@famousobits: He trained as a classical stage actor. He replaced Robert Redford on Broadway. He earned Emmy nominations for serious dramatic work. None of it is what most people remember him for. Robert Reed grew up in Oklahoma and spent years building exactly the career he’d worked toward. Then ABC cast him as Mike Brady on “The Brady Bunch” in 1969, and it became the role he resented for the rest of his life and kept coming back to. He fought the show constantly, sending long handwritten memos, walking off set, and eventually refusing to film the final episode. But when reunion specials came around, he kept showing up. When he heard they were filming one where the TV daughters were getting married, he called the producer himself and said he wanted to be there. His real daughter grew up outside Chicago, raised mostly by her mother, and they were never close. The six kids on that show were where his version of fatherhood actually lived. What the public never knew was that Reed was gay. The era gave him no room to live openly, and Florence Henderson later said that living a double life accounted for much of the sadness and frustration people saw in him behind the scenes. He was diagnosed with colon cancer in late 1991 and kept it private. Near the end, he asked Henderson to call the cast. She said it was the hardest thing she had ever done. He died on May 12, 1992, at 59. His tombstone is engraved with a line from “Hamlet”: “Good night, sweet prince.” #onthisday #robertreed #bradybunch #celebritydeaths #oldtv​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

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Wednesday 13 May 2026 00:58:46 GMT