Having missed an opportunity to meet The Brady Bunch’s Marcia (played by Maureen McCormick) in the past, I jumped at the chance to meet Christopher Knight, who played Peter Brady on that immortal ’70s show.
Visiting his wife’s (America’s Next Top Model first-cycle winner Adrianne Curry) family in Joliet, Ill., Knight took a trip into the city and talked with Windy City Times.
Windy City Times: Welcome back to Chicago. You picked the coldest day of the year to be here! Thanks for coming out to meet me.
Christopher Knight: My pleasure. Otherwise, I would just be stuck in Joliet.
WCT: Let’s cover the Brady Bunch stuff first. Maureen McCormick just wrote a book this past October called Surviving Marcia Brady and Finding My True Voice. When is your tell-all book coming out?
CK: There have been some discussions on our end about me writing a book. It’s funny; earlier in my career I thought there was no good ending. Then I met Adrianne and the whole career started up again. A child would be a better ending but we are not at that point in our lives yet.
My book would be a look at my irreverent life. There is a possibility, but I am not sure I have the discipline to sit down and write it. Someone has to ask a question and the synapses just start going.
For Maureen, that book has been a truly transformative experience. The Maureen that sits here today is very different than the one in the past. She never really wanted to be a Brady. We were almost an embarrassment to her. We may have represented the people she disappointed, so perhaps she didn’t want to be around us. Since purging all of this there is a great desire to be around the gang now. She asked me once, “Did you know that I had a drug problem?” I said, “Maureen, you are the only one that didn’t know you had a drug problem!” That’s pretty much how it wraps up in my mind. Maureen was in denial and pretty much everyone else could see it.
WCT: I was going to meet her years ago when I worked for Tower Records and she had a country album, but I moved to Chicago instead.
CK: My sister lives there and my brother-in-law is in the country group Sawyer Brown.
WCT: I know them! Now, I read the Barry Williams book Growing Up Brady. It explained the process of everyone becoming a Brady. What was your story like?
CK: Yeah, his book was very Brady-esque and Maureen’s is more about the trauma of her life.
My family was down in Tijuana for the summer with a show my dad was doing. He’s an actor also. He was buying pots down in Mexico and had bought so many that the family couldn’t all fit in the car, so he came back early with me to bring the pots back home. I had gotten the call to do a screen test. So if it were not for some Mexican clay pots I would have never made it on The Brady Bunch!
WCT: Did you have acting classes as a child like Barry?
CK: I can’t say I was an actor at that point. I had only done commercials and had a hard time speaking. I was very hyperactive and everything came out at once. Nonetheless, Sherwood was looking to put together a family that resembled one another. I was put in the group with Robert. I was cast because I looked like I could be his son.
WCT: And you were close with Robert Reed?
CK: I loved Robert. He was an idol—a classy man who fought for what he believed in. He fought for art. He directed a few episodes and they were probably my favorite episodes. Mind you, this was his first time directing as well. He was really into it.
He asked me as a kid what I wanted to do. [That] was so empowering, someone asking my point of view. He really cared about other people’s point of views.
WCT: Unlike many child stars, you were able to find a mainstream job with no problem. Many people may not know this, but you were a major force in the computer world.
CK: I can’t say I was a major force. I was a worker bee. I took to it. There were some similarities between it and the entertainment world. I am very technical. I really enjoyed it but I got burnt out on it.
WCT: You gave that up to be back on television. What is the draw of that?
CK: When you are in the entertainment business, you don’t grow up with the idea that a job is your job for life. This whole transition that all of our economy is going through now is not foreign to me. An actor is constantly out of work. Changing jobs is never threatening to me. I was looking for something other than entertainment when I went down that path. Having both is really important to my sanity.
WCT: So you are still doing some computer work?
CK: Not high-tech, but it got me involved in business. Not day-to-day but more on the money side. It gave me great business education.
WCT: VH-1’s The Surreal Life has brought you back into the entertainment world. Was that something you didn’t want to do?
CK: I said no to season three. I was out of the country anyway when it was going to film. I called Florence Henderson as well as some others for their opinion. I come from an artistically highbrow family and they didn’t want me to do reality television.
Actors from the past, like my father, looked at reality shows the same way actors used to look at television. Thinking it will probably go away that it’s not really an art form. I finally acquiesced and now I have had a whole life change.
WCT: On VH-1’s My Fair Brady you had a big reaction to Adrianne’s nude photos. How do you feel about that now?
CK: Not terribly comfortable because it was terribly real. Those weren’t planned moments. Those are issues that I have. Adrianne has an extraordinary personality. She is over-the-top big and sometimes in life that makes great entertainment but it’s hard to live with. She seems very simple but there are a lot of layers there. I was trying to discern if she knew who she was. That’s what that whole bunk was about. How much should I entrust in someone who thinks that they know who they are when they are only 23? She’s a giant risk. She’s not the safe path. I am terribly in love with her. It’s trying at times.
WCT: My boyfriend is 22, so I know what you are going through.
CK: Well, I don’t know if it’s the age difference, though. I had to get over that, too. I didn’t know how judgmental I was. Doing the reality show was very difficult. I don’t want to do it anymore. Adrianne is much better suited for it. She is an overt outer person. I am a more inner person.
WCT: So does the Ab Lounge really help with those abs? [Knight was a spokesperson for the product.]
CK: I was involved with that project in 2005. Being in a relationship is its own nemesis to being in shape. Unfortunately, you get sedentary. I broke my arm in The Celebrity Circus so I couldn’t work out for eight months. I do my best, but my health is very important.
WCT: You played gay on That ’70s Show with Barry Williams. How did that go?
CK: That was a great part. Unfortunately, that was the last season or it would have been a recurring role.
WCT: Now you are hosting Trivial Pursuit: America Plays. What is the toughest part of hosting your own show?
CK: We finished the first year of production and we are hoping for a pickup. It was my first time doing a first-run syndicated show. Apparently, we are doing pretty well. The economy sort of sucks but in a normal economy it would have been a shoo-in. It’s a pretty straightforward take on a board classic.
WCT: What’s in the future for Christopher Knight?
CK: I hope this opens up a whole new avenue on the game show side. We throw the shit against the wall and the stuff that sticks is what you wind up with. Sometimes nothing sticks, so you do what’s available to you. Personally, I am an actor. That’s what I love to do. It’s a great profession, especially for someone who suffers from ADD like myself and likes change. I can’t handle theatre because it’s the same every day. I love this business because every day is a little bit different.