on. Whether he lurked on the set after he was dropped is irrelevant.

by Anonymousreply 165December 8, 2019 7:41 PM

Reed was under contract I believe to Paramount. They wanted Gene Hackman first, fresh off an Oscar nom, but thought he wasn’t a enough of a name believe it or not. Hackman would’ve turned it down anyway I think with a blossoming film career. It was probably a pay or play type contract, so he was forced to do BB. Reed and Schwartz truly despised one another. Schwartz didn’t even attend Reeds funeral.

by Anonymousreply 166December 8, 2019 7:51 PM

He was in [italic]Barefoot in the Park[/italic] on Broadway in the role Robert Redford played in the 1967 movie version, which also had Herb Edelman, who played the guy who ran against Mike Brady for office in the 1990 dramatic reboot [italic]The Bradys[/italic].

Reed thought he was going to do the TV version of the play, but they held that back until after [italic]Brady Bunch[/italic] had already been on a year … to do it with a black couple! It flopped despite being on between [italic]Bewitched[/italic] and [italic]The Odd Couple[/italic].

by Anonymousreply 167December 8, 2019 7:59 PM

There are so many videos on youtube at Westwood Village Memorial cemetery showing Bettie Page's gravestone, not mentioning that Allen Melvin "Sam the Butcher" is buried next to her.

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by Anonymousreply 168December 8, 2019 8:16 PM

Fun Fact: The Brady kids are contracted to be buried in same positions of their show's opening credits. Robert and Florence balked that minors could be treated that way. Schwartz was evil!

by Anonymousreply 169December 8, 2019 8:21 PM

He was a mensch compared to Thomas Miller and Robert Boyett.

by Anonymousreply 170December 8, 2019 8:23 PM

"Tom Shales was more than happy to send WKRP in Cincinnati ("cease transmission"), The Facts of Life ("worthless and barren"), and Gimme A Break! (he suggested NBC's Rockefeller Center headquarters might better serve the public as condos) to early graves but the public overruled him."

Well, fuck the public then, because all of those shows sucked. As for Tom Shales, I always liked reading his reviews, which were very entertaining. And he was right most of the time.

by Anonymousreply 171December 8, 2019 8:35 PM

Anti trans rhetoric LITERALLY kills!

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by Anonymousreply 172December 8, 2019 9:31 PM

According to an item at CDAN, someone who sounds like Frawley was into diaper play.

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by Anonymousreply 173December 8, 2019 10:12 PM

[quote]r167 He was in Barefoot in the Park on Broadway in the role Robert Redford played in the 1967 movie version

Christina Crawford did the tour of that play. Judging by her icy expression, it doesn't appear costar Joan Bennet cared for dear Tina much.

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by Anonymousreply 174December 8, 2019 10:26 PM

[quote]r168 There are so many videos showing Bettie Page's gravestone, not mentioning that Allen Melvin "Sam the Butcher" is buried next to her.

Bettie Page was a delight. It's to bad her life spiraled into a series of Frances Farmer-like institutionalizations.

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by Anonymousreply 175December 8, 2019 10:38 PM

"Judging by her icy expression, it doesn't appear costar Joan Bennet cared for dear Tina much."

Joan Bennett ALWAYS had "an icy expression." It had nothing to do with "dear Tina."

by Anonymousreply 176December 8, 2019 10:39 PM

Joan Bennet is good in SCARLET STREET (which she coproduced) and FATHER OF THE BRIDE.

It's strange that for a major star, she doesn't have many films that have endured. But I guess there were a lot of stars from all eras that the public liked even if their films weren't all that great, in the long run.

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by Anonymousreply 177December 8, 2019 10:49 PM

Okay, enough about Joan Bennett's resting bitch face!

More about ME!

by Anonymousreply 178December 8, 2019 11:18 PM

[quote] it doesn't appear costar Joan Bennet cared for dear Tina much.

For reasons that are well known to her.

by Anonymousreply 179December 8, 2019 11:39 PM

R143, the kicker is when we first see Nell's mother in NY, she mentions she moved there with Nell's sister, but we never see her. Talk about a golden missed opportunity. They could've focused on Nell's family instead and had them as supporting characters instead of Rosie and that awful landlord.

by Anonymousreply 180December 9, 2019 12:47 AM

R12, you're not wrong. It's a sample of one, but he hit on my husband way back when, and he's black. But he started falling down drunk, and my man helped him get piled into a cab.

by Anonymousreply 181December 9, 2019 12:59 AM

Maybe ... he liked ALL TYPES OF MEN.

by Anonymousreply 182December 9, 2019 1:04 AM

I saw him walking up 8th Av when he was doing Doubles. He looked wretched.

He replaced Redford on Broadway in Barefoot. Or did he replace Tony Roberts who replaced Redford?

by Anonymousreply 183December 9, 2019 1:20 AM

Remember when he played a transgender woman on "Medical Center?" At the end of the show he was in full drag (he was transitioning into being a woman) and looked ridiculous. He looked like a man dressed and made up like a woman. But I guess it was plausible; I've seen a lot of photos today of transgender women who look like men dressed and made up to resemble a woman.

In some tv movie he played an obscene phone caller. He also played a warden in another one who raped a young girl. I think he was really trying to get away from Mike Brady as much as possible.

by Anonymousreply 184December 9, 2019 1:32 AM

[quote]…I've seen a lot of photos today of transgender women who look like men dressed and made up to resemble a woman…

Look no further than Bruce "Caitlyn" Jenner.

by Anonymousreply 185December 9, 2019 1:46 AM

[quote] Look no further than Bruce "Caitlyn" Jenner.

Which is such a shame because Bruce was a beautiful man!

by Anonymousreply 186December 9, 2019 1:50 AM

[quote]Which was bad on his part because her contract required her to carry extra weight to appear older than Lucy.

That's an urban legend. Lucy O'Ball was on a talk show with Viv and Viv brought out a contract that Lucy had made as a joke and given her. It required her to do all sorts of things, like be fat, not funny and above all never dye her hair red.

by Anonymousreply 187December 9, 2019 2:55 AM

[quote] Remember when he played a transgender woman on "Medical Center?"

You mean, like the poster twelve posts before you already pointed out to everyone?

by Anonymousreply 188December 9, 2019 3:29 AM

I think it was a Very Special two-part episode worthy of two mentions.

by Anonymousreply 189December 9, 2019 3:33 AM

A Very Special....

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by Anonymousreply 190December 9, 2019 1:23 PM

He was one of a kind. That is for sure.

by Anonymousreply 191December 9, 2019 2:29 PM

Good Christ, Reed could have gone straight from that episode of Medical Center into playing Streisand's mother in The Mirror Has Two Faces.

by Anonymousreply 192December 9, 2019 6:53 PM

Poor Salome Jens. She always seemed to get the short end of the stick, didn't she?

by Anonymousreply 193December 9, 2019 8:24 PM

She was wonderful as The Founder in DS9. I guess she doesn't do Twitter, as I haven't seen anything from her about Rene.

by Anonymousreply 194December 9, 2019 9:56 PM

[quote] Good Christ, Reed could have gone straight

No, he couldn't. And believe me, I tried.

by Anonymousreply 195December 10, 2019 1:16 AM

Yes, Salome Jens could have been a breakout on Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman but was overshadowed by Mary Kay Place.

Then she was cast as Mary Campbell on Soap and fired after the unaired pilot.

She was fired from another big project IIRC — can't remember what that was, but that plus Soap made me think, damn, that woman has bad luck.

by Anonymousreply 196December 10, 2019 1:34 AM

Peter!

Marcia!

Dammit!

by Anonymousreply 197December 10, 2019 1:37 AM

I was curious so I looked at her Wiki page. I didn't know she was married to Ralph Meeker (1964-66).

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by Anonymousreply 198December 10, 2019 1:46 AM

I remember Roseanne did a bit about Robert Reed in her HBO special from the early 90s saying how he was a huge raging queen and would give a gay guy flirtatious look when scolding the kids. PeeeeeeEEEEEETTTTEEeeeerrr

by Anonymousreply 199December 10, 2019 3:59 AM

That doesn't sound very funny

by Anonymousreply 200December 10, 2019 4:06 AM

It was Rosanne, so of course it was hate-filled, homophobic, and devoid of humor.

by Anonymousreply 201December 10, 2019 5:24 AM

Quite honestly see more of Robert Reed as "Lieutenant Adam Tobias" on Mannix. Then again couldn't stand Brady Bunch so never watched.

Did not know until recently that Mr. Reed was HIV positive, and even though colon cancer was main cause of death his doctor listed HIV as a"significant conditions that contributed to death" . Seems rather harsh, especially in light of how private an "old school" person Mr. Reed was in life, suppose facts are facts.

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by Anonymousreply 202December 10, 2019 10:41 AM

In the late 80s - early 90s a death by AIDS was still considered a stigma so a more immediate cause of death would usually be listed on a a death certificate even if everyone realized that HIV infection was probably the underlying cause,

by Anonymousreply 203December 10, 2019 10:58 AM

Suppose that is correct, but again it was the advanced colon cancer that killed Mr. Reed, and more to point he wasn't suffering yet from AIDs, merely infected.

by Anonymousreply 204December 10, 2019 11:10 AM

[quote] It was Rosanne, so of course it was hate-filled, homophobic, and devoid of humor.

Like most so-called “comedy.”

by Anonymousreply 205December 10, 2019 11:14 AM

[quote] Quite honestly see more of Robert Reed as "Lieutenant Adam Tobias" on Mannix. Then again couldn't stand Brady Bunch so never watched.

My Dad hated this show, yet he liked [italic]Gilligan's Island[/italic]. Go figure.

by Anonymousreply 206December 10, 2019 11:41 AM

Far as 1970's private detectives go, like Mannix slightly better than Frank Cannon. Cannot see why or how Buddy Ebsen got a series, it simply stinks!

by Anonymousreply 207December 10, 2019 11:47 AM

Mr. Conrad's running scenes were quite painful to watch.

by Anonymousreply 208December 10, 2019 11:51 AM

R207

Yes, but you have to admit Frank Cannon handled himself pretty well for a big guy.

It's funny that he's always seen cooking or ending an episode talking about going to some fabulous restaurant.

by Anonymousreply 209December 10, 2019 11:54 AM

At least they didn't make his obesity part of the show's title like his later show.

by Anonymousreply 210December 10, 2019 11:54 AM

He had a body for radio.

by Anonymousreply 211December 10, 2019 11:56 AM

r207

Agreed

by Anonymousreply 212December 10, 2019 11:58 AM

r204

Though it's possible for HIV to kill you directly that is a very, very rare occurrence. You don't die of HIV. Something else kills you first

by Anonymousreply 213December 10, 2019 11:59 AM

William Conrad was the original Marshal Dillon on the radio version of Gunsmoke. Due partly to his great voice, the series was highly successful but when the producers took the series to TV, he wasn't considered for the lead due to his weight.

Allegedly the producers originally offered the TV part to John Wayne but he declined and suggested his friend James Arness instead. In reality, Wayne and Arness were friends, and Wayne may well have suggested him as Marshal Dillon But Wayne was a huge, major film star at the time, when big film stars did not take on TV leads. The producers probably did talk to Wayne but it is highly unlikely he would have considered sidelining his film career for TV at that time and the producers would have known that.

by Anonymousreply 214December 10, 2019 12:27 PM

[quote] Though it's possible for HIV to kill you directly that is a very, very rare occurrence. You don't die of HIV. Something else kills you first

When Danny Pintauro finally dies it will be from embarrassment.

by Anonymousreply 215December 10, 2019 1:59 PM

Sherwood Schmaltz.

by Anonymousreply 216December 10, 2019 4:41 PM

Alan Hale Jr campaigned hard for the part of Mr Brady but Sherwood said unless he lost 100 pounds he couldn't have it..

by Anonymousreply 217December 10, 2019 5:33 PM

And Rerun being fat made it easier for Gene Anthony Ray to have a career.

by Anonymousreply 218December 10, 2019 5:46 PM

All the ‘fat’ characters from old tv shows would be considered average today.

by Anonymousreply 219December 10, 2019 5:51 PM

Yeah, R219. I can't believe Rhoda Morgenstern was ever considered fat, even compared to Mary Richards who was practically a walking stick in a pantsuit.

by Anonymousreply 220December 10, 2019 5:56 PM

In 1980, Robert Reed was a replacement in the Broadway production of "Deathtrap" playing the gay (or, I guess, bisexual) playwright. He was succeeded by Farley Granger, who was playing the role when the show closed in 1982.

by Anonymousreply 221December 10, 2019 5:58 PM

Deathtrap played 1,793 performances...!

Robert Reed played it for about five months, and Farley Granger played it for about 15 months

by Anonymousreply 222December 10, 2019 6:06 PM

And don't I know it, r222!

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by Anonymousreply 223December 10, 2019 6:19 PM

[quote]I can't believe Rhoda Morgenstern was ever considered fat,

Was this really considered "fat" in the 70s? She was quite thin by modern standards.

Of course, back then we weren't a nation of beached whales like we are now.

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by Anonymousreply 224December 10, 2019 6:20 PM

The same industry that mocked him for starring in this show gave him an Emmy for emasculating himself. [italic]Family Guy[/italic] was right:

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by Anonymousreply 225December 10, 2019 6:26 PM

Emasculating himself? LOL. You sound weird.

by Anonymousreply 226December 10, 2019 6:28 PM

Rhoda mocked herself for being "fat", nobody else did. Well, maybe Phyllis.

by Anonymousreply 227December 10, 2019 6:34 PM

A lot of shows aimed at children in the 1970s and 1980s went to some surprisingly dark places with their stories. Marcia crying in the mirror and saying "I'm ugly, ugly, ugly!" is not something you expect from a sitcom.

by Anonymousreply 228December 10, 2019 6:40 PM

[quote]I can't believe Rhoda Morgenstern was ever considered fat, even compared to Mary Richards who was practically a walking stick in a pantsuit.

IIRC the producers didn't consider Valerie Harper fat. She could have stood to drop 10 pounds that first season, but she never looked fat. Then she lost weight and the producers rewrote the character to reflect that.

And Mary paid the price facially for her anorexia and alcoholism. You can see it starting in season 4. Necessitating (in her mind) the terrible facelifts.

I can't believe MTM drank like a fish, had diabetes (high blood sugar = body fat) and was still so skinny. She must have eaten nothing.

by Anonymousreply 229December 10, 2019 6:56 PM

And her variety show was an even bigger bomb than the Bradys' variety show!

by Anonymousreply 230December 10, 2019 6:58 PM

Yeah, Mary the variety show was scheduled between 60 Minutes and All in the Family and still bombed.

Yanked after three weeks. A true embarrassment.

by Anonymousreply 231December 10, 2019 7:04 PM

That's why I just did a single special.

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by Anonymousreply 232December 10, 2019 7:11 PM

The Bea Arthur Special was her own embarrassment: It was the lowest-rated show on TV the week it aired.

by Anonymousreply 233December 10, 2019 7:16 PM

Vivian Vance was never fat either.

by Anonymousreply 234December 10, 2019 7:16 PM

[quote] The Bea Arthur Special was her own embarrassment: It was the lowest-rated show on TV the week it aired.

So was the first episode of [italic]Cheers[/italic].

by Anonymousreply 235December 10, 2019 7:18 PM

That's not true, R235.

The first episode did OK. It was the lowest-rated show one week in November 1982.

by Anonymousreply 236December 10, 2019 7:25 PM

NBC was really in the dumper if they needed a rapist to pull them out of last place.

by Anonymousreply 237December 10, 2019 7:27 PM

A 🍷drunken GAY diva.

by Anonymousreply 238December 10, 2019 7:38 PM

I'd have fucked him. He had a nice body, as shown in the Hawaiian episode.

by Anonymousreply 239December 10, 2019 7:43 PM

Calling posters who are pointing out the homophobic undercurrent to the criticism of Robert Reed "SJWs" is, well, unjust. The man was an actor at a time when the knowledge of his sexuality would have spelled the end of his career. The conflict within himself, as Florence Henderson noted, must have been unbearable. That's tragic. Add to that the fact that series became ever more ridiculous as it went on in seasons. Has no one mentioned Cousin Oliver yet? I don't blame him for being a Diva. Plus, actors want variety after a time, but you also need a paycheck. He had a daughter from a failed marriage to support. Add that to the conflict within himself

As a kid who watched the show, I always found him hot, especially before the perm.

by Anonymousreply 240December 10, 2019 8:42 PM

[quote] Has no one mentioned Cousin Oliver yet?

Yes, every single time this show they mentioned. You didn't mention he was also on [italic]The Mary Tyler Moore Show[/italic].

by Anonymousreply 241December 10, 2019 8:45 PM

Years ago, a DLer claimed to have had sex with Reed.

by Anonymousreply 242December 10, 2019 9:06 PM

The perm was for me a total dick wilter. Even at the time he looked ridiculous. Very handsome before that.

To be gay when it was being starting to be openly talked about and at that point in time being the representation nationwide of the wholesome all American heterosexual father knowing you could be outed at any moment could poison every moment of your life. No wonder he was such an inexplicable pain in the ass on an idiotic show. It would have been like Bob Denver refusing to do a scene on Gilligan's Island complaining that Natalie Schafer was wearing a new outfit she would have never brought on a 3 hour tour.

by Anonymousreply 243December 10, 2019 9:58 PM

I thought it's been established that it wasn't a perm.

by Anonymousreply 244December 10, 2019 10:00 PM

More like what happens when hair products react to the smog on the commute between Pasadena and Hollywood.

by Anonymousreply 245December 10, 2019 10:02 PM

I thought it was the Hawaiian humidity and they just ended up keeping it natural.

by Anonymousreply 246December 10, 2019 10:06 PM

He didn't get a perm. He had naturally curly hair and he just stopped straightening it

by Anonymousreply 247December 10, 2019 10:06 PM

And after Rhoda spun off on her own and slimmed down, Brenda became the "fat" one, although she was hardly chunky, let alone fat.

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by Anonymousreply 248December 11, 2019 12:14 AM

In season 4, both Rhoda and Brenda got eating disorders, and Brenda grew her hair out and became "hot."

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by Anonymousreply 249December 11, 2019 1:01 AM

On "Rhoda" Brenda lost some weight and then was considered "hot". She had TWO boyfriends; Richard Masur and Raymond Butencika. But I remember one show where she fell madly in love with Tim Matheson (it didn't pan out). But I always thought Julie Kavner always looked the same on that show, that is, funny looking. I remember a funny line from the show: recounting on how people would comment on her and Rhoda's weight problems: "They always said "What a shame, Rhoda has such a pretty face. With me they just said "What a shame."

by Anonymousreply 250December 11, 2019 1:24 AM

Now you understand why this show has lasted so long: it was the last family sitcom out of the gate before the parallel sitcom revolutions of MTM and Tandem/TAT/Embassy, yet it, too, still reflected the changing times in subtle ways. They had more black, Asian, and Latino ancillary characters than prior shows like it, and never was this a point of issue for the main characters.

by Anonymousreply 251December 11, 2019 11:55 AM

^^And a live-in housekeeper who was a stone cold bulldyke. Never an issue.

by Anonymousreply 252December 11, 2019 2:08 PM

[quote]I thought it's been established that it wasn't a perm.

Reed claims it wasn't but his curls were all the same size. You don't get that naturally..

Compare Reed's hair to Chris Knight or Barry Williams and you can see their hair was wild and frizzy all over the place. That is the difference

by Anonymousreply 253December 11, 2019 2:34 PM

They were also quite a bit younger than he was, R253.

by Anonymousreply 254December 11, 2019 2:35 PM

Rhoda was never supposed to be fat, her character was supposed to be zoftig. Which is curvy

Rhoda was the last major character cast (for the original) and they just got her in. Once cast, it was realized she wasn't physically wh. at they envision. Rhoda was pretty, but the writers thought it would be better to leave it and instead of making Rhoda fat and ugly, make Rhoda think she was fat and ugly when she wasn't.

I can't recall even Phyllis saying Rhoda was fat. Phyllis just though Rhoda was a pushy, unclassy broad.

by Anonymousreply 255December 11, 2019 2:37 PM

r254

Look at the reunions, Reeds curls are still perfectly styled, no one else's are. Even people like Justin Timberlake with massive tight curls aren't that perfect.

by Anonymousreply 256December 11, 2019 2:38 PM

[quote]Phyllis just though Rhoda was a pushy, unclassy broad.

At least I was honest about it.

by Anonymousreply 257December 11, 2019 2:40 PM

Robert Reed was yummy.

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by Anonymousreply 258December 11, 2019 2:57 PM

Thank you for that photo R258. Robert Reed was gorgeous. He was around 40 at the time.

by Anonymousreply 259December 11, 2019 5:22 PM

Ann B. Davis dated a military officer...a colonel IIRC.

by Anonymousreply 260December 11, 2019 8:53 PM

I thought I saw a biography about him on TV and even in his younger years he didn't seem to have that perm looking curly hair.

by Anonymousreply 261December 11, 2019 9:10 PM

He did have curly hair

by Anonymousreply 262December 11, 2019 9:17 PM

Anyone know if he was packing?

by Anonymousreply 263December 11, 2019 9:18 PM

[quote] Anyone know if he was packing?

Yes.

by Anonymousreply 264December 11, 2019 10:05 PM

Alex I'll take permanent wave for $100......

Mr. Robert Reed may have had thick/wavy hair in his youth or whatever, but it in now way resembled that mass of ringlets seen later in life. It was a perm, and everyone from Barbara Streisand on down was rocking that look

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by Anonymousreply 265December 11, 2019 10:45 PM

Man perms were everywhere in 1970's, some guys rocked the look, others really should have walked away.

By the 1980's even African American men were getting in on the action thanks to Jheri Curls.

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by Anonymousreply 266December 11, 2019 10:48 PM

Mind you on some guys a perm really worked well; Kevin Keegan comes to mind.

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by Anonymousreply 267December 11, 2019 10:52 PM

Worst. Man. Perm. Ever.

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by Anonymousreply 268December 11, 2019 10:53 PM

Worst. Man. Perm. Ever.

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by Anonymousreply 269December 11, 2019 10:53 PM

Another picture of young Robert Reed, and you can see he has thick wavy hair, but like many boys/men back the he seems to used some sort of "greasy kid's stuff" or maybe Brylcreem (or similar product) to control his hair and sculpt things into a slick hairdo.

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by Anonymousreply 270December 11, 2019 11:03 PM

Poor Robert Reed, a Shakespearean actor reduced to doing television. Oh the horrors!

Miss. Mary should have gotten over it instead of hitting the bottle. Then and now many classically trained actors do television; heck once studio system ended or otherwise film roles dried up many were glad of a chance to act and get a paycheck from television. In UK nearly all actors then and today are classically trained/Shakespearean and they move from television, films, commercials, and stage.

The late Maurice Evans ( Samantha's father on Bewitched) was glad of that role since he really needed income.

IIRC there was at least one actor who starred in a television series who quit, left Hollywood and went back to "the theater" in NYC because he felt the series was beneath his talents.

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by Anonymousreply 271December 11, 2019 11:31 PM

Any of you bitches would be drunk on set every single day if you had Wessonality pawing at you during the breaks making lewd suggestions.

by Anonymousreply 272December 11, 2019 11:47 PM

Speaking of Maurice Evans...wasn't he a huge chickenhawk?

by Anonymousreply 273December 11, 2019 11:52 PM

R271, good points. But Maurice Evans was past his prime and was only in a handful of episodes. And don't forget Laurence Olivier in "A Little Romance"...not exactly the high point of his career.

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by Anonymousreply 274December 12, 2019 12:30 AM

A Little Romance wasn't even the worst thing Olivier did....that honor would go to The Jazz Singer

by Anonymousreply 275December 12, 2019 1:18 AM

[quote]A Little Romance wasn't even the worst thing Olivier did....that honor would go to The Jazz Singer

"The Betsy," based on a Harold Robbins novel and featuring "Dynasty's" Kirby, Kathleen Beller, wasn't exactly "Wuthering Heights," either.

by Anonymousreply 276December 12, 2019 1:46 AM

Inchon was also terrible

by Anonymousreply 277December 12, 2019 1:48 AM

During a production of something or other at the Showboat Dinner Theater in Clearwater Florida in the 1985, Reed would venture across the bay to the Club Tampa Bathhouse and partake of whatever. I know this because I was an employee there in 1991 and they had his entry card framed just to the left of the window as a souvenir.

Found the show.

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by Anonymousreply 278December 12, 2019 2:06 AM

Reed & Henderson with their real daughters alongside their TV daughters.

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by Anonymousreply 279December 12, 2019 2:13 AM

Robert Reed didn't object to doing television--as mentioned above, he was the co-star of a long-running, prestigious TV drama before TBB. He objected to the QUALITY of the work he was getting--not the medium.

by Anonymousreply 280December 12, 2019 2:28 AM

I hope somebody gave this kid a pencil, because there was dialin' to do!

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by Anonymousreply 281December 12, 2019 3:02 AM

Thick wavy hair does not look like a perm.

by Anonymousreply 282December 12, 2019 3:09 AM

[quote]By the 1980's even African American men were getting in on the action thanks to Jheri Curls.

Bitch, please. Perms and relaxers make black hair straight. Jheri Curls were big because of people like Michael Jackson and his brothers and Ray Parker Jr., who helped to popularize the look, and none of them were trying to mimic Mike Brady or Tom Hanks (who has naturally curly hair, btw).

by Anonymousreply 283December 12, 2019 3:22 AM

You can almost see Alice's snatch in that Hawaii pic.

by Anonymousreply 284December 12, 2019 4:06 AM

R280, he didn't do any complaining about that high quality Brady Bunch Variety Hour.

by Anonymousreply 285December 12, 2019 4:13 AM

Great thread. I also have never heard a bad thing about him from anyone (SS aside, but they obviously had their issues). Even the Trumpster right wing cunt who played Cindy is very respectful regarding him.

Kind of off topic, but it is still hard to believe Florence is dead. She looked fucking fabulous right until the end. When I get the eldergay insomnia fits, I try to dig up reruns of her talk show on one of the mesothelioma channels. Some are on YouTube It was so underrated . Guests like Lanie Kazan, Tippi Hedren, Carl (and Rob) Reiner, Joan Collins, blah, blah. I'm rambling. I should pop an Ambien and go watch me some Flo.

More stories and pictures please!

by Anonymousreply 286December 12, 2019 4:50 AM

Speaking of AIDS...

Anyone catch the joke in the 1995 movie when Alice tells Mr. Brady, "Don't bend over Mr. Brady!"

by Anonymousreply 287December 12, 2019 4:52 AM

from "Reality Bites" (1994):

Lelaina : I just don't understand why things just can't go back to normal at the end of the half hour like on the Brady Bunch or something.

Troy Dyer : Well, 'cause Mr. Brady died of AIDS. Things don't turn out like that.

by Anonymousreply 288December 12, 2019 4:55 AM

Ugh, you're a jerk

by Anonymousreply 289December 12, 2019 4:56 AM

R282

Obviously reading comprehension isn't one of your strong suits.

No one said blacks were imitating Robert Reed or anyone one else with Jheri curls; but fact that process allowed AA hair to get "permanent waves" or curls if you like.

Everyone knows relaxers, hot combs and other methods for straightening curly hair (including kinky AA hair) have been around for ages; but few if any chemical processes gave AA people with kinky hair access to perms that produced curls. That is what Jheri Redding's process offered. Prior to this it was often a two step process. Relax hair with chemicals, then set with rollers or whatever to achieve curls. Or press with hot comb (or if grade of hair allowed simply straighten via blow drying), then use either Marcel or electric curling iron.

That being said when you get right down to it all forms of hair straightening, relaxers, perms, weaves, etc... are all basically things that allow African Americans with kinky hair to have "good" white/European looking or whatever instead.

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by Anonymousreply 290December 12, 2019 5:05 AM

R272

Late Maurice Evans was "gay as pink ink"......

He also had a predilection for young male flesh.

"All his life Evans had a predilection for young male flesh. An oft-repeated anecdote is that his friend, business manager and former lover David "Taffy" Barlow made Maurice's last days all the more comfortable by hiring teenaged boys to strip off and lie on the bed next to him; this quite shocked some of his deathbed visitors"

Bewitched is jokingly called one of the gayest sitcoms of the time with (closeted) gay men Dick Sargent, Maurice Evans and Paul Lynde as part of cast. Jury is still out on George Tobias ( Abner Kravitz). Rumors and or nasty gossip about Agnes Moorehead are just that.

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by Anonymousreply 291December 12, 2019 5:14 AM

R273

Of course Maurice Evans was "past his prime" that is or was point. Older actors like himself often needed work and took what they could get to not only practice their craft, but to earn money.

That a once highly regarded Shakespearean actor like Mr. Evans was hamming it up as "Daddy/Father" on Bewitched is no different really than dozens or scores of other once great actors of stage or (studio system) film days; they needed money.

Sitcoms unlike episode television was a bit more regular, at least an actor got a set number per season, with possibilities for maybe the character to grow. Which did happen with Maurice Evans, Paul Lynde on Bewitched. Between Dick York's illness/absences and other later issues focus broadened to include more of Sam's family. Endora being written out of many episodes in last few seasons (at Agnes Moorehead's request as she wanted time off to do other work), left another gap that needed filling.

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by Anonymousreply 292December 12, 2019 5:30 AM

You mentioned [italic]Bewitched[/italic] yet you don’t mention a very young Maureen McCormick being on that show as Young Endora turning Darrin into a “werewoof.”

by Anonymousreply 293December 12, 2019 10:33 AM

I liked when Reed was on "Family Affair" and played a total asshole.

The script goes like this

Uncle Bill) Who is this?

Cissy) This is my college professor

Reed) Say anything be yourself

by Anonymousreply 294December 12, 2019 11:13 AM

[quote]You can almost see Alice's snatch in that Hawaii pic.

That sentence triggered me.

by Anonymousreply 295December 12, 2019 2:44 PM

Robert Reed also popped up on a 1959 episode of "Father Knows Best."

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by Anonymousreply 296December 12, 2019 2:45 PM

We need to go back to the days of real men like Robert Reed, Rock Hudson, and Tab Hunter.

by Anonymousreply 297December 12, 2019 2:57 PM

[quote] Bewitched is jokingly called one of the gayest sitcoms of the time with (closeted) gay men Dick Sargent, Maurice Evans and Paul Lynde as part of cast. Jury is still out on George Tobias ( Abner Kravitz). Rumors and or nasty gossip about Agnes Moorehead are just that.

R291, I don't want to hijack this thread, but for me "Bewitched" was gay, because Sam was like a closeted gay man at the time...always having to hide who she really was, pretend to fit it, and amongst a chosen few (her family and others with like secrets) be this fabulous true self looking at the "normative" world (the mortals) with a mixture of bemusement and disdain. It was my favorite show as a kid. I remember "The Brady Bunch" and "The Partridge Family" in primetime, but I lived for the days when I was home from school and I could watch "Bewitched" in syndication as reruns.

And thank you, R292. what a ham Maurice Evans was. It's great to see Endora with that blue eyeliner and mascara! Sam looked beautiful. Always loved her heart pendant.

by Anonymousreply 298December 12, 2019 3:14 PM

Ttttt

by Anonymousreply 299December 12, 2019 4:04 PM

Moorehead (I don't believe) did not consider Bewitched slumming. She was without question one of America's greatest actors(even giving a huge hammy performance every once in a while.) She is beyond praise in The Magnificent Ambersons. One of the all time great performances in a film. And she's unabashedly delightful in the sitcom. A job's a job.

by Anonymousreply 300December 12, 2019 6:42 PM

They don't make homosexuals like him anymore, R298.

by Anonymousreply 301December 12, 2019 7:41 PM

It was better that you didn't go.

They would have sensed your lack of enthusiasm, and it would have been a waste of your time.

Chin up, keep looking. But hurry up before the economy crashes.

by Anonymousreply 302December 12, 2019 8:03 PM

"Poor Robert Reed, a Shakespearean actor reduced to doing television. Oh the horrors!"

Sorrell Booke, who played Boss Hogg on "The Dukes of Hazzard (no doubt Robert Reed would have killed himself before working on THAT show", had done Shakespeare onstage. So did Jim Varney, also known as "Ernest P. Worrell", the dumb redneck seen in popular commercials, a kid's tv show, and popular films like "Ernest Goes To Camp" and "Ernest Scared Stupid." Neither one of those actors thought that the kind of work they did was beneath them; it was work and they did very well by it. Robert Reed was just a stuck up bitch.

by Anonymousreply 303December 13, 2019 1:19 AM

Oh FFS - he was just aiming for some reasonable plausibility; not demanding they turn it into Ibsen. You nasty old queens argue just like Trump.

by Anonymousreply 304December 13, 2019 1:28 AM

Yeah like having a showdown with a TV producer over the smell of cooking strawberries on a sitcom is in any way reasonable. Talk about a nasty old queen!

by Anonymousreply 305December 13, 2019 1:41 AM

R299

IIRC Agnes Moorehead like others involved never thought Bewitched would become hit series that it did; she singed up for original contract and things went from there. Ms. Moorehead was consumate professional no matter what role; she showed up, knew her lines, and was ready to give things her best.

Again no one ever said AM or others were "slumming", though am sure there were great actors of film and stage who felt some television work (depending upon content) wasn't up to their usual standards. But as have said, those appearances brought in money, and provided a chance to work. If Mary Astor had no problems with doing television, doubt there were that many others of similar stature who had issues.

by Anonymousreply 306December 13, 2019 1:52 AM

I remember, during the original run of "Batman," a well-known actor (I've long since forgotten who it was), in an interview, threw shade at Burgess Meredith, saying that he thought Meredith's role as the Penguin was beneath such a distinguished actor, and that he (whoever the hell it was) would never stoop to playing a guest villain on "Batman."

by Anonymousreply 307December 13, 2019 2:29 AM

I'd like to know what he thought of Burgess dancing naked in Such Good Friends. Wearing a penguin outfit was positively distinguished in comparison.

by Anonymousreply 308December 13, 2019 2:34 AM

As Ann Sothern said, "I like to act, more importantly, I like to shop. But I know how the business works and I can't sit around waiting for a role that probably won't come along."

by Anonymousreply 309December 13, 2019 8:05 PM

[quote] I remember, during the original run of "Batman," a well-known actor (I've long since forgotten who it was), in an interview, threw shade at Burgess Meredith, saying that he thought Meredith's role as the Penguin was beneath such a distinguished actor, and that he (whoever the hell it was) would never stoop to playing a guest villain on "Batman."

That was nothing compared to doing a sitcom with Sally Struthers.

by Anonymousreply 310December 13, 2019 9:13 PM

r309

She was a greedy bitch. When she talked about "My Mother The Car," she said, "I Love it, it's TV money for radio work."

by Anonymousreply 311December 14, 2019 4:32 PM

[quote]r304 Oh FFS - he was just aiming for some reasonable plausibility; not demanding they turn it into Ibsen. You nasty old queens argue just like Trump.

[bold]#Justice4MrBrady

by Anonymousreply 312December 14, 2019 5:03 PM

Reed very much wanted SHOCKING Ibsenite revisions to the "Doll's House" episode script, including Carol's leaving forever at the end and dramatically slamming the front door. But Both Henderson and Schwartz rejected the consciousness-raising and kept the focus on Kitty Karry All after all.

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by Anonymousreply 313December 14, 2019 5:18 PM

Reed was always patting the boys on the ass, supposedly playfully but now knowing his "inclinations," it's disturbing.

by Anonymousreply 314December 15, 2019 2:01 PM

Did he? I don't remember it.

None of the cast members have ever remarked on it having said nothing but good things about his fatherly attitude towards them. Had he slapped my ass I would have turned around and said Thank You!

by Anonymousreply 315December 15, 2019 2:51 PM

i wonder if "hank the tank" played by the one and only gorgeous and built denny miller was robert reed's type?...

by Anonymousreply 316December 15, 2019 3:04 PM

The Brady kids all speak affectionately about Reed.

by Anonymousreply 317December 15, 2019 3:48 PM

[quote]i wonder if "hank the tank" played by the one and only gorgeous and built denny miller was robert reed's type?...

From what I’ve heard he was more into thinks, but I’d be surprised if he didn’t give the hunky Miller a bit of a side glance.

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by Anonymousreply 318December 15, 2019 4:42 PM

*more into twinks

by Anonymousreply 319December 15, 2019 4:43 PM

[quote]i wonder if "hank the tank" played by the one and only gorgeous and built denny miller was robert reed's type?...

He did play gay on "Alice."

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by Anonymousreply 320December 15, 2019 5:04 PM

Denny Miller also played the Gorton's fisherman in the commercials. I wonder if he's ever been blown offshore...

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by Anonymousreply 321December 15, 2019 6:39 PM

No one has ever said Reed was handsy with the Brady boys except here on DL. Utter bullshit.

by Anonymousreply 322December 15, 2019 8:00 PM

R314

That is a low and disgusting remark even by DL standards, which is saying something.

by Anonymousreply 323December 15, 2019 8:41 PM

Even Trumpster Cindy liked him despite his secret life. Though he tried even Flo's patience.

by Anonymousreply 324December 15, 2019 10:17 PM

r322

WTF? Did you ever watch the show? You can see how many times, Reed slaps the ass of the boys. It's on the FUCKIN' show

by Anonymousreply 325December 17, 2019 10:59 PM

[quote]The Brady kids all speak affectionately about Reed

As opposed to the ??? they always speak badly of?

The actors that played the children don't speak ill of anyone.

They are smart enough to know this is the only way they will make money, to keep up the goodwill.

by Anonymousreply 326December 17, 2019 11:01 PM

They could have all not mentioned him. Even Henderson knew he was gay from one of their first rehearsals. Something was off the way he was treating her compared to the way other men got into scenes with her. He probably gave off all the heat of a block of wood. She also said he was a pill and treated his mother like shit. Clearly Flo had no fucks left to give.

by Anonymousreply 327December 18, 2019 1:33 AM

Henderson was a whore, who was always in everyone's pants. She thought anyone who didn't seem grateful for her harassment was a gay.

by Anonymousreply 328January 20, 2020 9:48 AM

Well she was right that time.

by Anonymousreply 329January 20, 2020 12:43 PM

yes, i believe henderson mentioned that she knew something was wrong or different with reed i believe when it came to any of the romance and kissing scenes?...and once she and reed talked about it, they were good with each other from then on...

interesting that reed no matter as a gay man AND a actor both found it that alarming and repulsive to kiss a attractive woman like henderson AND had a hard time 'acting" like he was a straight husband in love with his wife.

by Anonymousreply 330January 20, 2020 1:03 PM

Flo the 'ho'

by Anonymousreply 331January 20, 2020 1:07 PM

R320, I wonder if the writers of that "Alice" episode got the idea of a gay football player from the "All in the Family" episode where Mike tries to convince Archie that Archie's "All American" pal from the bar is gay. Vic Tayback's character Mel was an awful lot like Archie Bunker, and I can see him in disbelief at Denny Miller's character's sexuality.

It's a trope I've always liked...the "All American" type confounding straight people's (especially straight men's) expectations of masculinity. It would be nice, too, if we saw more acceptance of effeminate, gay men as another aspect of an expression of masculinity.

by Anonymousreply 332January 20, 2020 2:22 PM

Here's the long, critical memo Reed sent to Schwartz regarding what would become the Brady finale, from which Reed was excluded. It was the episode where Bobby uses hair tonic and his hair turns orange. Reed cites several reasons, from Shakespearean tradition to FDA drug approval, that this story could/should never happen.

Honestly, his ramblings sound like those of a college-aged stoner or someone on stimulants. Maybe it's just alcohol.

It's a long memo. Here's an except:

[quote]Once again, we are infused with the slapstick. The oldest boy’s hair turns bright orange in a twinkling of the writer’s eye, having been doused with a non-FDA-approved hair tonic. (Why any boy of Bobby’s age, or any age, would be investing in something as outmoded and unidentifiable as “hair tonic” remains to be explained. As any kid on the show could tell the writer, the old hair-tonic routine is right out of “Our Gang.” Let’s face it, we’re long since past the “little dab’ll do ya” era.)

[quote]Without belaboring the inequities of the script, which are varied and numerous, the major point to all this is: Once an actor has geared himself to play a given style with its prescribed level of belief, he cannot react to or accept within the same confines of the piece, a different style.

[quote]When the kid’s hair turns red, it is Batman in the operating room.

[quote]I can’t play it.

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by Anonymousreply 333January 20, 2020 7:05 PM
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