Eve Plumb Rejected ‘Brady Bunch’ Reunion In Favor Of Much Darker Role

For every thrill a breakout role can bring, there is also the fear of playing that role for all time. Eve Plumb became a household name thanks to The Brady Bunch, but one job relatively early in her career guaranteed Plumb she would never have to worry about being typecast as Jan Brady.

Plumb, who just celebrated turning 66 this spring, got her start in a series of commercials starting in the ‘60s; she was just seven when her career began. Guest roles joined these jobs, including jobs on The Big Valley and The Virginian, and before the ‘70s hit, she was Jan Brady. But it was a much darker, mature role that came at a key point in her career that proved under no uncertain terms that Plumb had great range as an actor.

Eve Plumb took on a mature role that protected her from being typecast after ‘The Brady Bunch’

By the time she was around the age of 11, Plumb was recruited to play the middle Brady daughter Jan, a role she maintained in the sitcom from 1969 to 1974, and reprised for reunion projects like The Brady Brides (1981) and A Very Brady Christmas (1988).

Her most famous role, which also kept popping up the most in her resume, was remarkably wholesome—and that might have defined all her future jobs. However, Plumb took great measures to make sure, as soon as possible, she never had to worry about being typecast.

“I didn’t want to wind up 32 and still be known as Jan Brady,” she said in an interview with the Journal Tribune. So, she sent Jan packing and became a runaway.

The portrait of a teenage runaway actress

In 1977, there was yet another Brady-themed reunion series in the works, and Plumb was among the original cast invited to reprise their respective roles. But she was the only one to turn the offer down. Instead, to make good on her vow to separate herself from Jan Brady, Plumb took up Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway and its sequel, Alexander: The Other Side of Dawn.

For Eve Plumb, Dawn Wetherby proved the perfect foil to Jan Brady.

“I love my role as Dawn in both films, probably because it’s several light years away from Jan Brady,” said Plumb around the time she was working on the films. “I don’t mean to sound ungrateful. I loved the ‘Brady Bunch’ years. I learned a lot, and the people were terrific to work with. But now I want to go on to other things and become an individual… not just one of the Brady group.”

The timing could not have been more perfect. “What happened for me was very fortunate,” she mused. “I auditioned for it and tested for it back in the day. … And I got the role. That was the giant leap that sent me from being Jan Brady to being an adult actress. By that time, I had already been in high school for several years. I was already becoming an 18-year-old. I was already very nearly adult. … I was very excited to play something very different and very challenging. It was a really great opportunity.”

“It was very popular. It did really well in the ratings,” she added. “I haven’t faced a lot of typecasting. I’ve been fortunate enough to continue to be cast in different roles. Nobody has seemed to put me in a niche.”