Emmy-winning actress Ann B. Davis, who became the country’s favorite and most famous housekeeper as the devoted Alice Nelson of “The Brady Bunch,” died Sunday at a San Antonio hospital. She was 88.
Bexar County, Texas, medical examiner’s investigator Sara Horne said Davis died Sunday morning at University Hospital. Horne said no cause of death was available and that an autopsy was planned Monday.
Bill Frey, a retired Episcopal bishop and a longtime friend of Davis, said she suffered a fall Saturday at her San Antonio home. Frey said Davis had lived with him and his wife, Barbara, since 1976.
More than a decade before scoring as the Bradys’ loyal Alice, Davis was the razor-tongued secretary on another stalwart TV sitcom, “The Bob Cummings Show,” which brought her two Emmys. Over the years, she also appeared on Broadway and in occasional movies.
Frey said Davis became part of his and his wife’s “household community” after she re-embraced her Christian faith and left Hollywood behind.
“The public image of her that people have is an accurate image of a strong, wonderful, lively human being,” he said. “The only part that’s inaccurate about that is she had trouble relating to small children, and she doesn’t cook.”
Asked if the friend he called “Ann B” ever missed her life as an actor, he replied: “Not once.”
Maureen McCormick, who played teenager Marcia Brady, said in a statement that Davis “made me a better person. How blessed I am to have had her in my life. She will be forever missed.”
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