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He
was born John Robert Reitz on October 19, 1932, and spent most
of his childhood on a farm in Muskogee, Oklahoma raising prize-winning
show calves. In highschool, his interests wandered from the
farm, and became interested in acting. He spent a couple of
years at Northwestern University, where he met and married his
first wife, and transferred to the Royal Academy of Dramatic
Arts in London.
Upon returning to the U.S., he adopted the stage name Robert
Reed and began a career in theater. Soon after, Reed relocated
to Hollywood and began pursuing a career in television while
continuing to appear in various stage productions including
a run on Broadway in Neil Simon's "Barefoot In The Park."
Reed was seen in dozens of television shows in the '60s including
The Danny Thomas Show, Father Knows Best, Family Affair,
and The Defenders.
He took the role of Mike Brady in 1969, although he continued
to appear as a regular on Mannix as well as taking
guest spots on The Mod Squad, Mission: Impossible,
and others. Robert Reed was a prolific actor, with a long
list of post-Brady credits. One of his most daring roles was
that of a sex-change patient on an episode of Medical Center
in 1975, for which he garnered an Emmy nomination (one of
three in his career.) He appeared in everything from The
Boy In The Plastic Bubble to Roots. He also did
a couple of infomercials in the early '90s before his death
in 1992. He was survived by both his television family and
his own daughter. |
