“Sex, Drugs & Pilot Season: Confessions of a Casting Director” - Joel Thurm's affairs with Rock Hudson and Robert Reed

Joel Thurm

OMG - gorgeous! Who could resist?

That was definitely a jump scare, R1

R1 - that's what he looked like in 1976?

I looked at the pages that Amazon allows you to review. Pass.

Stop starting threads on your book, Joel.

I'd like to know what he looked like back in 1976, too. Let's face it - for Hudson and Reed to want to have sex with him, he must've been a good looking guy.

R5, how dare someone post gossip on a gossip board?

Here he is in 1989.

Not bad looking in 1989.

He's the guy in the sweater at the beginning of this clip, taken from the 1963 short film "Vapors," set in a New York bath house.

“When nine hundred years old you reach, look as good you will not."

WOW! He was definitely attractive in his younger days.

Joel Thurm gives me the vapors!

He's no Nathan Thurm.

[quote]After their encounter, Reed went back to being a 'prick' according to Thurm.

To thine own self be true.

R14! Wow, Christopher Guest as the news anchor! Cute. I wish they'd given Martin Short more to do. He looked great as the skeevy lawyer.

R15, your post brought back a vague memory of Robert Reed, as Mike Brady, actually saying that to Peter at the end of an episode in one of those dependable moments when Mike was dispensing his fatherly wisdom. Jesus. Mr. Brady quoting the Bard.

He looked like Nosferatu.

Any dirt on Travolta?

“In a world full of oversharing, be the gentleman who kisses and never tells.”

We're gonna complain about gossip on a gossip board?

Was Robert Reed ever pleasant to work with on any set?

Joel has a very nice penis.

I hooked up with Rock Hudson and Robert Reed - gee! never knew they were gay!

And that old James Dean was probably bi nugget.

ZZZZzzzzz....

R24, then don't post in this thread

[quote]Here he is in 1989.

He was short and fat?

And black?!

It's my nephew, Joel

After their brief encounter the gentleman at R1 kept referring to Robert Reed as “My Precious.”

R22 Florence Henderson and the rest of the cast of 'The Brady Bunch' never ever complained about working with him. They all liked him on the set, and got along well with him even after the show was canceled. So maybe he was fine to his co-workers, but not those in authority ?

I find it interesting that he had to go the self-publishing route through Bear Manor Media. Their books are of wildly varying quality, overly expensive, and usually not available as e-books, so this will be a hard pass at $32.

This is a 'library book" if ever there was one. One to pick up and skim through - when a name catches the eye, you read the paragraph.

Not in any of MY libraries, pal.

Sherwood Schwartz and Ann B. Davis have both acknowledged that Reed was difficult on the "Brady Bunch" set. This article collects some of those comments, with sources, while also emphasizing his great relationships with the child actors.

So if Reed wanted to be taken as a serious dramtaic actor, why did he do 'Love, American Style' before 'The Brady Bunch' ?

And why did he sign up for 'The Brady Bunch' in the first place, if this is not what he wanted to do in his career ?

[quote] He was short and fat?

[quote] And black?!

Yes but he had fantastic stage presence, an incredible voice and a Tony! Easy to see why white gay men loved him so, Rose.

R34, 99% of people in SAG are unemployed. If you're not A+ list you take what's offered to you

[quote]the self-publishing route through Bear Manor Media.

Um, self-publishing means you publish it yourself like through Amazon. Bear Manor is an actual publisher.

R19 Any dirt on Travolta ? Is that what you asked ? There's been dirt on Travolta since the 70s. Just ask any masseur, personal trainer, chauffer, mailman, paper boy, pizza delivery boy...there's plenty of dirt they can share.

[quote] Um, self-publishing means you publish it yourself like through Amazon. Bear Manor is an actual publisher.

Um, you clearly don't know about Bear Manor Media.

"Founded in 2001 by Publisher Ben Ohmart, BearManor Media is located in Albany, Georgia, USA, and is known for publishing books on movies, television, Old Time Radio, theater, animation, and previously unpublished scripts. The BearManor Media catalog now features more than 900 outstanding subjects from the obscure to the eminent.

A small press featuring big subjects, our independent commercial publishing house provides nonfiction and fiction subjects in hardcover, trade paperback, and digital releases. Bestselling authors include Charlotte Rae, James Best, Gary Burghoff, Eddie Cantor, Kathy Garver, The Firesign Theatre, The Unknown Comic, Russell Arms, Charlotte Stewart, Bonnie Daniels and lots more.

BearManor Media is considered a leader and innovator in publishing rare autobiographies and biographies of African-American show business legends, famous voice actors, well-known sitcom stars, and celebrated producers, directors, and screenwriters.

The staff boasts fewer than a dozen top industry artists, publicists, and media experts. Our dedicated staff support authors as they head their own campaigns to generate reader excitement through targeted book signings, social media presence, and Internet-based channels.

BearManor Media continues to be a full-range publisher big enough to command respect in the market, yet small enough to preserve reader, writer, and independent retailer loyalty."

Fun fact: Robert Reed didn't die from AIDS. Although he was HIV positive, his actual cause of death was colon cancer.

True, but

[quote]While Reed did not have AIDS at the time of his death, his doctor listed his HIV-positive status among "significant conditions that contributed to death" on the death certificate.

You forgot the most important part, R40- they make you pay to publish your book.

Ooh, Kathy Garver!

Strangely enough, the one show which Robert Reed never made a stink behind the scenes was the Brady Bunch Variety Hour, which is funny because that's one of the absolute worst shows in TV history.

Has he shown it somewhere R23?

Reed was an odd duck. He HATED the Brady Bunch, yet signed on for every reunion, spinoff, and remake produced while he was still alive (not including the Brady Kids cartoon which featured only the kids). Florence and the kids speculate that he was lonely and missed the cast.

I think he liked the attention and fame of being on The Brady Bunch despite hating the writing. I'm curious to see if they had continued the show past season five would Sherwood have killed off Mike after getting fed up with Bob Reed's temper tantrums.

Joel is in need of money to pay for his rent boys...

From what I understand, he genuinely got along with Florence and the kids

[quote]yet signed on for every reunion, spinoff, and remake produced while he was still alive

Well that’s good. If he signed on afterwards he would’ve stunk up the joint.

[quote] I'm curious to see if they had continued the show past season five would Sherwood have killed off Mike after getting fed up with Bob Reed's temper tantrums.

According to Sherwood and Lloyd Schwartz, yes

Robert Reed wasn't in the last episode because he objected to the script and refused to participate. Sherwood was livid and Lloyd confirmed that had the show been renewed, Mrs. Brady was going to begin season six as a widow.

Season Six opens. (Sprightly music), Pan up from a photograph of Mike that Carol Brady is holding. She is clad in a black pantsuit: "Damn. Damn. Damn."

Reed took the show way too seriously. How was the last episode where Greg's hair is dyed anymore stupid then the entire series before? Florence seemed in on the joke and had a sense of humor. Reed seemed very self loathing and I think going ham on the camp and kitsch that was The Brady Bunch would have gave him away. Yet he did The Variety Show and came off gayer...

Cocktease Travolta shocking Reed and Beard by stripping down in his bubble.

The Brady kids always speak lovingly of Reed and that says alot.

R8- Gimme A Break

Mr. Brady kept Alice on, because he knew she guaranteed he’d keep getting Sam the butcher’s meat each week.

Here's the story of a dead man named Brady...

Reed kept signing on to all the later Brady projects because (besides the money, I'm sure) he really thought of the kids as his extended family and he loved seeing them and spending time with them.

Davis was a big ol' closeted dyke and religious nut and I'm sure talk about Reed's sexuality cast suspicions on her own, so she probably grew to resent him as the years went on.

I loved the episode where Alice taught Carol how to masturbate with a vibrator.

[quote]Davis was a big ol' closeted dyke and religious nut and I'm sure talk about Reed's sexuality cast suspicions on her own, so she probably grew to resent him as the years went on.

Sounds like what was rumored on the 'Bewitched' set with Agnes Moorehead and her two gay co-stars: Dick Sargent and Paul Lynde. She never got along with those two, and had a passionate dislike towards them. She let it be known she liked Dick York much more than Sargent, and wished he were back for the last few seasons.

The kids were only on the Brady set for a specific number of hours during the day, during which Reed behaved himself. Yes, he did have a good rapport with the kids and seemed to genuinely care about them.

But when the kids went home and the show broke for dinner, then scenes with just the adults, Reed tended to come back to set pretty loaded and also pretty mean and nasty. He would bitch about everything, especially what a terrible show it was, how impossible the lines were to say and sound natural, etc. This is why Ann B. Davis didn't much care for him and even Florence, who was genuinely fond of him, years later admitted he could be hard to take.

Robert Reed was closeted, self-loathing, and a bit of a drunk. People like that can be challenging to work with.

I kind of give him a pass r63, since homophobia was so much more rampant and even legal. Not an excuse, but an explanation.

If someone gets the book can you report the details to us?

Sheksh, Drugsh, and Pilot Sheashon!