Rest in peace, dear Alice.
Ann B. Davis, the actress who played loyal, self-deprecating housekeeper Alice Nelson for five seasons on “The Brady Bunch,” has died at the age of 88, a close friend of the star has confirmed to CNN. Davis reportedly suffered a subdural hematoma after falling and hitting her head in the bathroom of her home.
Born on May 5, 1926 in Schenectady, New York, Davis first rose to fame playing lovestruck secretary Charmaine “Schultzy” Schultz on “The Bob Cummings Show” in the late 1950s, a performance that netted her two Best Supporting Actress Emmys. To millions of TV viewers, however, she will forever be associated with her wisecracking “Brady Bunch” role, which she later reprised in the short-lived “Brady Bunch Variety Hour” and a number of made-for-TV movies (she also made a brief cameo as a trucker in 1995's tongue-in-cheek “The Brady Bunch Movie”).
Davis was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960, nearly a decade prior to winning the role that would come to define her career. She continued to capitalize on her “Brady Bunch” fame in later years, taking on various commercial endorsements and even releasing a “Brady Bunch”-themed cookbook in 1994.
Sound off with your fond remembrances of Davis in the comments.