Brady Bunch star reveals how she almost DIED while filming the iconic sitcom’s pilot episode

Former Brady Bunch child star Susan Olsen has revealed that a grave accident could have killed her while she filmed the pilot for the iconic series in the late 1960s.

Olsen, who played Cindy Brady, recounted being left with a swollen face after lighting equipment fell directly onto her.

‘My eyes were black. I mean, I had two black eyes. My nose was swollen. My face was swollen,’ the actress, now 63, said as she looked back at the show’s beginnings on the re-watch podcast, The Real Brady Bros.

The incident happened the day before the cast gathered to film the pilot episode in 1969. Susan, just seven years old at the time, had been getting her makeup done when she was struck.

She shared the story with former costars Barry Williams and Christopher Knight, and she noted that she wished her family had sued the studio for the accident.

‘The saddest news is that we didn’t sue Paramount, because I would have made more off of that than the show,’ Olsen said candidly. 

Former Brady Bunch child star Susan Olsen, 63, has revealed that a grave accident could have killed her while she filmed the pilot for the iconic series in the late 1960s 

Olsen, who played Cindy Brady, recounted being left with a swollen face after lighting equipment fell directly onto her in 1969; pictured in 1973

‘But I came to work the next day. Florence [Henderson] was the first one to see me. She’s like, “You make sure everybody sees her.” And my mom was like, “Oh, yes, I will.” Because everybody was trying to say, “It didn’t really hit her. She’s fine.”‘

The actress continued, ‘I looked like I was in a horror film. And then everybody knew, yes, I had gotten hurt, and I had gotten hurt very badly.’

To cover her bruised face for the pilot, Brady Bunch creator Sherwood Schwartz enlisted makeup artist Hal King, who had previously worked with Lucille Ball.

Susan said, ‘He was the specialist to cover up my black eyes. I loved Lucy. She was my idol.

‘I was so thrilled to have him. And every day, my bruises would be a different color, and I’d say, “My bruises are purple today, Hal.”‘

The now-retired actress starred as the baby of the Brady family on the beloved sitcom that ran from 1969 to 1974.

She was cast in the role at age eight and appeared on the series throughout its entire run.

In 2024 Olsen claimed that a ‘woke’ Brady Bunch reboot was axed over her conservative political views, revealing it would have had black and transgender characters. 

The incident happened one day before the cast gathered to film the pilot episode in 1969. Susan, just seven-years-old at the time, had been getting her makeup done when she was struck; pictured in 1969

In 2024 Olsen claimed that a ‘woke’ Brady Bunch reboot was planned , revealing it would have had black and transgender characters. But she said it was axed after social media dives revealed her conservative political views and Covid-19 misinformation

She also dished that her character Cindy would have been a Libertarian podcaster while Jan Brady, played by outspoken liberal Eve Plumb, would have a transgender child.

The plans were nixed when CBS did a deep-dive on her social media accounts, which revealed she was a vaccine denier who opposed to Covid-19 vaccine and spoke out against vaccine mandates and opposed masking in general.

Olsen was married twice. Her first marriage, to Steve Ventimiglia, lasted from 1988 to 1990.

She later married Mitch Markwell from 1995 to 2004, and they share a son named Michael.

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