One Mishap By Maureen McCormick Angered Barry Williams For “A Long Time”

The cameras stopped rolling for the original The Brady Bunch in 1974 but even the parts left unrecorded had an impact on the cast. Maureen McCormick and Barry Williams contended with sparks of attraction while filming but one huge dilemma hung between them that left Williams “upset” with McCormick.

McCormick and William played step-siblings Marcia and Greg Brady, respectively, in the original run of The Brady Bunch starting in 1969. They would reprise their roles in the various Brady-related spinoffs and plotlines, which gave Williams and McCormick ample time to cultivate a mutual crush on one another. Despite these feelings of affection, this was all the perfect recipe for some tension and frustration.

Maureen McCormick had one habit that made her crush Barry Williams angry

During its original run, The Brady Bunch was not a critical or commercial standout. But time was kind to the series, as it developed a loyal following among children and teens. The Bradys became popular merchandising icons, got their own themed spinoffs, and even got into the music industry. By 1972, they even had a second studio album to their name: Meet the Brady Bunch.

RELATED: Maureen McCormick, Marcia From ‘The Brady Bunch,’ Is 66 And Has Overcome Addiction

McCormick’s autobiography, Here’s the Story: Surviving Marcia Brady and Finding My True Voice, details the evolution of their feelings for each other, with all the messiness in between, especially when the TV family members went on tour.

The two had a duet together. “It was choreographed to be a romantic moment, and there was so much sexual tension between us we didn’t have to pretend,” shared McCormick in her autobiography. “The crowd loved it.” That proximity gave her a good view of some hair dye dripping down Williams’s face and that set off a chain reaction. “Under the hot lights with all the sweat, it was melting off his hair,” she recalled. “I cracked up so hard that I couldn’t get out the words to the song.”

The laughter wasn’t remotely contagious. “He was so serious,” McCormick explained, “so into his act, so involved in the effort to make himself the next David Cassidy, and yet his face was streaked with black hair dye.” McCormick offered an apology, though “he was angry” at her “a long time” before tensions simmered down.

Williams was also mad at McCormick over the future of the Brady family

The two also had differing philosophies regarding their plans for the future. In McCormick’s view, Williams was fully prepared to lean into the producers’ plans to get the Brady kids into the music industry. While she considered it “a clear ploy” to increase the family’s reach, Williams was enthusiastic about the idea.

“Barry was thrilled,” McCormick recalled. “All of us were excited.” She went on, “Barry took it very seriously, worked extremely hard, and got upset at me for not seeming to embrace it to the same degree he had. I was trying, though not hard enough to satisfy him.”

Even so, the two felt enough sparks fly that they eventually acted upon their romantic interests. The cast traveled to Hawaii to film the start of season four; 16-year-old McCormick was swept up in the romance of it all. “As soon as I stepped off the plane, I started to think about him more intensely in the way I had fantasized for a long time,” she admitted. “We had spent the past three and a half years staving off the desire of a mutual attraction despite the intimacy of working closely with each other every day.”

By their second day on the island, the two shared a “picture-perfect” walk on the beach and, just at sunset, exchanged a kiss. Ultimately, because McCormick did not want anything long-term and because Williams continued dating other girls, their situation ended up being “an on-and-off-again game.”