Famous gays: Robert Reed. (Dad in Brady Bunch)
PErthGUY:Mmv
His birth name was John Robert Rietz, and he played the father of the clan
for the entire run of The Brady Bunch, and every other incarnation it had.
Remember "The Bradys?" I think they dubbed it, "Bradysomething." It was
awful. Thing was, it could have been good, but everything that happened to
them was catastrophic, and summed up in one episode. I recall one episode
where they had to move the house because of some development being built.
Within the hour, the house was sawed in half and relocated. Heres what the
real house looks like today. It's on Klump and Dilling, in the valley.
Really close to where Robert Blake's wife was killed.
Reed found The Brady Bunch mildly offensive to a serious actor such as
himself. He had many arguments with the show's creator, Sherwood Schwartz,
regarding the "lame" scripts. Often he would leave the set in a huff and end
up in a bar near the Paramount lot, downing Scotch.
He opted to live in Pasadena, rather than the more posh Beverly Hills, or
Bel Air, and this is his house. Here are better views of the steps, and the
front door.
Reed had colon cancer for six months. He eventually checked in to the
Huntington Memorial Hospital, in Pasadena. On Tuesday night, May 12, 1992,
he succumbed to the cancer. He was 59 years old.
Read the Addendum
Enter Geraldo Rivera. On this media genius's talk show, Now It Can Be Told,
he revealed that Reed's death certificate stated that he was infected by the
HIV virus. The former Jerry Rivers managed to drag out a "confidante," a
bartender in Reed's local gay bar, and another "close friend," to dish the
dirt on the poor guy.
According to his death certificate, he died of cancer. He had the HIV
infection, but it did NOT contribute to his death.
Robert Reed's memorial service took place at All Saints Episcopal Church, in
Pasadena.
He was cremated, and taken back to Chicago by his daughter (yes, he was
married once in the 50's), and buried in Memorial Park Cemetery in Skokie,
Illinois.
Trivia: Sherwood Schwartz, the creator of this show, and of Gilligan's
Island originally wanted to cast Gene Hackman as Mike Brady. Ewww.
More: Reed got an Emmy nomination in 1975, for playing a transsexual in the
show, Medical Center. He was also in that FANTASTIC television film, Boy In
The Plastic Bubble. And who could forget Nurse, with Michael Learned? I met
Michael, and showed her a still of herself and Robert, on the set of Nurse.
She just said, "Aw, Robert," and stroked his face. I thought that was
really touching.
Even More: Eve Plumb, who played disturbed sister Jan, was once asked which
episode of the show was her favorite. Her reply? "The last one." I thought
that was pretty funny.
Here's a photo of a few of the Bradys and me, when I met them in Chicago a
couple of years back. They charged me 5 bucks to stand there for it.
There's Flo, Chris Knight, Barry Williams, Eve Plumb (with a drink) and
Susan Olsen. I'm not telling you why Ms. Henderson jammed her way in on that
side of me. I will say that a life long ambition was about to come to pass.
It didn't. Bitch.
Findadeath.com friend Clint Ford sends in: About Robert Reed, I watched a
Biography on his life, and Sherwood Schwartz was telling a story about Bob
from when he was on the original Brady set (and I'm paraphrasing Mr.
Schwartz's story, here):
"There was one episode where Alice and Carol were making some strawberry
desserts in the kitchen. The script called for Mike to walk in and say,
'Wow, it smells like Strawberry Heaven in here!'. Bob Reed looked over the
script on the set, and upon reading that line-- he quietly closed his script
book, went to his trailer, and locked the door. I knocked for ten minutes
before he opened up. Finally, when he did, I asked him what the problem was.
Bob said, 'What's the problem?? I'm supposed to say 'Wow, it smells like
Strawberry Heaven in here!!' I quipped back, 'Yeah, so?' Bob became furious.
'SO?? Sherwood, are you ignorant, or do you honestly not know that
Strawberries, when cooked, have NO aroma??' I told him that I, in fact, had
not known this-- and I begged him to shelve his pride about is, and just do
the damned scene. Finally, after hours, he agreed to do the scene. But Bob
had the last laugh. When we were finally rolling, and he entered the kitchen
as Mike Brady-- he changed the line, saying, 'Wow, I feel like I've died and
gone to Strawberry Heaven!' --and that's what we kept."
I didn't know that Reed was a kitchen queen. Thanks for sharing, Clint!
More from Findadeath.com friend Kevin Hassell: Here is some more info about
Robert Reed, taken from the book, "BRADYMANIA!" by Elizabeth Moran:
Florence Henderson recalled the time they were shooting a scene where Reed
was supposed to be getting stuff out of the refrigerator. The script called
for him to drop an egg and slip on it. Reed said that it was total nonsense,
and it would never work. Florence told him, "Before you shoot something
down, try it". So when Reed finally went through with the scene, he actually
dropped an egg and took a fall.
Ann B. Davis said of the incident: "I can add to that story, because Bob was
making rather a fuss! I swear, he hit the ground before the egg did! And,
once I found out if he was all right, that he didn't hurt himself, I said,
"Do you think you can play it now?" And he looked up and said, "You know,
all the way down I was thinking I deserved this!"
May 2002: An interesting personal note from a friend of Robert Reed's:
There's a massive amount of misunderstanding concerning the actual cause of
Robert's death. Even the IMDB website lists Robert's death as "AIDS related
complications". He was HIV positive but the chemo treatments he took at
Huntington Hospital would have seriously damaged his immune system also.
Robert's parents, Johnny and Helen Rietz, owned a small farm just outside of
Muskogee and Robert grew up here. He was frequently back here seeing about
his parents and helping out around the farm. In about 1970 Mr. Rietz
developed a serious asthma-like lung disorder. At that time Robert sold the
farm and his parents moved into his house in Pasadena.
From the mid-sixties to the mid-eighties Robert lived in a very large three
story brick house located at 1210 South Arroya Blvd. in Pasadena. Yes, it
was a mansion!
Mr. Rietz passed away 2 February, 1975. Mrs. Rietz returned to Oklahoma to
live during the early eighties.
In the mid-eighties Robert sold the house on South Arroya and bought the
Spanish style house on Stoneridge. That's the house featured on the website.
Please don't think I intend the following as any observation or criticism of
any person. I do not. I'm telling you Robert's own personal attitude and
thoughts; his own views on his own life.
Robert Reed totally despised and hated being a homosexual man. He considered
his homosexuality as an "illness" or a "condition" which he wanted to
suppress, and even hoped to find a "cure" which would rid him of this
"disorder", Again, I am not expressing a criticism of anyone. These were
Robert's feelings as expressed in confidence. The fact that he could not
accept his own sexual orientation led to a great deal of angst, emotional
conflict and sadness in his life. It prevented his ever being a truly happy
person. We can only hope that in death he has found the peace of mind which
eluded him in life.
Well, this has gone one quite enough! Hope I've clarified a couple of things
for you and not caused any misunderstandings.
Yours,
Rita M. Roork
Thank you, Rita. I do appreciate your frankness.
This in from Findadeath friend Jeff: The Brady Bunch show that was filmed
in Hawaii, I think it was 1972. Recently, the scenic lookout where Bobby
squirted Peter with a watergun, was close to an area that kept lifeguards
very busy recently during some winter swells (big waves). The location is
the Halona Blow Hole. ALSO, the hotel that the Brady's stayed in was the
Sheraton Waikiki Hotel...This is the same hotel that auditions were held
during the recent US Search for season 3 of American Idol.
Findadeath.com friend Michael Hansen sends us this: Robert Reed was once
married to a woman named Marilyn Rosenberg for two years, in 1957. They had
a daughter who appeared in the Marcia Slumberparty episode of "The Brady
Bunch"
Susan Olson ("Cindy") said she knew Robert Reed was gay when she was 5 years
old.
It seems that the book "Growing Up Brady" Florence Henderson said that
Robert Reed would get 'horny' when she slid up to him in bed scenes...but
years later, that made-for-tv movie about the Brady Bunch set portrayed Reed
as an actor who had to be persuaded to kiss Florence Henderson. The movie
says Trying to get him to do something he didn't exactly want to do...well,
in the commercial it said that.
And findadeath.com friend Opus sends us this:
I read, when Robert Reed died, that he died of complications from AIDS.
Maybe it was a Geraldo thing, but please know that Geraldo never went by the
name of "Jerry Rivers" (check out your precious www.snopes.com to verify.)
Jerry Rivers is another HUGE urban legend thing that just annoys the shit
out of me, as everyone I've ever met who used to live in NY also "met
Geraldo" and "called Geraldo on the Jerry Rivers name thing." I don't even
know who to believe any more.
Anyway, a bit of trivia: In the movie "Reality Bites", the character played
by Winona Ryder asks the character played by Ethan Hawke "Why things can't
just work out okay, like at the end of a 'Brady Bunch' episode." Ethan
Hawke replies "Because Mr. Brady died of AIDS."
"Reality Bites", of course, is the defining movie of the Gen-X generation.