Maureen McCormick- Soap Opera Digest July 25 2000

Maureen McCormick-
Soap Opera Digest July 25, 2000

I'ts A Sunshine Day

She could have so many claims to fame - like being the voice inside the original Chatty Cathy doll, or acting in the very first Pillsbury Doughboy commercials, or winning the Baby Miss San Fernando Valley title at age 6, or going country on a 1995 album, or playing the lead in a Barbara Mandrell biopic, or guesting on almost every TV series that's ever been broadcast. But instead, Maureen McCormick is known worldwide for one very lovely girl who just won't go away.

Marcia, Marcia, Marcia. "It doesn't irritate me," the Brady Bunch alum sighs, sounding irritated. "I mean, I understand that the show's never been off the air, and it's just become this type of cult thing, and a lot of times in this industry, when you play a role, you kind of become that role to viewers." That said, she's got no desire to walk down memory lane. "You know, it was a great show, and a great part of my life, but ... it was so long ago, and I like living in the present, not the past. I'd rather talk about what I'm doing now."

What she's doing now is playing Susan Lucci's daughter's mother on Passions, no audition required. "What happened was, they called my agent and set up a meeting. And, you know, I had heard of Passions, but I didn't really know what it was, so they kind of explained it. They told me about the witch and the doll, and I've actually always been a big fan of Juliet Mills (Tabitha), so that was good," she recalls. "And it sounded like everybody in the cast was really nice, and it was just 10 shows, and I had never done a soap before."

The selling point, though, was that Rebecca Hotchkiss gives McCormick a plum opportunity to play against type. "She's rude and conniving and controlling, and I don't think I'm really known for that," she understates, "but that's the kind of role I just love." In particular, McCormick loves that the character allows her to tap into the darker aspects of people she knows - and of herself. "Rebecca kind of represents that need people have for money and power and control. And those are all very tempting things; there was a period of my life when I thought they would lead to happiness. Thank God, though, I learned that they don't."

McCormick was taught that by her family, whom she credits with keeping her from becoming just another child star-turned-True Hollywood Story. "That's 100 percent true," she says. "I think where you come from is everything, and I've got the most amazing parents and brothers. They're all just great. My brother Denny is ... I don't like the word 'handicapped,' so I say 'special.' And he's just an incredibly wonderful part of my life. I've learned so much from him about what's important."

The lessons continued when she met her husband, Michael Cummings, 18 years ago. "That was at a church in Santa Monica," she remembers. "We were at some kind of rock concert there, with really cool music, and we turned around, and it was love at first sight. It was immediate. You know how sometimes you can look into someone's eyes and you just feel like you know them? And you know that they know you, and your souls know each other? That's what it felt like."

Knowing it was much more than a hunch. McCormick came up with a plan. "I became friends with his friend," she laughs, "and then a girlfriend of mine was having a party, so I invited him over." The ruse worked. "We spent the next 30 days together, and I thought he was the most amazing person - a lot more patient that I am, and he's always been interested in working with people with disabilities, which really attracted me to him. We waited three years to get married, which I think was a good thing."

After 15 years of marriage, the couple has crafted a blissfully suburban life for themselves and daughter Natalie, 11. By day, Michael works in the computer industry and McCormick either acts, car-pools in her Volvo, knits, tends her English garden, or bakes low-cal chocolate chip cookies. By night, they all gather together to "play the guitar and just sing."

If that sounds like something out of some implausibly wholesome '70's sitcom, well, McCormick gets all the gritty reality she needs to work. Maureen recently wrapped a catty role on the Howard Stern-produced comedy Son Of A Beach right before joining Passions. After 30 years of oh-my-nose notoriety, she gets typecast as Marcia's polar opposite, well ... groovy. "No more goody-goody roles? Oh, gee," she laughs, feigning disappointment. "Too bad."

Pink Ladies

One high point in McCormick's bad-girl streak was her 1995 run as Rizzo in the Broadway revival of Grease. "That was all thanks to Rosie O'Donnell," the actress re-calls. "I had met her in L.A. at a singing teachers house; I think Rosie was there to get ready for her stint as Rizzo. So we met, and we really hit it off - Rosie loves the Brady Bunch. I think she can repeat every episode. But anyway, she went and played Rizzo, and then she was leaving the show, she called me and asked if I could fly in and audition. That's how it all happened." Fair enough - but isn't it a little weird to pick up the phone and find Rosie O'Donnell on the other end of the line? "You know, it is," McCormick admits. "But the thing is, she's just so neat and normal that you forget she's this person everyone loves. She's just like us." -Adam Kelley
� Soap Opera Digest July 25, 2000.

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