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Eve Plumb's harsh reality— ''That's what's so disappointing to everybody...''
It's not easy being a middle Brady!
In some ways, Eve Plumb had a career that most actors would kill for. She's intentionally recognized. The tricky part is, the role she's recognized for was so early in her career that people trap her at that age. Her career wasn't afforded the chance to grow with her. Plumb will always be Jan from The Brady Bunch. While it's nice to be known, it's awful to be stuck on TV as a teenager.
As Plumb aged, like all people do, studio executives failed to distinguish her from Jan Brady. Unfortunately, this led to some serious career jam-ups. If she couldn't be Jan, the powers that be just didn't want her.
"That's what's so disappointing to everybody— that I'm not here," Plumb told The Washington Post in 2000.
Plumb grew up to be a smart, funny, and capable woman. But that didn't translate to a particularly prosperous place in Hollywood.
"Things go in cycles. You have down times, up times, busy times, not-so-busy times," she said. "I'm having to fight against that stigma of being an ex-child star and, yes, I've reconciled to the fact that the Brady series is what gets me that attention and what deflects what I'm doing now. We all grow up, but not everyone wants us after we do. It's difficult because in our industry, people who cast shows either want a fresh face or established people."
While The Brady Bunch interfered with her progress as an actress, Eve Plumb never wore the show as some cursed albatross and gave the beloved sitcom its just dues.
"Don't get me wrong. The series was— and is— a wonderful thing... Sometimes I am sensitive. You do get defensive. It can be tiring sometimes trying to answer the same questions all the time. It's easy to get defensive about it. People so often are looking for the bad story. People love to extrapolate things into bad stories: 'You're bitter, you're angry,' You answer their question and then they perceive it in a way you didn't mean. After a while, you just can't be responsible for the way people react because you're damned if you do and damned if you don't.
"It's funny. Unless you're in the evening news every night, they think you're dead," said Plumb. "I just haven't been in the public eye every breath I take. I've chosen to live my life as normally as possible. I don't have a rags-to-riches story. I'm not sensational. It's not like I've had to pull myself out of the gutter, or pull myself from the dead."
Many would've blamed TV for all their problems, but Plumb persisted, undeterred. She kept a positive attitude and kept pursuing her dream.
"I love TV, I want to be on TV," said Plumb. "[But] Hollywood is all about getting in the door, and if I could figure out why I don't get more calls, hopefully I could do something to change that. But if I keep asking myself, 'Why, why, why,'... well, you can drive yourself insane trying to figure it out. So I can only be saying to myself, 'I'll keep trying.'"
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