Maureen McCormick actually hurt her nose the day that ''The Subject Was Noses'' aired

Sometimes Brady life imitates Brady art.

Whether you're a Brady fan or not, everyone knows that one of the most memorable and iconic episodes of The Brady Bunch is the season four episode, "The Subject Was Noses." If you've been living under a rock, let us refresh your memory: Just before a big date, Marcia Brady is accidentally hit with a football, injuring her nose. You might remember her oft-quoted line "Oh, my nose!" along with the oft-utilized date excuse, "Something suddenly came up."

Well, in her book, Here's the Story: Surviving Marcia Brady and Finding My True Voice, Maureen McCormick gave readers an inside look at the episode, including a particularly freaky tidbit about the day that it was aired. While still filming the show, McCormick was driving her car when she got into a fairly serious accident. She recounted the incident, and wrote, "The next thing I knew, I had plowed into a car that was making a left turn in front of me."

Upon impact, McCormick's face slammed into the steering wheel, injuring her. She wrote, "I looked in the mirror and saw that (my nose) was huge and swollen." McCormick was immediately taken to the hospital, and while it wasn't broken, she was still in a fair amount of pain and had to wait until the nose healed on its own. 

McCormick said that the wreck and injury took place on a Friday, the same night a new episode of The Brady Bunch was premiering. What episode was it, you ask? Well, in a bizarre coincidence, the episode premiering was, in fact, "The Subject Was Noses"

McCormick then went on to admit that while she was aware of the episode's place in viewers' hearts, she herself actually didn't like it. She explained, "Practically everyone on the set from the prop man to Lloyd Schwartz threw a Nerf football at my face, trying to get it in the perfect spot." 

The football shot that hits Marcia in the final take of the episode was thrown by Peter Knight, and McCormick said, "I couldn't have been happier when the director finally said, 'Perfect! Print that one!'"


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11 Comments

bradyguy 9 months ago
WHO THE HECK IS PETER KNIGHT??? 🙄🙄
rb5391 14 months ago
met maureen at a Target in Orlando, Florida for a book signing....got her autograph, nice woman, the guy behind me brought a football for her to sign it and she did...she was laughing and said it was ok
TheFanFromUNCLE 14 months ago
I heard she was trying to light a cigarette when she wrecked.
CoreyC 14 months ago
Could it be a little nose candy?
Inkwell765 14 months ago
An even creepier incident happened to Willam Reynolds and director Richard L. Bare on the night ther Twilight Zone episode “The Purple Testament” aired. They were nearly killed in a plane crash. Another was killed. As they swam ashore, remembering the episode airing, Bare told Reynolds “Please don’t look at me!”
Andybandit 14 months ago
That is too bad, about her accident the same day as the she taped the episode with her braking her nose. Good that it worked with her getting hit with the ball.
Bapa1 Andybandit 14 months ago
She was braking her car when she was breaking her nose.
bradyguy Andybandit 9 months ago
Well...no. It wasn't the day they were TAPING the episode. It was the Friday the ep AIRED...

But quite a coincidence...or is it irony. Ahhhh...most people don't know the difference...LOL
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