Barry Williams hated fans addressing him by his The Brady Bunch character because it was a “threat to [his] identity.”
Making Peace
The actor’s character, Greg Brady, was adored by millions during the sitcom’s run from 1969 until 1974. After the show wrapped, Barry panicked that people would “disregard me.”
And it took 15 years for the entertainer to make peace with fans calling him by his alter ego’s name.
On a recent episode of Billy Corgan’s The Magnificent Others podcast, Corgan recalled a time he and Barry walked down a street. Someone shouted out, “Hey, Greg,” which angered the actor.
The Rotten Apples hitmaker, 59, told Barry, 71, that he “was so impressed that you had sort of made peace with the whole thing.”
To which Barry admitted, “That wasn’t always the case.”
“Threat to [His] Identity”
He explained, “In the beginning, being called Greg made me feel like they didn’t know me and that somehow it was a threat to my identity … a non-acknowledgement as well.”
Barry eventually understood it was “less about it being about me and more about what they’re experiencing, what they’re seeing, and what their intention is.”
He added, “And it wasn’t meant to be offensive. It wasn’t meant to disregard me.”
Barry admitted it took “maybe 10 years, 15 years after the show” of putting everything together to reach that level of understanding.
New Familiarity
The star moved from Hollywood to Branson, Missouri. Now, if he goes into a local cafe, people approach him and start talking to him.
Barry said, “People will sit down next to me and start a conversation because they think they know you. So there’s that kind of familiarity.”
“As you know now, there’s a privilege in that, if you have a good attitude about it. Because it’s like having friends everywhere you go. If you like people, it’s terrific.”
Dealing with Stardom
Barry said it was a “very profound” experience being shot to stardom.
He said, “We went from being who we were in our lives and then doing something that we all enjoyed doing, but was professional and … focused and concentrated – and then went out into public.”
“And our lives were changed dramatically by that … and that’s a very profound experience to assimilate with growing up and being a teenager and going through some of that awkwardness and being kind of observed and scrutinized.”
Barry is “grateful” to have gone through the experience with his on-screen siblings. This includes Christopher Knight (Peter Brady), Mike Lookinland (Bobby Brady), Susan Olsen (Cindy Brady), Maureen McCormick (Marcia Brady), and Eve Plumb (Jan Brady-Covington).
He said, “To have these people, these same people, familiar people all through our lives, and the major signpost marriages, sometimes going through divorces, the birth of children, and family.”
“So I’m really grateful to have that with a group that I have shared virtually.”