Here’s What Happened to Ann B. Davis Before, During and After Playing Alice on ‘The Brady Bunch’

When you think of The Brady Bunch, which cast member immediately comes to mind? Maybe it’s Maureen McCormick as Marcia, Marcia, Marcia; Barry Williams as he who would-be Johnny Bravo; Robert “Why Am I on This Show?” Reed as Mike Brady, or any of the others. But what about Ann B. Davis? Her character of Alice Nelson in many ways served as a foundation for the others; the person that virtually everyone else could turn to in times of need.

While there’s no denying the fact that the Brady Bunch cast ended up typecast as a result of their starring in the show and all of the reunion movies and series that followed (most recently HGTV’s A Very Brady Renovation), Ann actually had a thriving career prior to playing housekeeper Alice. In fact, she won a pair of Emmy Awards for her role of Schultzy on the 1955 to 1959 sitcom The Bob Cummings Show followed by a number of other parts on the big screen and small prior to The Brady Bunch (currently airing on the MeTV network).

Lloyd J. Schwartz, son of Brady Bunch creator Sherwood Schwartz, who worked on the original series and was intimately involved in the follow-ups, reflects, “One of my favorite people in the world is Ann B. Davis. We were very close. One thing that comes to mind about her is that her birthday was May 3 and mine is May 2. After The Brady Bunch went down, we still were close. She moved around to a couple of different places, but we always spoke and she would always call me on my birthday and then the next day was hers. I finally said, ‘It’s not fair that she calls me all the time,’ so I started calling her on May 1 and then she got wise to that and started calling me April 30, and I just love that. Also, when she would come to town, she stayed here a couple of times and she came in for my wedding and for the kids’ bar mitzvahs and things like that. She really was almost like an extended part of the family. I even ended up doing her eulogy in San Antonio.”

Please scroll down to learn much more about the life and career of Ann B. Davis.