Alice Nelson
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Alice Nelson, best known to television viewers as simply Alice, was the housekeeper to the Brady family on the 1970s sitcom The Brady Bunch. She was played by actress Ann B. Davis.
Alice grew up in the same neighborhood as the Bradys, graduating from Westdale High School, the school Greg and Marcia attended in the series. (She kept a trophy she won in school, but notably rubbed the year off so it was unreadable.) Alice was the housekeeper to Mike Brady, his previous wife (who died before the series started), and their three boys. Alice stayed on, to be the housekeeper for not only his boys, but for his new wife, Carol, and her three daughters. Alice prided herself on being impartial, never mentioning Mike's first wife in front of Carol or her daughters, and never picking favorites between the children (although she presented Jan with a locket at one point, "from one middle sister to another", when Jan felt upstaged by Marcia and Cindy).
Alice was best known for telling funny jokes (often self-deprecating and usually interspersed with drier humor than the rest of the Brady clan), which were almost invariably met with smiles and multiple "Oh, Alice!" responses. Alice was also known for her sky blue housekeeping uniform, which she almost always wore. She also joined in the children's games (including playing basketball), and went along with the family on vacations.
In an apparent running gag with the character, the slightest physical activity would often cause Alice to throw her back out, making her immobile for a short period of time.
Alice's best friend was Lucille Ball's housekeeper, who talked Desi Arnaz, Jr. into visiting Marcia when she got a crush on him. Alice had a lookalike cousin Emma (also played by Davis), who was a retired master sergeant in the Women's Army Corps. Emma once filled in for Alice when Alice traveled out of town. Alice quit her job at one point, when she felt the children no longer trusted her, becoming a waitress at a local restaurant. Her replacement Kay (who did her work faithfully, but never tried to become close with the Bradys) told the kids where to find her, and they begged Alice to come back.
For most of the series, Alice dated Sam Franklin (Allan Melvin), who ran the local butcher shop. In the final season, Alice and Sam were engaged. Alice and Sam have also won awards in Charleston dancing and bowling, which was parodied in the Brady Bunch Movie, in which Sam gave Alice a new bowling ball instead of an engagement ring. They were married somewhere between when The Brady Bunch left the air in 1974 and the beginning of the first of the reuniton specials in 1981.
In the 1990s parody movies, Alice was played by actress Henriette Mantel. In the first film, Davis makes a cameo as a truck driver whose CB handle is "Schultzy" (Davis first became popular in the 1950s playing a character named Schultzy on The Bob Cummings Show).
[edit] Trivia
Her last name of Nelson was only mentioned twice; once by a postman delivering a letter informing her that she had won a prize, and again by Mike Brady reading from a trophy of Alice's.
The role of Alice was originally to have been played by Monty Margetts, but at the last minute, the role was recast. This was due to the fact that Joyce Bulifant, who was to have originally played Carol Brady, changed her mind, and Florence Henderson took on the role; producers felt a more comedic, zany housekeeper was called for, to balance Henderson's soft-spoken, low key presence.
