‘The Brady Bunch’ stars explain being ‘foxhole buddies’ through experiences on the show
"The Brady Bunch" stars Barry Williams and Christopher Knight share how they’ve stayed connected over 55 years since the show’s debut.
"The Brady Bunch" stars Barry Williams and Christopher Knight are feeling reflective about the past, having recently celebrated the show's 55th anniversary.
But Williams wants to clarify one piece of history.
In a recent interview with Us Weekly, the 70-year-old said, "We all hooked up with each other at some point, not necessarily while we were filming."
"That’s not accurate," Williams told Fox News Digital. "I said that 14 years ago…you know how these things cycle around."
BARRY WILLIAMS SAYS 'BRADY BUNCH' COSTARS 'ALL HOOKED UP WITH EACH OTHER'
Barry Williams, left, said his comments about the "Brady Bunch" cast having all "hooked up" with each other during the original run of the show were not completely "accurate." (Getty Images)
"We all grew up together. We're the people that we knew, we trusted," he explained. "We spent more time together as a ‘Brady’ family during times of the year and most of the year than with our own families. And we genuinely liked each other, and it seemed kind of a normal extension of affection.
"So what I meant by that was that Bobby and Cindy had a fake marriage in Tiger's doghouse, literally. I dated Maureen and we went out and I was her first kiss. So that's kind of what I meant by hooking up."
Knight said of his relationships while on the show, "I was a late bloomer and very slow. And I was being chased by Eve [Plumb] for a number of years."
"You know, looking back on it, it’s kind of embarrassing," he added.
"What does that have to do with hooking up?" Williams questioned.
"Well, I tripped," Knight responded, getting a laugh from his co-star.
Williams and Knight agreed that the cast was closely bonded, with Williams noting they spent more time together than they often did with their families. (Getty Images)
"The Brady Bunch" aired for five seasons on ABC from 1969 to 1974 and has become a pop culture staple with spin-offs, parodies, and a still-passionate fan base.
And much like the close-knit family onscreen, behind the scenes, the "Brady Bunch" stars really connected.
"We all grew up together. We're the people that we knew, we trusted."
Knight, who was around 12 years old when the show began, recalled that it was "a very warm and inviting environment. And I keep coming back to that because it was. It was a struggle in my own household to feel validated, to have a voice and to feel anything but a burden…the juxtaposition is now not lost on me."
"There was an authenticity to doing that pilot because the show was about meeting each other, learning about each other. And we were literally meeting each other and learning about each other," Williams said.
He recalled filming the wedding of their onscreen parents, Mike and Carol, played by Robert Reed and Florence Henderson, and knowing "it was special in its own way."
Williams recalled filming the pilot for "The Brady Bunch" and feeling "it as special in its own way." (Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images)
"And I thought, wow, this could be the start of something very memorable. And it felt like we were all coming together as a family. We had no idea what the future would hold, but I do remember feeling that that was – it was special in its own way," he said.
Williams also loved driving to the set on the Paramount Studios lot, where they filmed the interiors of the Brady home along with other shows like "Star Trek," "Mission: Impossible," "The Odd Couple, "Bonanza" and more.
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"I mean, this was a great place. There were movies. ‘The Godfather’ was being filmed there. And, you know, we snuck around. I snuck around, you know, in between takes and things like that on to all the sets and got to watch what was going on. And it was, I mean, it was like a magic land coming to life and a very exciting place to be."
While the interior of the Brady house was made up of several studio sets, the exterior was a real home located in Studio City, California, built by architect Harry M. Londelius Jr. in 1959.
The house used for the exterior shots of "The Brady Bunch" home is located in Studio City, Calif. (Hollywood To You/Star Max/GC Images)
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Fans have made the house a destination, taking photographs of it so many times it’s often reported that it’s the second-most photographed home in America after the White House.
But the actual interior of the home did not match the one seen on television until 2018, when HGTV purchased the house and remodeled it on their series, "A Very Brady Renovation."
They remodeled the house to match what was shown on TV, including adding a second floor to the originally one-story home.
"It was a set, it was a false environment. And then the house, all it was was an exterior. And through the renovation, we took both and made what was the set real, which I don't think it's ever been done before," said Knight, who appeared on the renovation show with Williams and their onscreen siblings.
The "Brady Bunch" siblings participated in the HGTV series "A Very Brady Renovation" in 2018 when the network bought and remodeled the real house to make it match the way it looked on TV. (Matt Harbich)
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In 2023, lifelong fan Tina Trahan purchased the house from HGTV and has been adding even more details to replicate the "Brady Bunch" series.
Trahan told Fox News Digital she has "added about 300 things to the house that were like Easter eggs for the episodes" and bought three vintage cars, including the 73 Caprice Classic convertible that Greg and Marcia did their driving test on.
Williams said, "HGTV did a really remarkable job of exactly duplicating the show, this set. And then Tina has taken it to the next level because she's adding all the touches that we couldn't find or didn't have time for, or outsourced. And she brought in what she refers to accurately as little Easter eggs for people that they can enjoy."
Knight added, "And most importantly, besides the Easter eggs, she's preserved the house, and by buying it and being true to it, being a fan of the shows and recognizing it as…a real live version of a doll house that was in all of our lives. And there is no other television show, I dare you to name me one, where all you have to see is a picture of like every single room, and you'll know where it's from. I mean, from the family room, the kitchen, the living room, the boys’ room and the girls’ room, each one of those is iconic and will be recognized immediately upon viewing it."
Tina Trahan purchased "The Brady Bunch" house in 2023 and started The Brady Experience sweepstakes, allowing five winners to spend time inside the home and enjoy a brunch with the cast. (Courtesy Tina Trahan)
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Trahan is giving people the opportunity to live out their "Brady Bunch" dreams with The Brady Experience, a sweepstakes that will select five winners and their guests to win a trip to Los Angeles and a stay in the house.
"So for the 55th anniversary, we decided we want fans in the house somehow, and we wanted to partner with a charity, so we're partnered with No Kid Hungry, which helps childhood hunger in America," she explained, adding winners will enjoy a brunch with the "Brady Bunch" cast that will include "pork chops and applesauce."
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"For all those years, it was just the outside of the Brady house, it represented what was inside. Now it actually has inside what they saw on television. And unfortunately, nobody can see that," Knight said, noting that for years people were only allowed to visit the exterior.
"So Tina devised a way to make it possible for some of the audience out there to win an opportunity actually to take it to work."
Trahan added as many as 300 items to match the look of the original series for fans to enjoy when they enter the home. (Getty Images)
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"It's a way to extend the legacy for a good purpose. It gives people a chance to see the inside and then serve a charity," Williams added.
The show’s legacy lives on for the cast as well, who share a unique connection.
"Outside of my own kin, Barry and the rest of the cast are my oldest friends, and we constantly cycle back to get back in touch with one another. And it's sort of like being foxhole buddies," Knight said. "Not that I have any experience being in a foxhole or living through a war, but I can imagine how close one gets when one is experiencing something unique like that. And it's very much a unique experience in that there's nine of us that have this view, and the rest of the world is looking from outside into us."
Williams added that they continue to learn new things about each other through projects like their "Real Brady Bros" podcast, where they go over episodes in detail.
Knight said he, Williams and the cast had such a "unique" experience being a part of "The Brady Bunch" that they're like "foxhole buddies." (J. Strauss/FilmMagic)
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"It has given us an opportunity to get to know each other in-depth," he said.
Knight noted that "we've been getting the same questions for 55 years, but what's interesting is how we answered it, how we process it and what we see in those questions is different over the years. So it's like, even though it's the same question, it's not because of the longevity, the legacy that this show has created."
"We constantly cycle back to get back in touch with one another. And it's sort of like being foxhole buddies."
And while most of their memories of the show are positive, there is the occasional irritation with the higher ups.
For example, Knight recalled they used to have to pay to park and walk "an extra 20 minutes" to get to the set for the first two years of the show.
Knight and Williams recalled some pay disputes in the early days of the show, including Knight saying he and much of the child cast were written out of a few episodes to save on salary. (ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)
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He also shared that based on a "10 out of 13 deal" with the showrunners, he and his younger co-stars, minus Williams, earned less because they would be written out of three episodes to save on salaries.
"The five of us were each in one episode in that second year written out of an episode, and they never tried that again because people did notice," Knight said. "It was harder for them to actually write us out than it was just to leave us in."
Knight teased Williams that he was "too important" to write out, while Williams compared it to "avoiding the draft."
But the overall positive nostalgia for their time on the show is being passed on to the next generation.
Williams said he recently visited the studio lot where they filmed "The Brady Bunch" with his daughter and shared a special bonding moment with her. (Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images)
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Williams recently took his daughter, Samantha, to the Paramount lot and showed her some of the areas where he and his castmates spent time, like dressing rooms and the studio school they attended (sadly, no original sets from the show remain standing).
He said a friend happened to record the father and daughter taking the tour, and it was a meaningful moment for Williams to look back on.
"I was explaining to her what it was, and I watched [the video] and I was struck by her attentiveness, how much she cared about it. She learned, she listened. And…she seemed to be able to get a part of an experience of my youth when I was not very far from her age, which is 12," he said.
However, Williams said he and his daughter don’t really talk about the show or regularly watch it.
Williams said his daughter is familiar with "The Brady Bunch" but hasn't watched much of it. (ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)
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"I've asked her if she's seen the show, and she says, ‘Yeah,’ she's enough to be familiar with it," he said. "And also she's been able to meet Chris, and so that's a real person for her. But I don't know. I really don't know how many episodes she's watching. She’s a young girl. I don't want to bother with that stuff, [if] she picks it up, she picks it up. That's great. And if not, that's OK, too."
To enter for a chance to win The Brady experience, visit the sweepstakes website at www.thebradyexperience.com/.
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