The Brady Bunch kids all grown up
More than four decades after they played the piggy-tailed, sweet-mannered Cindy and Bobby on the well-loved family sitcom The Brady Bunch, Susan Olsen and Mike Lookinland are meeting Australian fans en masse for the first time.
“It’s strange because our show was more popular here than it ever was in America,” Olsen, 53, said.
But Lookinland said that even thousands of kilometres from home, fans still wanted to know the same things.
“Mostly people ask, ‘Do you still keep in touch?’. The answer is yes. ‘Did Barry and Florence really hook up?’ No. They went on one date and that was it,” he laughed.
The duo are in Perth for the Supanova pop culture expo at the weekend — something Olsen once swore she would never do. But she admits she likes spending time with her contemporaries and seeing different parts of the world.
As we remember them
“This is as far away as I’ve been from home and felt this much at home,” she said.
“The people of Australia are just one notch a little smarter and nicer and super friendly.”
The pair have remained friends since they started on the show at ages eight and nine, with Olsen even laying claim to being the person who posted pictures of Lookinland on a website about famous people with missing body parts after a woodworking accident 15 years ago. But it’s a friendship that was once something of a childhood romance, with the duo admitting they secretly shared kisses on set.
“Both of our parents thought it was adorable,” Olsen said. “I really did have a true crush on him when we were 12.
“All the girls started to go nuts over Mike and I was like ‘He’s it, he’s it’.”
According to Olsen, the attention hasn’t abated since, with Lookinland still catching the eye of high-profile celebrities.
“He gets around any hot actress and takes a picture, of course they all love him, and sends his wife a picture,” she said.
Lookinland admitted: “I did that with Carmen Electra, I texted my wife a picture and said ‘Guess who’?”
