EVE PLUMB

April 29, 1958

Eve Aline Plumb was born April 29, 1958, in Burbank, California, to Flora June (née Dobry) and Neely Ben Plumb. She has one sister, Flora, and a brother, Ben She is best known for playing middle daughter Jan Brady on the sitcom “The Brady Bunch” (1969-74). 

She reprised the role on numerous reunion series and films, including “The Brady Brides” (1981) and “A Very Brady Christmas” (1988).

Plumb began appearing in commercials at age 7, and made her TV debut in a an episode of a sitcom titled “My Brother The Angel” aka “The Smothers Brothers Show.”  The series also featured “Lucy” cast members like Shirley Mitchell, Gail Bonney, Barbara Pepper, Jonathan Hole, Charles Lane, Tyler McVey, Alan Reed, Mary Treen, Tol Avery, Jesslyn Fax, Kathleen Freeman, Jay Novello, Ross Elliott, William Fawcett, Chick Chandler, Madge Blake, Eleanor Audley, Mabel Albertson, Roy Roberts, Rolfe Sedan, and Elvia Allman.  The series was created by Aaron Spelling. 

“The Brady Bunch” (1969-74) was a sitcom take on the blended family.  Plumb did all 117 episodes of the series, as well as returning as Jan for some (but not all) of the subsequent TV iterations, including “The Brady Kids” (animated), “The Brady Brides,” and “The Bradys”.  

Lucille Ball had tackled this same territory the year before in the 1968 feature film Yours, Mine and Ours. There were rumors that Lucy was being considered to play Carol Brady, but she opted to employ her own children in “Here’s Lucy” instead.  There was even legal action take against Brady producer, Sherwood Schwartz, regarding intellectual property, but it was settled before it came to court. 

Coincidentally, Sherwood Schwartz, creator of “The Brady Bunch” wrote the play “Mr. and Mrs.” that inspired Lucille Ball’s 1964 TV special of the same. 

Sherwood’s brother Al wrote for “Here’s Lucy” (although not the episode featuring Plumb)… 

and their other brother Elroy wrote a few episodes of “The Lucy Show.”  

In 1972, Plumb became part of the Lucy family – literally – when she played Patricia Carter, Lucy Carter’s niece, in “Lucy and Donny Osmond” (HL  S5;E11) on “Here’s Lucy.”  

In the episode, Young Patricia had a crush on Donny Osmond, while Donny had a crush on Patricia’s older cousin Kim. Plumb filmed this episode simultaneously with “The Brady Bunch” which aired Friday nights on ABC while “Lucy” was seen Monday nights on CBS. This is her only time acting with Lucille Ball.  

Osmond, Bobby Sherman, and David Cassidy were the biggest pop stars for Tiger Beat magazine in the early 1970s. Naturally this “Here’s Lucy” episode got lots of press in the teen magazines.

Coincidentally, over at the Brady home, Jan’s older sister Marcia had a crush on Desi Arnaz Jr. on a 1970 episode of “The Brady Bunch” and Arnaz guest-starred as himself – at the same time as he was playing Craig Carter on “Here’s Lucy.”  

After growing up, 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.

“I’ll always be Jan Brady to so many people. I can’t escape it, but I can do other things.” ~ Eve Plumb

In the 1990s, Plumb began painting, fashioning for herself a second artistic career. She works out of a studio at her Laguna Beach home.