When The Brady Bunch premiered in the fall of 1969, viewers knew Robert Reed as a dramatic actor (The Defenders) and Florence Henderson as a stage and variety-TV performer. That left Ann B. Davis as the ringer, as the sign to audiences that, yes, The Brady Bunch was a comedy, and that, yes, zingers would be delivered, and not only would they be delivered, but they’d be delivered by a pro, a two-time Emmy-winning vet, in fact, best known at the time for a series that’s hardly known at all today, The Bob Cummings Show.
Davis died Sunday. She was 88. She was the center square because she was the comedy in the situation.
Joal Ryan 