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Does anyone have any links or recollection to a very common rumor that circulated around the late 70s that Susan Olsen had gotten heavily into drugs and other vices and overdosed or committed suicide? I recall that it was a rumor spread deliberately in the wake of the overdose death of Anissa Jones, a troubled child actress whose Family Affair show had come on the air and went off the air slightly before the Brady Bunch. Anissa died of a drug overdose under suspicious circumstances in 1976, and her death touched many child stars, including the cast of the Brady Bunch (Eve Plumb, in particular, who appeared on Family Affair at one point, I recall). The supposed prosocial idea behind the rumor was that it was a way to flag people who didn't care or thought it would be fine if what they thought of as a dysfunctional youngest child (Cindy Brady) got heavily into drugs or whatever and died, and then to do something to help those flagged as so dysfunctional. It also jives with the interest in prosocial TV shows, "Afterschool Specials", and in particular Eve Plumb's performance and popular reaction to "Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway", and similar psychological TV dramas from the time, like Linda Blair in "Sarah T.: Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic" and Dick van Dyke in "The Morning After". The story of Anissa Jones is well-known today in part due to it's story being told on websites like Morbidly Hollywood, but as I recall the rumor about Susan Olsen and the tie-in to looking for dysfunctional kids was very well-known as well at the time, late 70s, very early 80s. -- Allison
