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Tag: Ann B. Davis dead

  • Ann B. Davis: Beloved ‘Brady Bunch’ Star Dies at 88

    Generations of Brady Bunch fans are mourning Sunday’s death of Ann B. Davis, who played devoted housekeeper Alice on the early ’70s television sitcom.

    Davis, who won two Emmy awards for her role as secretary Schultzy on The Bob Cummings Show, fell in the bathroom and hit her head on Saturday morning, said close friend Bishop William Frey to CNN.

    She suffered a subdural hematoma and never regained consciousness, Frey told CNN.

    The Brady Bunch, which debuted in 1969, was one of the first U.S. television shows to focus on a non-traditional family. In the case of the Bradys, a widower of three boys, Mike Brady (played by Robert Reed), marries a single mom of three girls, Carol Brady (played by Florence Henderson).

    In 1994, Davis wrote about the wholesome The Brady Bunch.

    “Wouldn’t we all love to have belonged to a perfect family, with brothers and sisters to lean on and where every problem is solved in 23-1/2 minutes?” she wrote.

    What many Brady Bunch fans may not realize is Davis was already a well-known TV actress before she took on the role of Alice Nelson. She was almost as famous for her role as Charmaine “Schultzy” Schultz on The Bob Cummings Show, which ran from 1955 to 1959.

    Because of her work on the show, she won Emmy awards in 1958 and 1959, was nominated in 1956 and 1957, and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960.

    Born in 1926 in Schenectady, New York, she had a twin sister named Harriet and never married.

    In the 1970s, she stepped away from show business to join a religious community.

    Brady Bunch fans have responded in droves on Twitter to remember Ann B. Davis and their beloved Alice.

    Image via YouTube

  • Ann B. Davis: Alice from ‘The Brady Bunch’ Led Christian Life

    Ann B. Davis passed away this weekend at the age of 88, after falling in her bathroom and hitting her head. She, of course, played Alice Nelson, the beloved housekeeper/maid on The Brady Bunch throughout the show’s entire run. What many never knew about the actress, however, was that she led a very active Christian life. Of course her heyday came at a time when people didn’t have social media to promote their religious beliefs. Even if they did, it seems Ann B. Davis preferred word of mouth over everything else anyway.

    Davis’s active Christian life kicked into full swing once The Brady Bunch’s production came to an end. It was then she settled in a quiet Episcopalian community in Texas, led by retired Bishop William Frey.

    “I was born again,” she said years ago in an interview. “It happens to Episcopalians. Sometimes it doesn’t hit you till you’re 47 years old. It changed my whole life for the better. … I spent a lot of time giving Christian witness all over the country to church groups and stuff.”

    Davis no doubt drew great crowds when she witnessed to those church groups. Even those unsure of their faith would go to see Alice from The Brady Bunch. After all, she was funny, quick witted, and she had that famous smile that was always centered in the squares that comprised The Brady Bunch family members at the beginning of each and every show. That would draw people in–and Davis knew that. Once she had them she shared her strong beliefs with them.

    Ann B. Davis never married.

    “By the time I started to get interested (in finding someone),” she told the Chicago Sun-Times, “all the good ones were taken.”

    She maintained her career was always far more interesting than any man would have been anyway.

    The Brady Bunch wasn’t Davis’s only claim to fame. She starred many years earlier in The Bob Cummings Show as well as many stage productions. In her later years it was those church groups with whom she shared her laughter. She no doubt considered winning souls for Christ among her greatest achievements.

    Her role as Alice Nelson likely took a close second, however.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons