Rita Wilson Showed Up to Support a Friend at a “Brady Bunch” Audition, but She Was Cast for the Head Cheerleader Role Instead
Rita Wilson Showed Up to Support a Friend at a “Brady Bunch” Audition, but She Was Cast for the Head Cheerleader Role Instead
Victoria EdelMon, April 27, 2026 at 7:39 PM UTC
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Rita Wilson on 'The Brady Bunch'Credit: The Brady Bunch/YouTube -
Rita Wilson opened up about how she got her first acting job on The Brady Bunch
Wilson said she tagged along with a friend who was auditioning, but the producers wanted her for the part as a perky teenager
Wilson also reflected on her time as a teen model and why she studied acting in London
Rita Wilson's life is full of moments that almost didn't happen.
Wilson, 69, opened up to The Guardian about her long career in an interview published April 26. Wilson remembered that on her first day at Hollywood High School in California, “I was walking to class and someone approached me to ask if I would mind getting my photo taken. I said yes, even though I didn't know what it was for.”
A few days later, she got a call from Harper's Bazaar. “They were interested in casting me in a photoshoot for the January 1972 issue as it was the first time 18-year‑olds had been given the right to vote, and they wanted young models,” she remembered. She was only 14 and a half. There, she got advice from “real, professional models” and managed to sign with an agent.
Soon after, she had her first acting job, in a 1972 episode of The Brady Bunch titled “Greg's Triangle.”
Rita Wilson circa 1985Credit: Aaron Rapoport/Corbis/Getty
“I went along to the audition with a friend who wanted to be an actor,” Wilson said, “and the producers of the show saw me waiting and asked if I'd like to try out for the role of the cheerleader.”
The season three episode followed Greg (Barry Williams) as he goes out with his classmate Jennifer Nicholas (Tannis G. Montgomery). But his family thinks she might have an ulterior motive: Jennifer and Marcia (Maureen McCormick) are trying out for head cheerleader, and Greg is on the selection committee. But Greg ultimately goes with the third contestant: Pat Conway (Wilson), who he thinks is actually the best cheerleader. Marcia is happy because Greg was honest, while Jennifer dumps him.
“I got the part, which meant I was suddenly working on my favourite show, with actors I'd loved for years,” Wilson told The Guardian. “I'll never forget the feeling of driving through the studio gates with my mum and thinking, ‘I can't believe I'm here!' The whole thing blew my mind.”
From then on, she was “working consistently.” Still, she felt her parents, who were immigrants and completely disconnected from the industry, were upset that she didn't go to college, so in her 20s, she studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.
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Wilson also remembered her appearance on The Brady Bunch in a Facebook post from 2024. She shared the video of her appearance and wrote, “#TBT I can't believe that it's been over 50 years since this episode aired… to think that my appearance on Brady Bunch was the kickoff to my career as an actor is wild. I got my SAG-AFTRA card which meant I was in the union and could now be hired for more jobs.”
Rita Wilson on April 16Credit: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty
She called McCormick, 69, “so welcoming” and remembered that she even met Elizabeth Montgomery, who played Samantha on Bewitched.
“We filmed at Paramount Television Studios. To this day when I drive into that studio lot it feels like home,” she wrote.
The Brady Bunch aired from 1969 to 1974. Wilson, meanwhile, made guest appearances on shows including M*A*S*H, Three's Company and Bosom Buddies (which starred her future husband Tom Hanks). In 1985, she co-starred with Hanks and John Candy in Volunteers; they married three years later.
In 2025, Wilson spoke to PEOPLE about which movies sparked her love of film at a young age. “I grew up in Hollywood, so I've been surrounded by the movies — went to the movies on, you know, Hollywood Boulevard at the Chinese Theatre,” Wilson said. “And I think it's probably going to be The Wizard of Oz, Sound of Music and Mary Poppins — big Julie Andrews moment.”
She continued, “But then later on, it came down to performances like Barbara Stanwyck in The Lady Eve, and, you know, in the '70s, Jane Fonda in Coming Home and Klute.”
Wilson, who produced My Big Fat Greek Wedding and the Mamma Mia! franchise, added that she feels “very connected” to multi-generational films. “I am about females bringing some joy and light into the world, and if there's music involved, that is icing on the cake,” she said.
Wilson is also a singer-songwriter. Her sixth studio album, Sound of a Woman, will be released on May 1.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
