Robert Reed

Robert Reed
Robert Reed at the Governor's Ball following the 41st Annual Emmy Awards, in 1989.
Birth name	John Robert Rietz
Born	October 19 1932(1932-10-19) Highland Park, Illinois, Illinois, U.S.
Died	May 12 1992 (aged 59) Pasadena, California, California, U.S.
Resting place	Memorial Park Cemetery and Crematorium, Skokie, Illinois, U.S.
Spouse(s)	Marilyn Rosenberg (1957-1959)

Robert Reed (October 19, 1932 – May 12, 1992) was an Emmy Award-nominated American stage and television actor.

Biography

Born John Robert Rietz, Jr. in Highland Park, Illinois, Reed spent much of his childhood in Oklahoma and later studied Shakespeare in college, where he was a member of Beta Theta Pi fraternity.

Career

He first gained fame in the early 1960s for starring along with E.G. Marshall in the television drama series The Defenders from 1961 to 1965 and later on the sitcom The Brady Bunch from 1969 to 1974. After winning the role of Mike Brady, he later became unhappy with his part, feeling that acting in the often silly sitcom was beneath his serious Shakespearean training. Despite his discontent with the show as a whole, by most accounts he genuinely liked and was beloved as a father figure by his fellow cast members on The Brady Bunch. As a result of his unhappiness with the Brady Bunch’s content, Reed constantly argued with the show's creator, Sherwood Schwartz. One such argument even resulted in his being completely written out of the show's final episode.^[1] Reed was happy when the show ended, but he did return for The Brady Bunch Hour and the made-for-TV movies and series that reunited the Brady cast in the years to come. During the run of The Brady Bunch, Reed also had a recurring role as Lt. Adam Tobias on the television drama Mannix from 1967 to 1975 for most of its run. After the end of The Brady Bunch in 1974, Reed acted on the stage and made many guest star appearances on other television shows and television movies, including Pray for the Wildcats (1974). He won critical acclaim for his portrayal of a doctor who wants to undergo a sex-change operation in a two-part episode of Medical Center in 1975. Reed also appeared in The Boy in the Plastic Bubble (1976) and Roots (1977). He also guest starred on Wonder Woman (1976), playing the Falcon. Other notable guest appearances include: Hawaii 5-0 (1979), Charlie's Angels (1980), Vega$ (1981), and Murder, She Wrote for at least three appearances. Reed played the regular role of Dr. Adam Rose in the hospital drama Nurse during the 1981-1982 television season. In 1986, he played the role of Lloyd Kendall on the daytime soap opera Search for Tomorrow.

Robert Reed in The Boy in the Plastic Bubble (1976).

In 1971, Reed was the defendant in Anglia TV v. Reed, an important case in English contract common law.^[2]

Personal life

Like many homosexual actors then and now, Reed was secretive about his sexuality.^[3] He was briefly married to Marilyn Rosenberg (1957-1959). The union produced one daughter, Caroline Reed, who was born 1958. Caroline had a small role in an episode of The Brady Bunch entitled, "The Slumber Caper." Her character's name was Karen and she is credited as "Carolyn Reed". This episode also reunited Reed with his co-star from The Defenders, E.G. Marshall. On the Brady Bunch anniversary, "Still Brady after All these Years," the cast mentioned him taking co-star Florence Henderson out to dinner several times. Reed was sued for $582,750 in 1971 by Anglia Television Ltd, 3 All.E.R. 690 (C.A. 1971), for breaching a contract to perform in "The Man in the Wood", due to a mix up on his bookings (he lost the lawsuit). The case is studied by first year law students in the United States and is included on page 345 of Fuller and Eisenberg's "Basic Contract Law". Robert Reed died in 1992 at age 59 in Pasadena, California, from colorectal cancer; he was HIV positive at the time. He is buried in Skokie, Illinois. Since his death, the administrators of his estate have not allowed the use of his likeness in "Brady Bunch" merchandise., resulting in the omission of his likeness from various books and other products that include the rest of the cast.

References

External links

• Robert Reed at the Internet Movie Database
• Robert Reed at Find A Grave