Brady Bunch’s Susan Olsen Says She ‘Almost Died’ Filming Pilot, Wishes Family Would’ve Sued

While appearing on the The Brady Bunch re-watch podcast, the Real Brady Bros, Olsen revealed that she almost died at age 7 after being injured filming the show’s very first episode back in 1969.

“My eyes were black. I mean, I had two black eyes. My nose was swollen. My face was swollen,” Olsen recalled.

Reuniting with onscreen siblings Barry Williams (Greg), Christopher Knight (Peter) and Mike Lookinland (Bobby) to rewatch The Brady Bunch’s 1969 pilot episode, the actress explained that she was severely injured while having her makeup put on one day before filming.

“On the Culver lot, they were shooting something — I would assume, in the girls’ bedroom — and I was getting body makeup on my legs,” Olsen remembered. “I was standing on a makeup chair and something from the catwalk, where they keep all the lights and everything, fell.”

“[The debris] hit the makeup man first, [then] off the body makeup woman, and hit me in the face,” Olsen continued.

As a result, Olsen was left with severe facial swelling, which she said was visible in “some of the early publicity shots.”

Despite the workplace injury, Olsen said that her family chose not to take legal action against the studio so as not to risk her job on the show — but now, she wishes they did.

“The saddest news is that we didn’t sue Paramount, because I would have made more off of that than the show,” Olsen quipped. “But I came to work the next day. Florence was the first one to see me. She’s like, ‘You make sure everybody sees her.’ And my mom was like, ‘Oh, yes, I will.’ Because everybody was trying to say, ‘It didn’t really hit her. She’s fine.'”

“I looked like I was in a horror film. And then everybody knew, yes, I had gotten hurt, and I had gotten hurt very badly,” she added.

In order to hide her injuries for the pilot, which saw Mike (Robert Reed) and Carol (Florence Henderson) get married, The Brady Bunch creator, Sherwood Schwartz, employed makeup artist Hal King — who’s worked with Lucille Ball on I Love Lucy and The Lucy Show — to cover up the young actress’s injuries.

“He was the specialist to cover up my black eyes. I loved Lucy. She was my idol,” Olsen said. “I was so thrilled to have him. And every day, my bruises would be a different color, and I’d say, ‘My bruises are purple today, Hal.'”

Olsen’s story came as a surprise to her Brady Brunch co-stars, with Knight admitting he’d never known “anything” about her onset injuries.

Thanks to an impeccable makeup job and Olsen’s tenacity as a then-7-year-old, the pilot went off without a hitch, and kicked off what would become a legendary family sitcom.

The Brady Bunch originally aired for five seasons on ABC, between 1969 and 1974, followed by numerous follow-ups throughout the 1970s and 1980s.