By India McCarty
Ever wanted the inside scoop on everything BRADY BUNCH? Here’s your chance — actress Eve Plumb shares plenty of on-set details in her new book, Happiness Included: Jan Brady and Beyond.
“I didn’t make the first cut,” Plumb told Remind Magazine of her initial audition. “But then I met with John Rich [BRADY BUNCH director] and Sherwood Schwartz [BRADY BUNCH creator and producer], and they cast me, [saying] she looks like our girl, meaning Florence [Henderson]. I guess they figured, well, if anybody can fall down a well and cry. She can play Jan Brady.”
The actress shared her favorite episode — “Jan’s locket episode because it was so sweet” — as well as which BRADY BUNCH castmates she keeps in touch with.
“Chris Knight [Peter Brady], his wife, my husband and I all get together about once or twice a month over Zoom to have cocktails,” Plumb said.
Related: BRADY BUNCH Star Says This One Word Kept Her Safe from Hollywood Burnout
The actress also admitted she had no idea THE BRADY BUNCH would become a hit.
“We never knew from year to year whether we would have another season,” Plumb joked.
The BRADY BUNCH star also spoke to Fox News about her book, sharing the truth about just how much money she and the rest of the cast have made on the show over the years.
“A lot of times when you’re an actor, you can see that people are looking at you like you have it all, and you have all the money in the world,” she said. “I just wanted to set it straight that that’s not necessarily true. That the pay rate was different…the residuals were different and also actors are continually having to fight to be paid, in any way.”
In an excerpt from her book, Plumb explained that she and her castmates don’t receive residuals from reruns of THE BRADY BUNCH.
“The reality is that we each had a contract that would pay us residuals for the first 10 reruns of each episode only,” she wrote. “Obviously, it was never expected that the show would rerun more than three, maybe four, times. Needless to say, that faucet of residuals income ran dry before I even graduated from high school.”
Plumb previously shared a statement about why she decided to write her memoir, saying, “Over the years, many people have asked me to share my stories for their book. But I finally said to myself, if I’m going to share my stories, it’s going to be in MY book. I had a unique childhood that I would like to share now because looking back, it gives me joy.”
Happiness Included: Jan Brady and Beyond is on sale now.
Read Next: Did You Know This Fun Fact About THE BRADY BUNCH?
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