Characters

This article is a brief description of the main characters of the ABC-TV sitcom series The Brady Bunch.  

The Brady Family

• Caroline "Carol" Ann Brady (f/k/a Caroline Martin, née Caroline Ann Tyler) - portrayed by Florence Henderson in the TV series and Shelley Long in movies, is the wife of Mike Brady. She has an unseen brother, Jack Tyler, and sister-in-law, Pauline (the parents of Cousin Oliver). During the original Brady Bunch series, Carol is a stay-at-home mother. In the sequels, she becomes a real estate agent, converting the boys' old room into her home office.

• Michael Paul "Mike" Brady - portrayed by Robert Reed in the TV show and Gary Cole in movies, is the head of the Brady household. He has three sons of his own. Mike, a widowed architect, became the stepfather of three daughters when he married Carol Martin. Mike enjoyed fishing and camping.

• Gregory "Greg" Brady, portrayed by Barry Williams in the TV show, Christopher Daniel Barnes in theatrical films, and Chad Doreck in the TV movie, is the oldest Brady son. Greg is a Westdale High School student who plays football, plays guitar, surfs, and aspires to be a singer. Greg is portrayed as self-confident and brassy at times, and generally acts as leader and spokesman for the other kids. Being the oldest of the Brady children, Greg is usually the one who devises their plans. As the series went on, Greg became somewhat of a "ladies' man" at school. Also as the character got older, Greg often attempted to disassociate himself from the younger siblings, eventually getting his own room in the attic.

• Marcia Brady (née Marcia Martin, later Marcia Brady-Logan) - portrayed by Maureen McCormick in the original TV show and The Brady Brides, Leah Ayres in The Bradys, Christine Taylor in theatrical films and Autumn Reeser in the TV movie, is the oldest Brady daughter. Marcia is portrayed as a mature and popular girl at Westdale High School. Her popularity is an ongoing source of contempt for her younger sister Jan. She is a great fan of TV-star idols Desi Arnaz Jr. and Davy Jones (Both actors, portraying themselves, appeared in their own episode).
• Peter Brady - portrayed by Christopher Knight in the TV show, Paul Sutera in theatrical films, and Blake Foster in the TV movie, is the middle Brady son. Peter often thinks badly of himself, such as believing he has no personality in the episode "The Personality Kid". The clumsiest of the bunch, he sometimes gets overexcited and acts before thinking. Nevertheless, he is a fun-loving boy whom girls adored later in the original series.

• Jan Brady (née Jan Martin, later Jan Brady-Covington) - portrayed by Eve Plumb in the TV series, Geri Reischl in The Brady Bunch Hour, Jennifer Elise Cox in theatrical films, and Ashley Drane in the TV movie, is the middle Brady daughter. Storylines which involve Jan often feature her jealousy of her seemingly more popular older sister Marcia, or her awkward position as the middle child. In addition, Jan is insecure about having freckles and wearing glasses, embarrassed about the fact she does not have a boyfriend (she invents a fictional boyfriend named "George Glass" in an effort to save her reputation), and concerned about her future appearance.

• Robert "Bobby" Brady - portrayed by Mike Lookinland in the TV show, Jesse Soffer (credited as Jesse Lee) in theatrical films, and Max Morrow in the TV movie, is the youngest Brady son and. Bobby was the "safety monitor" at his school and occasionally gets the other siblings into trouble. The precocious and often overlooked youngest boy, Bobby was often portrayed as a whimsical dreamer, fantasizing about having various adventurous lifestyles, such as being a race car driver, a cowboy, and an astronaut. On one occasion, one of his fantasies came true when he got to play football with guest star Joe Namath.

• Cynthia "Cindy" Brady (née Cynthia Martin) - portrayed by Susan Olsen in the TV show, Olivia Hack in theatrical films, Jennifer Runyon in the 1988 TV movie and Sofia Vassilieva in the 2002 TV movie, is the youngest Brady daughter. She was portrayed as a naive, but occasionally precocious little girl, who was most often seen wearing her hair in pigtails and had a pronounced lisp. She frequently liked to snoop and share secrets she had found out.

• Alice Nelson - best known to television viewers as simply Alice, is the housekeeper to the Brady family. She was portrayed by Ann B. Davis. Alice grew up in the same neighborhood as the Bradys, graduating from Westdale High School, the school Greg and Marcia attended in the series. Alice was the housekeeper to Mike Brady, his previous wife (who died before the series started), and their three boys. Alice stayed on, to be the housekeeper for not only his boys, but for his new wife, Carol, and her three daughters. Alice was generally impartial toward the children, although she presented Jan with a locket at one point, "from one middle sister to another."

• Cousin Oliver Tyler - Oliver, whose surname is never used on-air, stays with the Brady family during the last six episodes of the fifth and final season of The Brady Bunch. As explained in the episode "Welcome Aboard" from season five, Carol's brother Jack Tyler and his wife Pauline are traveling to an archaeological dig in South America, and because their son Oliver is unable to accompany them, he is sent to live with the Bradys. Cousin Oliver was played by actor Robbie Rist.

Recurring Characters

• Sam Franklin - Sam Franklin, more commonly known to audiences as "Sam the Butcher", is Alice Nelson's boyfriend. Sam works at a meat store, where The Brady Family buys their meat products from. He first appeared in "Sorry, Right Number", where he first started dating Alice. Sam and Alice made numerous phone calls to each other, which wasted Mike's phone bill.
• Kathy Lawrence - Marcia's best friend and on-and-off frenemy as well as the girlfriend of Greg. She first appeared in "My Sister, Benedict Arnold", where the duo competed for a role on the cheerleading team. Greg first started dating her here, simply to annoy Marcia. Although the two aren't dating anymore, Kathy still remembers her beautiful moments with Greg and they still like each other as friends.
• George Glass - Jan's fictional boyfriend, fathomed to give herself a good image in front of others. Jan often stages events, such as having people call her on the phone or paying people to deliver her flowers, which she'll claim are romantic gestures from the so-called George Glass. He was first mentioned in "The Not So Ugly Duckling", where Jan felt bad about her singularity, and first came up with George. In "A Very Brady Sequel", by sheer coincidence, an attractive boy her age with the same name found her and fell in love with her. After this, she didn't need to pretend anymore.
• Tiger - The former pet dog of The Brady Family. He stopped appearing after a while, due to the "actors" being unfit for work. The first actor died, via getting hit by a florist truck and the second actor was feral and erratic, and could barely get through an episode, without going nuts. Eventually, the directors just gave up on him and dropped him from the show entirely.