Robert Reed

Robert Reed (born John Robert Rietz Jr.; October 19, 1932 – May 12, 1992) was an American actor. He played Kenneth Preston on the legal drama The Defenders from 1961 to 1965 alongside E. G. Marshall, and is best known for his role as patriarch Mike Brady, opposite Florence Henderson's role as Carol Brady, on the ABC sitcom The Brady Bunch, which aired from 1969 to 1974. He later reprised his role of Mike Brady on several of the reunion programs. In 1976, he earned two Primetime Emmy Award nominations for his guest-starring role in a two-part episode of Medical Center and for his work on the miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man. The following year, Reed earned a third Emmy nomination for his role in the miniseries Roots.

Early life Reed was born John Robert Rietz Jr. in the northern Chicago suburb of Highland Park, Illinois, the only child of Helen (née Teaverbaugh) and John Robert Rietz, who were high-school sweethearts and married at 18. Reed attended the West Division School in Community Consolidated School District 62 until 1939. His father worked for the government, and his mother was a homemaker. Reed spent his early childhood years in Navasota, Texas and Shawnee, Oklahoma, attending Woodrow Wilson Grade School before the family moved to Muskogee, Oklahoma. In Oklahoma, his father, John Sr., worked as a turkey/cattle farmer.

In his youth, Reed joined the 4-H agricultural club and showed calves, but was more interested in acting and music. While attending Central High School in Muskogee, he participated in both activities. Reed also took to the stage, where he performed and sang. He also worked as a radio announcer at local radio stations and wrote and produced radio dramas. Reed graduated from Muskogee Central in 1950, and enrolled at Northwestern University to study drama. During his years at Northwestern, Reed appeared in several plays under the direction of Alvina Krause, a celebrated Northwestern drama coach. Upon returning to the United States, Reed appeared in summer stock in Eagles Mere, Pennsylvania. He later joined the off-Broadway theatre group "The Shakespearewrights", and played Romeo in Romeo and Juliet and had a lead role in A Midsummer Night's Dream. After leaving the Shakespearewrights, Reed joined the Studebaker Theatre company in Chicago. This led to guest roles on Men into Space and Lawman, as well as his first credited film appearance in Bloodlust! In 1961, Reed landed his first television starring role in The Defenders alongside fellow Studebaker Theater performer E.G. Marshall, with the two playing a father-and-son team of defense attorneys. The Defenders was a hit with audiences and earned a total of 22 Primetime Emmy Award nominations (E.G. Marshall won two Emmys for his performance while the show won twice for Outstanding Drama Series). Ratings for the series were high during its first three seasons, but fell when CBS moved the series from Saturday nights to Thursday nights. CBS canceled The Defenders in 1965.

While appearing on The Defenders in 1964, Reed made his Broadway stage debut as Paul Bratter in Neil Simon's Barefoot in the Park, replacing Robert Redford. For the remainder of the decade, Reed appeared primarily in television guest spots, including roles in Family Affair, Ironside, The Mod Squad, and Bob Hope Presents The Chrysler Theatre. He also appeared in the 1968 film Star! and in the Broadway production of Avanti!

Reed was the producers' second choice for the role of Mike Brady after Gene Hackman was rejected because he was largely unknown at the time. Also starring on The Brady Bunch was actress Florence Henderson, who played the role of Mike's wife Carol Brady after Shirley Jones turned down the role in favor of The Partridge Family. Also cast on the series was Ann B. Davis as the Bradys' maid, Alice Nelson. Despite earning poor reviews from critics and never cracking the Top 30 during its five-season run, The Brady Bunch remained an audience favorite of the 1970s. Since its cancellation in 1974, the series had a healthy afterlife in syndication and spawned several spin-off series and two television reunion films, along with two parody films.

From the very beginning of the sitcom's debut in September 1969, Reed was unhappy with his role as Mike Brady. He felt that acting in the often silly program was beneath his training as a serious Shakespearean actor. Producers and directors found Reed difficult to work with both on and off the set. However, all of the cast got along well with him. In his efforts to bring more realism to the sitcom, Reed often locked horns with the program's creator and executive producer Schwartz. Reed regularly presented Schwartz with hand-written memoranda detailing why a certain motivation did not make sense or why it was wrong to combine elements of farce and satire. Schwartz generally ignored Reed's suggestions, although in an attempt to alleviate tension, Schwartz occasionally allowed Reed to direct some episodes. In a 1983 interview, Reed admitted that he often butted heads with Schwartz, stating, "We fought over the scripts. Always over the scripts. The producer, Sherwood Schwartz, had done Gilligan's Island...Just gag lines. That would have been what The Brady Bunch would have been if I hadn't protested."

Reed was particularly appalled by what would turn out to be the show's final episode "The Hair-Brained Scheme." He sent Schwartz a memo, picking apart his problems with the episode, but Schwartz did not receive the memo promptly enough to alter the script as Reed wanted. As a result, Reed refused to appear in the episode altogether. Reed later claimed that he originally accepted the role for financial reasons, but tried to remain positive despite his creative differences with Schwartz by reminding himself the series was primarily about the children. Reed masked his dissatisfaction in front of the camera, always performing professionally without any indication of his unhappiness. Despite his discontentment with the show, Reed genuinely liked all of his co-stars and was a father figure to the younger cast members. Co-star Susan Olsen became friends with Reed's daughter Karen, who made a guest appearance in the episode "The Slumber Caper." Reed's final appearance in the series was in the penultimate episode "The Hustler." His final line in that episode was "Now I can get my car in the garage."

During the run of The Brady Bunch, Reed also had a recurring role as Lieutenant Adam Tobias on Mannix, from 1969 to 1975, After Reed's agents overbooked him for a film in England with Anglia Television, his cancellation led to the 1972 court case of Anglia Television Ltd v Reed.

Later career After The Brady Bunch series ended in 1974, Reed acted on stage and made guest star appearances on other television series and television movies, including Pray for the Wildcats and SST: Death Flight. He won critical acclaim for his portrayal of Pat Caddison, a doctor who comes out as transgender, in a two-part episode of Medical Center in 1975. The episode also earned him a Primetime Emmy Award nomination. Also that year he appeared in the TV-movie The Secret Night Caller, as a respectably married man with a compulsion to make obscene phone calls to women he barely knows. Reed appeared in the television film The Boy in the Plastic Bubble (1976), the miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man (1976), and the miniseries Roots (1977). Despite critical acclaim, the series was canceled the following year. In 1986, he played the role of Lloyd Kendall on the daytime soap opera Search for Tomorrow. He also made multiple appearances on Fantasy Island, Hunter, The Love Boat and Murder, She Wrote.

Despite his dislike of The Brady Bunch and the character of Mike Brady, Reed continued to appear in Brady Bunch spinoffs and sequels for the remainder of his career. In 1976, Reed reprised the role of Mike Brady in the variety show The Brady Bunch Hour, a role he openly embraced because it afforded him the opportunity to sing and dance. He would later appear in the television film The Brady Girls Get Married (1981) and the television film A Very Brady Christmas (1988). In 1990, he reprised the role of Mike Brady for the final time in the drama series The Bradys. but The Bradys was canceled after six episodes, well before the episode could be produced. Reed made his last onscreen appearance in an April 1992 episode of Jake and the Fatman, "Ain't Misbehavin'". They had a daughter, Karen Rietz, before divorcing in 1959. Karen, who was born on October 1, 1956, had a guest role in The Brady Bunch as Carolyn Reed and died on November 29, 2025, in Northbrook, Illinois.

Reed kept the fact he was gay a close secret, since public knowledge of his true sexual orientation during that era would likely have damaged his career. Several years after his death, Reed's Brady Bunch co-stars – notably Barry Williams and Florence Henderson – publicly acknowledged Reed's sexual orientation, and revealed the entire cast and crew of The Brady Bunch were aware.

Henderson spoke of Reed being in the closet during a 2000 interview with ABC News: "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."

Death

In November 1991, Reed was diagnosed with colon lymphoma, a rare form of colorectal cancer. When he became ill, he only allowed his daughter Karen and actress Anne Haney, a close friend, to visit him. The actor had been diagnosed with HIV in the spring of 1991. While Reed did not have AIDS at the time of his death, his doctor listed his HIV-positive status as one of the "significant conditions that contributed to death" on the death certificate. He is buried in the Memorial Park Cemetery in Skokie, Illinois.

Filmography

Film Year Title RoleNotes 1957 Pal Joey Boy FriendUncredited1958 The Hunters Jackson Torpedo Run Woolsey 1961 Bloodlust! Johnny Randall 1967 Hurry Sundown Lars Finchley1968 Star! Charles Fraser Journey into Darkness Hank Prentiss (Segment: "The New People") 1969 The Maltese Bippy Lt. Tim Crane 1991 Prime Target Agent Harrington

Television Year Title Role Notes1959 Make Room for Daddy Airline Pilot Episode: "Terry Comes Home" The Californians Ed Carpenter Episode: "Bella Union" As Robert Rietz Father Knows Best Tom Cameron Episode: "The Impostor"1960 Men into Space Russell Smith Episode: "Earthbound" Bronco Tom Fuller Episode: "Volunteers from Aberdeen" Lawman Jim Malone Episode: "Left Hand of the Law" 1961 Tallahassee 7000 Episode: "Hostage" 1961–1965 The Defenders Kenneth Preston 132 episodes1965 Dr. Kildare Judd Morrison 6 episodes Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre Lt. Chris Callahan Episode: "The Admiral"1966 Preview Tonight Lieutenant John Leahy Episode: "Somewhere in Italy... Company B!" Operation Razzle-Dazzle Lieutenant John Leahy Television film Family Affair Julian Hill Episode: "Think Deep" My Husband Tom...and John John Unaired preview film for Paramount1967 Li'l Abner Senator Cod Unsold pilot Hondo Frank Davis Episode: "Hondo and the Superstition Massacre" Ironside Jerry Pearson Episode: "Light at the End of the Journey" 1968 Journey to the Unknown Hank Prentiss Episode: "The New People" 1968–1975 Mannix Lt. Adam Tobias 22 episodes 1969–1971 Love, American Style Various roles 4 episodes 1969–1974 The Brady Bunch Mike Brady Main role 1971 The City Sealy GrahamTelevision film1972 Assignment: Munich Doug "Mitch" Mitchell The Mod Squad Jerry Silver Episode: "The Connection" Haunts of the Very Rich Reverend John Fellows ABC Movie of the Week Mission: Impossible Assistant D.A. Arthur Reynolds Episode: "Hit"1973 Snatched Frank McCloy ABC Movie of the Week Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law Harker Episode: "They've Got to Blame Somebody" Intertect Blake HollisterTelevision film The Man Who Could Talk to Kids Tom Lassiter The World of Sid & Marty Krofft at the Hollywood Bowl Audience member Television special (Uncredited)1974 Pray for the Wildcats Paul McIlvain ABC Movie of the Week Chase Dr. Playter Episode: "Remote Control" Harry O Paul Virdon Episode: "Accounts Balanced"1975 The Secret Night Caller Freddy Durant Television film Medical Center Dr. Pat Caddison Episode: "The Fourth Sex" (Parts 1 & 2) McCloud Jason Carter Episode: "Fire!"1976 The Streets of San Francisco Dr. Arnold Stephen Holtfield Episode: "The Honorable Profession" Jigsaw John Alan Bellamy Episode: "Promise to Kill" Wonder Woman Fallon, the "Falcon" Episode: "The Pluto File" Rich Man, Poor Man Teddy Boylan Miniseries Law and Order Aaron Levine Television film Lanigan's Rabbi Morton Galen Episode: "Pilot" Nightmare in Badham County Supt. DancerTelevision film The Boy in the Plastic Bubble Johnny Lubitch Revenge for a Rape Sheriff Paley 1976–1977 The Brady Bunch Hour Mike Brady 9 episodes1977 Roots Dr. William Reynolds Miniseries The Wonderful World of Disney Captain John C. Frémont Episode: "Kit Carson and the Mountain Men" (Parts 1 & 2) The Love Boat II Stephen PalmerTelevision film SST: Death Flight Captain Jim Walsh Barnaby Jones DeWitt Robinson Episode: "Death Beat" The Hunted Lady Dr. Arthur Sills Television film 1977–1986 The Love Boat Various roles 6 episodes1978 The Runaways David McKay 4 episodes Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery Jack KimballTelevision film Bud and Lou Alan Randall 1978–1979 Vega$ Various roles2 episodes 1978–1983 Fantasy Island Leo Drake1979 Mandrake Arkadian Television film The Paper Chase Professor Howard Episode: "Once More with Feeling" Love's Savage Fury Commander Marston Television film Hawaii Five-O Various roles 2 episodes The Seekers Daniel Clapper Miniseries Password Plus Himself Game Show Participant / Celebrity Guest Star 1979 Make Me Laugh Himself Game Show Contestant /

Award nominations