Eve Aline Plumb (born April 29, 1958) is an American actress, singer and painter. She is best known for portraying the middle daughter Jan Brady on the ABCsitcomThe Brady Bunch.[1][2][3]
A native of Southern California, Plumb began appearing in commercials at age seven, and also had guest roles on the televisions series Family Affair, The Big Valley and The Virginian between 1966 and 1967. She was cast as Jan Brady on The Brady Bunch in 1969, and portrayed the role until the series' end in 1974. After, Plumb continued to work in television, portraying a teenage prostitute in the NBC television film Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway (1976), and as Elizabeth March in the 1978 miniseries Little Women.
Plumb continued to reprise her role as Jan Brady in numerous reunion series and films, including The Brady Brides (1981) and A Very Brady Christmas (1988). She made her feature film debut with a minor role in I'm Gonna Git You Sucka (1988), and later appeared in Gregg Araki's black comedy Nowhere (1997). In 2010, Plumb made her New York stage debut in Miss Abigail's Guide to Dating, Mating and Marriage, followed by stage productions of Nora Ephron's Love, Loss, and What I Wore, and Same Time, Next Year. She subsequently had a supporting role in the critically acclaimed thriller Blue Ruin (2013).
Early life
Plumb was born in Burbank, California, to Flora June (née Dobry) and Neely Ben Plumb.[4] She has one sister, Flora, and a brother, Ben.[4]
Plumb began her acting career in TV commercials in 1966. The following year, she appeared on The Virginian, The Big Valley and Lassie. (She was also cast as "Bonnie Braids" in a TV pilot version of the comic strip Dick Tracy, but does not actually appear in the program itself, only in the opening credits.) In 1968, she appeared on It Takes a Thief and Family Affair; in the latter, she played a terminally ill girl on the episode "Christmas Came A Little Early". In 1969, she appeared on an episode of Gunsmoke.
From 1969 to 1974, Plumb appeared as middle sister Jan Brady in the ABC sitcom The Brady Bunch. Her featured storylines included Jan's embarrassment over not having a boyfriend, concerns about her future appearance, being a middle child, and her insecurity over wearing glasses. Several episodes centered on Jan's jealousy of older sister Marcia, resulting in the famous whiny-complaint catchphrase "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!", that has arguably become the quintessential quote of the series. Plumb also supplied the voice of Jan in the ABC Saturday morning cartoon The Brady Kids from 1972 to 1973. After The Brady Bunch was canceled in 1974, it went on to even greater success in syndicated reruns. The sitcom has never left the television airwaves and eventually spawned numerous spin-offs, reunion specials, feature films, and parodies.
Several episodes of the sitcom featured the Brady kids singing and as a result, Plumb and the rest of the younger cast recorded several albums. Plumb would also provide a monologue for the Pat Williams Orchestra's 1974 recording of "California Love Story". The single was co-produced by Plumb's recording executive father, Neely Plumb.
1975–2000: Other projects and Brady Bunch reunions
Plumb was the only original cast member who declined to reunite for the 1976–77 variety show The Brady Bunch Hour on ABC. Much was made of her absence, including accusations that she no longer wanted to be associated with the Bradys. Plumb has stated in interviews that she was willing to do the variety show's original special episode, but could not commit to a five-year option for additional shows.[citation needed] Her role would be filled by Geri Reischl, who went on to be known among Brady Bunch fans as "fake Jan".[6]
In 1993, Plumb had a brief role as Mrs. Noah in the B-Movie mockumentary ...And God Spoke. Two years later she was interviewed as part of a 1995 retrospective special titled Brady Bunch Home Movies, produced by Susan Olsen, who played Cindy Brady. That same year, Plumb appeared on a special "child stars" installment of The Jenny Jones Show. In 1995, Plumb was a member of the cast of the Saturday morning sitcomFudge, playing the title character's mother, Mrs. Anne Hatcher. The show aired on ABC. To promote the series, Plumb appeared on The Jon Stewart Show. Plumb also appeared in the movie Fudge-a-Mania (1995), the TV pilot movie for the Fudge series the week before the series premiered. In 1996, she reminisced about her Brady years on The Rosie O'Donnell Show and on the E True Hollywood Story: The Brady Bunch. In 1998, Plumb was the original Pam Burkhart on That '70s Show (only seen in episode 6, "The Keg").
2001–present: Television, film, and stage
Plumb attending a "Heroes for Autism" event in Hollywood, California, April 2009
In 2007, Plumb was the only surviving cast member who was not on hand when TV Land honored The Brady Bunch with its Pop Culture Award. In 2008, she appeared on a special Brady-themed week of the syndicated game show Trivial Pursuit: America Plays, hosted by Christopher Knight, who played Peter Brady. Also in 2008, Plumb was a guest on The Florence Henderson Show on RLTV, hosted by her former TV mother.
In 2010, Plumb originated the title character in the New York production of Miss Abigail's Guide to Dating, Mating and Marriage, inspired by a book and website of the same name. The role was her first New York stage role. She was next seen on the New York stage when she starred in Nora Ephron and Delia Ephron's award-winning Love, Loss, and What I Wore, and she co-starred in Same Time, Next Year with Broadway's John Bolton at the Surflight Theater in Beach Haven, New Jersey. In July–October 2013, Plumb portrayed Aunt June in the off-Broadway play Unbroken Circle by James Wesley.[7]
In 2013, she had a guest-starring role on Law and Order: SVU as Angela Brooks in the episode "Monster's Legacy" and a guest-starring role on Army Wives as Reba Green in the episode "Damaged".[8] Also in 2013, she had a small part in the film Blue Ruin. In January 2016, Plumb reprised the role of shop teacher Mrs. Murdoch (originally played by Alice Ghostley in the 1978 movie Grease) in Fox's production of Grease Live. In July 2016, Plumb attended the Democratic National Convention as a member of Broadway at the DNC and was part of an ensemble of Broadway stars who sang a rendition of "What the World Needs Now Is Love". In 2019, Plumb reunited with her television siblings from The Brady Bunch for the HGTV series, A Very Brady Renovation.[9]
Personal life
Plumb has been painting for more than two decades and has enjoyed success at select galleries across the United States.
Plumb was the first of the Brady siblings to marry, and the first divorced. She first tied the knot with Rick Mansfield in 1979. The marriage ended in divorce less than two years later. Plumb has been married to Ken Pace,[10] a business and technology consultant, since 1995.
As of 2010, she resided in Laguna Beach, California, and served on the city's Design Review Board.[11] Around 2010, Plumb purchased a residence in Manhattan, and had made New York City her primary residence as of 2019, though she divides her time between there and Los Angeles.[12]
In 2016, she sold the Malibu home that she had purchased at the age of 11 in 1969.[13] She bought the 1950s beach bungalow for $55,000 and sold it for $3.9 million.[14]
^Eury, Michael (August 2020). "Fake Jan Gets Real: An Interview with The Brady Bunch Variety Hour's Geri Reischl". RetroFan. United States: TwoMorrows Publishing (10): 46–52.
^Lee, Luaine (September 8, 2019). "Bradys go 'home' again for HGTV". Baltimore Sun. p. A&E 4.
^Pellegrini, Janette (April 22, 2014). "New York Premiere of RADiUS-TWC's BLUE RUIN". Getty Images. Retrieved February 1, 2016. Caption:NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 22: (L-R) Eve Plumb and her husband Ken Pace attend the New York Premiere of RADiUS-TWC's BLUE RUIN at BAM Rose Cinemas on April 22, 2014 in New York City.
