“Brady Bunch” star Eve Plumb reflects on a gift from TV dad Robert Reed
Eve Plumb, most famous for playing Jan on The Brady Bunch from 1969 to 1974, is auctioning off many of the pop culture treasures she's collected throughout her career — and one of the items is a sweet gift she received from her TV dad Robert Reed.
Plumb explained the context behind one of her most prized childhood possessions: a camera from Mike Brady himself. "One Christmas, Robert Reed gave all of us Super 8 cameras because he was taking us on a trip, first to New York City and then on the QA2 to London," Plumb said. "It was so much fun to be traveling with Robert and everybody in the cast." The camera is listed at a price of $200-300.
The actress also explained the backstory of some of the other items in the auction, including needlepoint embroideries she completed on the set of the beloved sitcom. "In the 1970s, doing needlepoint became quite popular, and then Florence Henderson and Ann B. Davis started doing it, so the rest of us did too," Plumb said. "You could do it all day long and still be quiet while they were filming."
Plumb also discussed her transition from her wholesome Brady character to the more risque protagonist in a TV movie about sex workers, for which she's auctioning off several pieces of memorabilia. "To go from playing Jan Brady to playing Dawn from Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway was a big departure, but that's exactly what I wanted to do," she said. "I'm an actress, I want to play all kinds of roles. Those [TV] movies were very big for the time. They were shocking, they made huge ratings, and I think they really brought to light a problem for young girls."
Other items include Brady Bunch teleplays, photographs, and a vintage Barbie wristwatch. "I decided to do this auction because I had such a large collection of so many things from my very long career that it just seemed like the right time to take them out of storage and let other people enjoy them as well," Plumb said.
Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.