Susan Olsen

Early life

Olsen was born in Santa Monica, California, the youngest of four children. Her siblings are: Larry (24 years older), Christopher (14 years older), and Diane (5 years older). Christopher was also a child actor, perhaps best known for his role in The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956).

Early roles

Olsen landed a number of supporting roles in television, most notably in Ironside, Gunsmoke, and Julia, and appeared in the Elvis Presley movie The Trouble With Girls (1968) as a squeaky-clean singer in a singing contest.

The Brady Bunch

At age eight, Olsen was cast as Cindy on The Brady Bunch. As an adult, Olsen has expressed that portraying Cindy made friendships difficult for her as a child. She most disliked the season two "tattletale" episode, in which Cindy incessantly snitches on her siblings. Because of the episode, she was shunned by her real-life peers, who did not understand the difference between actors and their characters.

Olsen has appeared in all Brady Bunch reunion movies with the exception of A Very Brady Christmas (1988), which was filmed when she and her first husband were on their honeymoon. In that movie, Cindy Brady was played by Jennifer Runyon. Olsen reprised her role as Cindy Brady in the short lived CBS spin-off series The Bradys.

In 2005, VH1 ranked her No. 34 in The 100 Greatest Kid Stars of television and film.

In 2007, Olsen and her fellow cast members were honored with the TV Pop Culture Award on the TV Land Awards. This is the only award The Brady Bunch has ever won.

After The Brady Bunch

As a teen, Olsen was the spokesgirl for Sindy doll, made by Marx Toys from the late 1970s. As an adult, Olsen moved into the graphic design business and in 1998 briefly marketed a brand of glow-in-the-dark shoes for Converse. She also worked as a talk show host at the Los Angeles radio station KLSX from 1995 to 1996 with Ken Ober, and co-hosted and co-wrote another radio show with comedian Allan Havey at Comedy World in 2000.

She appeared in episode 26 of Cartoon Network's talk show Space Ghost Coast to Coast, "Switcheroo", with Cassandra Peterson as "Elvira, Mistress of the Dark". Olsen has also been an advocate for migraine sufferers since 1998. She described her headaches on Larry King Live.

An urban legend claimed that Olsen had become an adult film star. In a late 1990s television interview, Olsen stated that her "porn" connection was that she created space ship sound effects for a porn film called Love Probe from a Warm Planet. She did this as a favor for a friend who worked in the technical side of the business. She went on to state that perhaps the legend got started because the star of the porn film Crocodile Blondee, which was widely distributed among troops during the Persian Gulf crisis, was rumored to be her. She added that since the porn star was very pretty, she did not try too hard to dispel the rumor.

In the fall of 2008, Olsen appeared on Fox Reality's Gimme My Reality Show, in which celebrities compete to win their own reality show. Susan used this vehicle to make a statement about animal rescue, a cause with which she is thoroughly involved. On June 6, 2009, Olsen thanked retired game show host and current animal rights activist Bob Barker when The Bradys accepted an honor at the GSN Awards. Olsen is an animal welfare advocate and serves on the board of directors of the nonprofit organization Precious Paws, a rescue group. Olsen personally cares for unweaned homeless kittens until they are old enough to adopt.

On September 1, 2009, Olsen released the coffee table book Love to Love You Bradys: The Bizarre Story of The Brady Bunch Variety Hour which celebrates the 1976–77 television variety show The Brady Bunch Hour. In addition to many color photos and artwork, the volume features over 100 interviews with Brady Bunch cast members, producers Sid and Marty Krofft, Sherwood Schwartz, Bruce Vilanch, Rip Taylor, and Paul Shaffer.

In September 2010, Olsen made a guest appearance on The Young and the Restless playing Mrs. Liza Morton, the owner of a pre-school.

In 2011, Olsen appeared in season 3, episode 43 of The Biography Channel's reality show Celebrity Ghost Stories.

In December 2016, Olsen was fired from her radio show, "Two Chicks Talkin' Politics" on LA Talk Radio, as a result of engaging with a feud with openly gay actor Leon Acord-Whiting, in which Olsen, responding to comments Acord-Whiting had made about her on another station, unleashed an extensive and profane rant against him accusing him of cowardice. Acord-Whiting accused Olsen of homophobia for the remarks (which included repeated use of the word "faggot") and successfully lobbied to have Olsen fired.

Art career

She is the creator of Marshmallow Fluff-inspired art. Her work, called "Fluffart," has been curated into a collection made available in limited editions.

As an animal welfare advocate, Olsen has created another art collection, entitled "The Art of Rescue". She donates the proceeds to assist animals in rescue organizations until they are able to be adopted.

In July 2012, Olsen participated in "Art with an Agenda: An Exhibit Inspired by Kelly Thomas" at the PAS Gallery in Fullerton, California, among a select group of artists. This exhibition focused on the life and tragic death of Kelly Thomas, a 37-year-old homeless man with schizophrenia, who was severely beaten by Fullerton Police Department officers on July 5, 2011. Olsen's artwork, "Still Life," depicted a half-eaten donut alongside a lit flashlight, both set against a backdrop of blood, reflecting the brutality of the incident.