Mike Lookinland
Lookinland at the Big Apple Convention in Manhattan, October 1, 2010
Born
Michael Paul Lookinland

(1960-12-19) December 19, 1960
Mount Pleasant, Utah, US
OccupationActor
Years active1969–present
Known forBobby Brady in The Brady Bunch franchise
Spouse
Kelly Wermuth
​
(m. 1987)​
Children2

Michael Paul Lookinland[1] (born December 19, 1960)[2] is an American actor and cameraman. He is best known for his role as the youngest brother, Bobby Brady, on the ABC sitcom The Brady Bunch from 1969 to 1974, and all of its sequels and spinoffs.

Early life

Lookinland was born in Mount Pleasant, Utah to Paul (a principal at Stephen M. White Junior High, Carson, California) and Karen Lookinland. Paul and Karen were residing in San Pedro, California, but they were visiting family in Spring City over Christmas break 1960 when Michael was born.[2] His grandfather was an administrator at LDS Hospital.[3] He has two siblings: sister Theresa and brother Todd,[2] who starred in The Blue Bird with Elizabeth Taylor. Todd would later appear in a Brady Bunch episode that served as the pilot for a spin-off series, Kelly's Kids, about a husband and wife with three boys: one white, one black, and one Asian. The series was not bought.[4]

Michael was raised as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He began working as an actor at age seven. By age nine, he had appeared in numerous television commercials for such products as toys, Cheerios cereal, and Band-Aid bandages.[2]

Career

Lookinland's most famous role is as youngest son Bobby Brady on The Brady Bunch, 1973.

Lookinland was a TV-commercial actor before he was cast in The Brady Bunch, having done around thirty commercials. He had been offered two roles - Eddie on The Courtship of Eddie's Father and Bobby on The Brady Bunch; his parents chose the latter, feeling it would be healthier for him to be around other children closer to his age rather than an only child on an all-adult cast (the role of Eddie eventually went to Brandon Cruz).[5] He has naturally sandy-colored, wavy hair. Because his hair color did not match TV-siblings Peter's or Greg's natural dark brown color, his was dyed dark brown and straightened. Occasionally, the lights on set were so hot that his dye would run down his face.[6] During the last two seasons of The Brady Bunch, his natural hair color was allowed to show.

Within weeks after the final season of The Brady Bunch wrapped filming, he was cast in a supporting role alongside Jennifer Jones and Paul Newman in the 1974 disaster film The Towering Inferno. In 1975, he made a guest appearance on the 1970s TV show The Secrets of Isis with fellow child actors Tommy Norden and Buddy Foster.

Lookinland continued to reprise his role as Bobby Brady in the show's many sequels and spin-offs. In 1976, he was uninterested in participating in The Brady Bunch Hour, so he asked for double the offered salary in hopes his role would be recast. However, instead his request was accepted and resulted in increased salaries for all cast members.[7] He also reprised his role in the 1981 TV film The Brady Girls Get Married, the 1988 Christmas special A Very Brady Christmas and again in the 1990 sequel series The Bradys, in which Bobby Brady was involved in a racing-car accident, which made him a wheelchair user throughout the series. Lookinland spent several years as a television camera operator and made an uncredited appearance in the 2000 film Growing Up Brady as a camera operator filming an episode of The Brady Bunch.[2] He also joined with the other Brady Bunch cast in the 2019 television series A Very Brady Renovation on HGTV.[8]

Having left show business, Lookinland operates a business that makes decorative concrete in Salt Lake City, Utah.[8][9] In 2021, Lookinland returned to acting, starring in the Lifetime Christmas movie, Blending Christmas, alongside his Brady Bunch co-stars Barry Williams, Christopher Knight, Susan Olsen, and Robbie Rist.[10]

In 2022, Lookinland, Knight, and Williams competed in season eight of The Masked Singer as "Mummies". They were eliminated on "TV Theme Night" alongside Daymond John as "Fortune Teller".

Personal life

Lookinland graduated from Chadwick School in 1978, an independent school located in Palos Verdes Peninsula in Los Angeles, California.[11][12] During the Brady Bunch years, he also attended Hollywood Professional School alongside his TV siblings Maureen McCormick, Christopher Knight and Susan Olsen. After graduating from high school, Lookinland wanted to leave Los Angeles, and moved to Salt Lake City, Utah to attend the University of Utah, but dropped out in order to pursue a career as a production assistant and camera operator.[2][3]

He wed on May 1, 1987, Kelly Wermuth (born 1962), an occasional actress. Together, they have two children, sons Scott Michael Lookinland (born July 6, 1990), who portrayed him in Growing Up Brady (2000), and Joseph Kelly "Joe" Lookinland (born August 6, 1993), both born in Utah.[13][2][14][1][15] The two worked together, with Lookinland as a production assistant and Wermuth as an extra on Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers and Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers.[16]

Lookinland is a self-described Deadhead, having attended more than 100 Grateful Dead concerts and shows.[17] In 1989, the California skate rock band Wonderful Broken Thing recorded their debut full-length album "Looking For Mike Lookinland"; several songs from this album were featured on the H-Street video "Hokus Pokus."[18]

On November 9, 1997, shortly after 7:30 p.m., after leaving the set of the TV series Promised Land in St. George, Utah, where he worked as first assistant cameraman, Lookinland was driving in his 1990 Ford Bronco on Utah State Route 18, 35 miles north of St. George, when he looked down to adjust the radio as he was approaching a curve and drifted onto the left shoulder. He then overcorrected when trying to steer back onto the pavement and rolled at least two times off the right side of the road. His blood alcohol content was 0.258, more than three times over Utah's legal limit of 0.08. After being treated for cuts and bruises at Dixie Regional Medical Center, he was booked into Washington County Jail, but released on a $1,550 bail.[19] In December, he completed court-ordered rehabilitation service and on May 27, 1998, was sentenced to 24 hours of community service and fined $1,500.[20] He cited this incident as having inspired him to stop drinking.[21][22]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1974 The Towering Inferno Phillip Allbright
1988 Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers N/A Production assistant[16]
1988 Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers N/A Additional first assistant camera, additional photography
1995 The Brady Bunch Movie Cop #3 Scenes deleted
2003 Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star Mike Lookinland

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1969–1974 The Brady Bunch Robert 'Bobby' Brady Main role
1971 The Point Oblio/Son (voice) TV film
1971 The Boy from Dead Man's Bayou Claude Disney TV film
1971 Funny Face Richie Episode: "A Crush on Sandy"
1971 Dead Men Tell No Tales Bud Riley TV film
1972 The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie Bobby Brady (voice) Episode: "The Brady Kids on Mysterious Island"
1972–73 The Brady Kids Bobby Brady (voice) Main role
1975 Isis Tom Anderson Episode: "How to Find a Friend"
1976–77 The Brady Bunch Hour Bobby Brady Main role
1977 Little House on the Prairie Patrick Episode: "Times of Change"
1981 The Brady Girls Get Married Bobby Brady TV film
1988 A Very Brady Christmas Bobby Brady TV film
1989 Day by Day Bobby Brady Episode: "A Very Brady Episode"
1990 The Bradys Bobby Brady Main role
1994 The Stand Sentry #1, plus Second Assistant Cameraman Episode: "The Stand"
1994 Gambler V: Playing for Keeps Bosun TV film
2000 Growing Up Brady Camera Man TV film
2019 A Very Brady Renovation Mike Lookinland TV series
2021 Dragging the Classics: The Brady Bunch[23] Bobby Brady Paramount Plus TV special
2021 Blending Christmas Andrew TV film
2022 The Masked Singer Mummy Group costume with Barry Williams and Christopher Knight

References

  1. 1 2 "Mike Lookinland Biography (1960-)". FilmReference.com.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Mike Lookinland: Actor, Television Actor (1960–)". Biography.com. A&E Networks. Retrieved April 10, 2019.
  3. 1 2 Pierce, Scott. "Utahn who was a 'Brady Bunch' star helps HGTV remodel the famous Brady house". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved 2021-09-22.
  4. ↑ Edelstein, Andrew J.; Lovece, Frank (1990). The Brady Bunch Book. New York: Warner Books. pp. 231–232. ISBN 0-446-39137-9.
  5. ↑ Schwartz, Lloyd; Schwartz, Sherwood (2010). Brady, Brady, Brady: The Complete Story of The Brady Bunch as Told by the Father/Son Team who Really Know. Running Press. ISBN 978-0762439621.
  6. ↑ The Brady Bunch 35th Anniversary Reunion Special: Still Brady After All These Years - (9/29/2004), archived from the original on 2021-12-21, retrieved 2019-10-22
  7. ↑ Nichelson, Ted (2009). Love to Love You Bradys: The Bizarre Story of the Brady Bunch Variety Hour. ECW Press. ISBN 978-1-55022-888-5.
  8. 1 2 Lee, Luaine (September 8, 2019). "Bradys go 'home' again for HGTV". Baltimore Sun. p. A&E 4.
  9. ↑ Nasvik, Joe (April 8, 2009). "Paul Lundy and Mike Lookinland; Concrete in Counters, Santa Clara, Utah Just Add Water, Salt Lake City, Utah". Concrete Construction. Retrieved December 27, 2014.
  10. ↑ Jones, Marcus (2021-05-19). "Lifetime reunites High School Musical, Brady Bunch stars for holiday movies". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2021-12-22.
  11. ↑ Chadwick Community School Yearbook 1974. California. 1974.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  12. ↑ "Chadwick School". nndb.com. Retrieved 2019-09-25.
  13. ↑ "Mike Lookinland as Bobby Brady from The Brady Bunch Cast: Then and Now". E! Online. Retrieved 2019-09-25.
  14. ↑ "Kelly Wermuth". MyHeritage.com. Retrieved April 10, 2019.
  15. ↑ "Scott Michael Lookinland". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2019-09-25.
  16. 1 2 Janisse A., James (September 14, 2018). "Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988) KILL COUNT". YouTube. Retrieved September 25, 2019.
  17. ↑ "Mike Lookinland AKA Bobby Brady: The Bunch, Grateful Dead and His Appearance in Wheaton this Weekend", WGN Radio, August 19, 2016.
  18. ↑ "Artist: Wonderful Broken Thing". getsongbpm.com.
  19. ↑ "'Brady Bunch' star faces DUI charge after rollover". Deseret News. 1997-11-12. Retrieved 2021-09-22.
  20. ↑ "Cary Grant at First Sight". Sun-Sentinel.com. June 11, 1998. Retrieved 2021-09-22.
  21. ↑ Dam, Julie K.L.; Miller, Samantha (1999-12-13). "The Family Still Matters". People. Archived from the original on 2008-10-17. Retrieved 2021-09-22.
  22. ↑ "WATCH: This 'Brady Bunch' Star's Surprising New Career". HuffPost. 2013-09-18. Retrieved 2021-09-22.
  23. ↑ "'Dragging the Classics: The Brady Bunch' Delivers a Satisfying Twist on a Beloved Sitcom: TV Review". Variety. 30 June 2021.
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