Susan Olsen: Difference between revisions

Susan Marie Olsen (born August 14, 1961) is an American television actress. She was born in Santa Monica, California, the youngest of four children, with two older brothers Larry and Christopher (fourteen years older) and a sister Diane. She is best known for her role as Florence Henderson's youngest daughter, Cindy Brady, on the 1970s television sitcom The Brady Bunch from 1969 - 1974. Her brother Christopher is best nown as the kidnapped son of Doris Day and James Stewart in The Man Who Knew Too Much.She attended Portola Middle School.

After landing a number of supporting roles, most notably, Ironside, and Julia, she landed her ultimate role of a lifetime that made her famous as a child actress, on The Brady Bunch, when she was only seven. In fact, she was the youngest actress ever to appear in the series. She stayed on the show until the very end.

Because her television character was often getting into trouble, Olsen has expressed (as an adult) how difficult it was for her growing up. Olsen has said that the episode she dislikes the most is the "tattletale" episode in which she snitches on her brothers and sisters. Because of the episode, she was shunned by her real-life peers who did not understand the difference between actors and their characters.

As an adult, Olsen moved into the graphic design business and in 1998 briefly marketed a brand of shoes for Converse that could be drawn on and washed. She also worked as a talk show host at a Los Angeles radio station KLSX from 1995 - 1996.

Olsen has also been an advocate for migraine sufferers since 1998. She described her headaches on Larry King Live.

An urban legend appeared that Susan had become an adult film star. The story may have resulted from a favor Susan did for a friend - she used her audio equipment and instruments to create science fiction-type sound effects ("it wasn't moaning and groaning") for an adult film set in outer space. There is speculation whether the effects were even used, or simply vanished to the porn cutting-room floor. Some also believe this legend was started in part, due to Olsen's resemblance to 1970s porn star Dorothy LeMay.

On a late 1990s television interview, Olsen herself stated on-camera that her "porn" connection was that she created the musical soundtrack for the video Crocodile Blondee as a favor for a friend who worked in the technical side of the business. She also went on to state that perhaps the legend got started because the girl on the box cover to that tape looked a bit like what people might expect a grown-up Olsen to look like.

On Sunday, April 22, 2007, Susan and her fellow cast members were honored with the TV Pop Culture Awards on the TV Land Awards. It was noted that this is the first award that the Brady Bunch has ever won.

Susan has appeared in all "Brady Bunch" reunion movies, with the exception of A Very Brady Christmas in 1988, due to fact that she was on her honeymoon with her first husband. In that movie, Cindy Brady was played by Jennifer Runyon.

She stays in touch periodically with all the cast members, and in 2007 headlined a mother-daughter cruise to Greece for Princess Cruises with her TV mom, Florence Henderson.

Susan Olsen now resides in Los Angeles with her son Michael (born 1996) who was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome in 2004. They have a dog Trevor and a cat Tabitha.

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