‘The Brady Bunch’ Creative Team Flattered Barry Williams to Make Sure He Didn’t Date His Co-Star

The Brady Bunch was a groundbreaking sitcom in its time, a show that focused on the day-to-day life of a large, blended family. The show ran for five seasons, and even though it went off the air decades ago, it continues to garner new fans with each passing year.

The stars of The Brady Bunch all went on to experience varying levels of success after the show ended, with Barry Williams enjoying one of the more prominent careers. Williams, who played Greg on The Brady Bunch, went through his adolescence during his time on the show. Reportedly, he was involved in an on-set romance that caused producers to intervene. 

When did ‘The Brady Bunch’ debut on television?

The Brady Bunch, which is widely considered to be the last of the classic family sitcoms, debuted on television in 1969. The show told the story of Mike Brady, a widower with three young sons, and his romance with Carol, a beautiful widow with three daughters.

The two get married and got to work on the task of blending their large, rambunctious family. The Brady Bunch was considered to be very ahead of its time, especially in the way that it dealt with the very real issue of blended families in the seventies. 

The Brady Bunch aired on television until 1974, when it was summarily canceled. Still, it has remained very popular in syndication and viewers of all ages continue to watch The Brady Bunch in the form of reruns. 

Barry Williams played Greg on ‘The Brady Bunch’

The Brady Bunch featured a large cast of talented actors. Williams, a child actor, was cast in the role of Greg Brady, the oldest Brady son.

Williams made his first television appearance in 1967, but it was in 1969 when he landed his role in The Brady Bunch, which really solidified his status as an actor. As Greg, Barry Williams was a part of many of the show’s biggest storylines, and the show often highlighted Greg’s relationships with his siblings.

Williams virtually grew up on the set of The Brady Bunch, going through adolescence in a bubble. It wasn’t long before teenage hormones started to interfere with Williams’s job, and he reportedly embarked on a romance with his co-star, Maureen McCormick, who played his stepsister Marcia.

Although their romance never really evolved into anything long-term, the feelings between Williams and McCormick caused some issues on the set. 

Showrunners appealed to Barry Williams’ vanity to intervene in his on-set romance

During the fourth season, Williams and McCormack were deep in the throes of their on-set romance. Showrunners knew that they needed to do something about the situation in order to continue filming without incident.

According to Mental Floss, The Brady Bunch director Lloyd Schwartz decided to take matters into his own hands and pulled Williams aside to speak to him about the situation. Rather than tell Williams to break things off with McCormack, Williams appealed to the young actor’s vanity by telling him that he was far too good-looking to limit himself to seeing just one girl. 

Even if his strategy might have been a bit unconventional, it worked — Williams and McCormack’s romance eventually fizzled. Still, the former co-stars have remained friendly over the years, with Williams stating that “Maureen and I literally grew up together and I consider myself a life-long friend. She was one of my first true crushes…And I have to admit a part of me still has a bit of a crush on her.”