Character actress Ann B. Davis is best known among baby boomers for her alter ego, Alice Nelson, the spinster housekeeper and glue that kept the Brady Bunch family from descending into sitcom anarchy. Among older television viewers she is remembered as Schultzy, Bob Cummings' loyal, love-struck assistant on The Bob Cummings Show (1955-1959; later retitled Love That Bob for syndication). Like the other cast members of The Brady Bunch (1969-1974), Davis has made a living capitalizing on her character and has appeared in all the subsequent Brady Bunch television movies and made a cameo as Schultzy, the wise truck driver who counsels would-be runaway Jan Brady in the Brady Bunch Movie (1995). Other than that last appearance, Davis, a born-again Christian, spent much her last two decades deeply involved in a tiny Christian community led by Bishop William Frey, serving the homeless. Davis also lectured and testified before church groups around the country. She died in 2014, at age 88.
Ann B. Davis
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- Sold Christmas cards when she first came to Hollywood.
- First TV appearance was in 1955 on The Eddie Cantor Show.
- Had a cameo as Schultzy, her character from The Bob Cummings Show, in the 1960 comedy Pepe.
- Participated in USO tours to Korea, Vietnam and Thailand in the late '60s.
- Left show business in 1976 to join a religious commune, periodically returning for small roles, most of them as her Brady Bunch character Alice.
- In 1994, published Alice's Brady Bunch Cookbook, with series creator Sherwood Schwartz.
- Appeared in commercials for Ford, Minute Rice and the Swiffer disposable mop.