Barry Williams chose The Brady Bunch over his social life

Barry Williams didn't need a girlfriend as a young man, he was already in love with The Brady Bunch.

Barry Williams played the role of the oldest member of The Brady Bunch kids, Greg Brady, for the show's entire five seasons.

With his dreamy blue eyes and charming smile, Williams became one of TV's biggest heartthrobs. You may have even had a poster of Barry Williams on your bedroom wall, and you're not alone.

Wherever he went during his time as Greg on The Brady Bunch, young women, teens and adults alike, did whatever it took to get an autograph from the young star. But with all the attention from fans, Williams still preferred his alone time.

Despite being a high-demand date, he wasn't all that interesting in dating. His only love at the time was his acting career and The Brady Bunch.

According to a 1973 interview with The Tampa Tribune, Williams took an interest in acting at a young age. Even as a toddler, he would beg his mom, who was resistant for some time, to let him start acting. When he was 11, she finally agreed. 

"When I play a part, myself is a tool, my resource," Williams said. "If I don't have part of the character in me, I do research to find out more about him."

At the time of this interview, Williams was 19 and attended Pepperdine University in Malibu. School and work took up most of his time. He would attend classes in the mornings, and would spend his afternoons working on-set of The Brady Bunch.

To add even more to the young star's plate, he would spend another three days attending singing, dancing and acting classes.

According to the interview, Williams said his biggest trouble as a young man was meeting people as himself, Barry Williams, not Greg Brady.

"I have trouble with preconceptions," Williams said. "People either think I'm like Greg Brady, or they assume I'm going to be a snobby star type. And when I say 'hey, look, let's drop all that,' they think that's a put on too."

Williams admitted to missing having a normal childhood, but with the perks that come along with having an acting career, it's hard to want to strip it all away. The compensation alone was enough for Williams to have no regrets.

"Acting is my life, and it's more important to me than a social life," Williams said. "Like recognition, it has its advantages and its disadvantages. I may get a better table at a restaurant, but my meals are interrupted by people wanting autographs."

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60 Comments

wallyandbagfan 10 days ago
https://youtu.be/miKrVXv1KpE
Think the Darrin Bewitches Endora clip would have been sufficient.
wallyandbagfan 15 days ago
Whatever happened to Fluffy the cat
In episode one of The Brady Bunch ?
wallyandbagfan 15 days ago
https://youtu.be/gj2iGAifSNI
The song Take This Job And Shove
It by Johnny Paycheck is dedicated to Randolph Roberts AKA CHUCK CUNNINGHAM 2 on Happy Days who fired because the company wanted to quit having Chuck Cunningham on Happy Days.
Randolph Roberts enjoyed playing
CC and its too bad that Chuck Cunningham was dropped disapointing Dave Sundstrom
Stephen Sundstrom Crazy Hank
Cheif Scheider me and persons all accross the USA as several persons have complained in these blogs when Chuck Cunningham went
Out The EXIT DOOR.
wallyandbagfan 21 days ago
https://youtu.be/xPZ4od9Kn98
How about Greg Brady as THIS
JOHNNY BRAVO !!!!!!!!!!
LalaLucy 24 days ago
Read "Growing Up Brady" by the man himself. He didn't have to stray from the cast for love interests though from what I recall, nothing really ever came to fruition...
JHP 25 days ago
I got a notion that Barry HAD a older girlfriend on the set already - (Hubba-Hubba:))
LoveMETV22 JHP 24 days ago
LOL! Of course I had to look up the full cast/crew credits. Wow the crew side of things was predominantly male. A few women there in scripting/make-up/hair. I'm sure Sherwood Schwartz had a few assistants that may have been women. Maybe close to Barry's age.
JHP LoveMETV22 24 days ago
well - of course everything on the net is granite solid - but I read (haha) him and Florence were playing footsie
wallyandbagfan 25 days ago
Wanted by THE PRACTICAL JOKERS OF
AMERICA FOR MAKING TV Viewers
LAUGH:
1 UNCLE ARTHUR (Paul Lynde) Bewitched
2 Eddie Haskell (Ken Osmond ) LITB
Lumpy Rutherford (Frank Bank)LITB
4 WALLY PLUMSTEAD (Skip Young) O&H
5 Bag Zombroski (Neil J Schwartz) HD
6 Ralph Malph Donny Most Happy Days..
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wallyandbagfan JHP 10 days ago
See Uncle Arthur on Bewitched videos up above and also Cousin
Edgar on Bewitched.
Uncle Arthur (Paul Lynde) Videos up above along with Cousin Edgar
(ARTE JOHNSON) ON BEWITCHED.
See Uncle Arthur Videos up above @
JHP wallyandbagfan 10 days ago
Priceless and timeless humor
Adanor 27 days ago
Let's look at how Barry Williams became an actor. First, he had the desire, even as a very young child. And he even took advice from Peter Graves who was incidentally a neighbor. And with the help of acting lessons, an agent, and a growing list of roles, when the Brady Bunch came along he was ready. So what was the one thing that that he did to become successful? He always knew his lines. And that's important.
LoveMETV22 27 days ago
Well, maybe Greg would have stood a chance on the dating scene. Not so sure though if he had Marcia with him.
LoveMETV22 29 days ago
Bapa1 LoveMETV22 28 days ago
Don't forget Bobby Sherman!
Mblack Bapa1 28 days ago
And Bobby had two classic shows, Here Come the Brides and Getting Together.
Adanor LoveMETV22 25 days ago
It was that Hawaiian three-parter. There was the after dinner walk on the beach, the sun was setting, the hormones were flowing along with the soft waves and then -- it happened. Unscripted and unbidden, but there it was.
harlow1313 29 days ago
It's a curious thing, the stuff that can thrill young girls. To me, a male older teen, Williams was a goofball actor on a cornball TV show.

Of course, I can think more broadly now, and I can contemplate this enormous popularity he had as a young man. A strange thing to navigate.
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Adanor Pacificsun 27 days ago
As I understand it, he tried all sorts of stuff to try to straighten his hair and finally after nothing worked, he stopped trying and went with the naturally curly look. And of course, his hairdo was not notable UNTIL the final episode. Yep, THAT episode.
Moody Pacificsun 26 days ago
I'm the oldest of 6 kids, 4 boys & 2 girls and we were nothing like the Brady Bunch or any other tv sitcom family for that matter. We watched those shows back then & sometimes wondered what was wrong with us. lol! But none of those tv sitcom families were realistic or very believable in my opinion. It was just as you said, pure escapism.
Pacificsun Adanor 26 days ago
The strange thing is that they didn't do that for Reed in Mannix. Different productions, true.
Happy Days Characters
Moose (Barry Greenberg) and
Eugene Belvin (Denis Mandel)and
Melvin Belvin (Scott Bernstein) should have had their own spin
Off show called "MILWAUKEES
BEST ".
cperrynaples 29 days ago
Well, I think Johnny Bravo would disagree with Barry...they just keep on comin'!
There were 2 Johnny Bravos-
Greg Brady
Johnny Bravo -Cartoon Character
Thank you very much! Yes, that's Cartoon Network! And yes he would also disagree with Barry!
Chuck Cunningham (Randolph Roberts) and Bag Zombroski (Neil J
Schwartz and Roger Phillips(Ted
McGinley ) should have had their own spin off show of Happy Days called THE BAG BUNCH .
rb5391 wallyandbagfan 23 days ago
there was actually another johnny bravo in an episode of Cheyenne many years earlier
wallyandbagfan rb5391 23 days ago
Thanks for letting me know about
Johnny Bravo on Cheyenne starring
Clint Walker as Cheyenne Bodie .
Mblack 29 days ago
No posters for me. But then none of Farah, or Raquel, or whoever
BrittReid Mblack 28 days ago
Lynda Carter
Hillary Horan
DAPHNE on Happy Days.
Renee O'Connor and Lucy Lawless of Xena Warrior Princess Posters ..
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